Profile: Miroslav BLAZEVIC
Head Coach
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Coach Miroslav Blazevic
Miroslav "Ćiro" Blažević (Croatian pronunciation: [mîroslaʋ tɕǐːro blǎːʒeʋitɕ] ⓘ;[1][2][3] 9 February 1935 – 8 February 2023) was a Bosnian-Croatian professional football manager and player.
His professional playing career spanned from 1954 to 1966, during which he played for Dinamo Zagreb, Lokomotiva Zagreb, Sarajevo, Rijeka and Swiss clubs Sion and Moutier.
As a manager, his most successful period was with the Croatia national team, which he led to the quarter-finals in the 1996 European Championship and won third place at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He also managed the following national teams: Switzerland, Iran, Bosnia and Herzegovina and China Olympic. Blažević also had successful spells at Vevey, Sion, Lausanne-Sport, Rijeka, Dinamo Zagreb, Grasshopper Zürich, Prishtina, Osijek, Varteks, Zagreb, Shanghai Shenhua and Sloboda Tuzla.
From 29 March 1993 to 23 February 1995 he was president of Dinamo Zagreb.[4]
Blažević maintained a colourful public persona in Croatia, where he was reverently known as (the "coach of all coaches").
Iran tenure and return to Croatia
Well known throughout the football world for his 1998 World Cup sensation, Blažević accepted an offer to lead the Iranian national team midway through the 2002 World Cup qualification process. Coming in ahead of the final qualifying round, he quickly developed a following among many of the Iranian fans. He kept the 3–5–2 formation that Iran had played with previously in the 96 Asian Cup, in which Iranian national team had won third place. He also introduced new players to Team Melli such as Rahman Rezaei, Javad Nekounam, and Ebrahim Mirzapour. Known as loudmouth and showman, Blažević stayed true to form by claiming he would hang himself from the goalposts if Iran failed to beat Ireland in the deciding qualification playoff for the 2002 World Cup.[19] Ireland won 2–1 on aggregate, the defeat that marked the end of Blažević's time in Iran as his assistant Branko Ivanković took over.
Blažević returned to Croatia, first saving NK Osijek from relegation and then again in Dinamo. In his fourth term as Dinamo coach, Blažević won the Croatian Championship in 2003, but left again same year after clashing with his long-time friend, Dinamo's vice president Zdravko Mamić.
Blažević then led Slovenian NK Mura for few months before becoming the coach of Croatian side NK Varteks, a post he held until 31 May 2005.[20] While at Varteks Zlatko Dalić was his assistant coach.[21]
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