Željko Mijač (13 January 1954 – 14 February 2022) was a Croatian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and player.

Playing career

During his playing career he has played with

HNK Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

(1974–76; 43/10) and

NK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top division, HT Prva lig ...

(1976–81; 72/7) in the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

. He made his debut for Hajduk in August 1973 in a Yugoslav Cup match and played 146 games for them in total, 83 of them in official matches. For Rijeka, Mijač played 117 official games (102 of them in the league), scoring 15 goals. Later, he continued his career in France. He ended his career playing in Italy in 1987.

Managerial career

Mijač was the coach of

Standard de Liège Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

during 1999. He then worked as assistant coach of Bahrain national team,

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

Persepolis , native_name_lang = , alternate_name = , image = Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis. , map = , map_type ...

and

Rah Ahan Rah Ahan Sports Club ( fa, باشگاه ورزشی راه‌آهن, ''Bashgah-e Vârzeshi-ye Rahâhen''), commonly known as Rah Ahan Football Club, is an Iranian professional football club based in Tehran. They currently play in the Azadegan Leagu ...

. During his tenure at Rah Ahan, he managed a single match during 2011–12 Iran Pro League when the team's coach,

Ali Daei Ali Daei ( fa, ; born 21 March 1969) is an Iranian football manager and former player. A striker, he was the captain of the Iranian national team between 2000 and 2006 and played in the German Bundesliga for Arminia Bielefeld, Bayern Munich ...

was one of the guests of

2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or The 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala was the second year for FIFA's awards for the top football players and coaches of the year. The awards were given out in Zürich on 9 January 2012, with Lionel Messi claiming the title of world player of the year for ...

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

and couldn't coach the team in the next day's match. The match ended as a 1–0 loss to

Malavan Malavan Bandar Anzali Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال ملوان بندر انزلى, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Milâvan Bendâr Anzeli'') is an Iranian football club based in Bandar-e Anzali, Iran. It currently won Iran's second footb ...

. In January 2020, he was appointed manager of Croatian third tier-club Urania Baška Voda, only to be sacked and replaced by former Australia goalkeeper

Zeljko Kalac Zeljko Kalac (born 16 December 1972) is an Australian former soccer goalkeeper, who is currently the manager of NK Urania Baška Voda, who play in the Croatian third division. Nicknamed "Spider" due to his tall, gangly figure, standing at 2.02& ...

in October 2021.

Personal life

Death

He died after a short illness on 14 February 2022, at the age of 68.

Honours

;Hajduk Split *

: 1973–74, 1974–75 *

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup ( hr, Pokal Jugoslavije; sr, Куп Југославије; sl, Pokal Jugoslavije, mk, Куп на Југославија), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Kup kralja Aleksandra, ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

;Rijeka *

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

Balkans Cup The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators), being t ...

: 1979

References

External links

* * Zerodic.com (Stats from Yugoslav Leagues)
Vijest je stigla nenadano, kao i sve zle vijesti što stižu: smrt ne bira, zapravo... bira najbolje. Adio, Cico naš i neka ti je laka zemlja... (Profile)
- Sloboda Dalmacija 1954 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Split, Croatia Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav men's footballers HNK Rijeka players HNK Hajduk Split players SC Toulon players AC Arlésien players FC Istres players ACD Castel di Sangro Cep 1953 players Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Italy Croatian football managers Standard Liège managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Standard Liège non-playing staff Persepolis F.C. non-playing staff Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Bahrain Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Iran Burials at Lovrinac Cemetery {{Croatia-footy-midfielder-stub