Ivan "Ivica" Šurjak (born 23 March 1953) is a Croatian retired football

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He was the driving force behind the success of Hajduk Split as it became a force 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, ...

in the 1970s.

Club career

He started his career as a left back, but with time learned total football, according to which all players can, during the ebb and flow of the match, slot into every position as needed. He continued his career at

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

and

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a ...

, but turned down offers by the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independ ...

and Real Madrid. He concluded his playing career in Spain at

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at L ...

International career

Šurjak made his debut for

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

in an October 1973

World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, coming on as a 61st-minute substitute for

Petar Krivokuća Petar Krivokuća (Serbian Cyrillic: Петар Кривокућа; born 12 June 1947) is a Serbian retired football defender who played for Yugoslavia. Club career Krivokuća made 13 Greek first division appearances for Iraklis Thessaloniki duri ...

, and earned a total of 54 caps, scoring 10 goals. His final international was a June 1982 FIFA World Cup match against Honduras.

Post-playing career

He served as a sports director at Hajduk Split of the Croatian First Football League from 1999 to 2003.

Speedboat incident

In July 1999, Šurjak killed a swimmer while driving a speedboat near the coast of Trogir (Croatia). The swimmer, Miroslav Didak, died a few days after the accident, while in a coma in the intensive care unit of the Firule hospital. Šurjak was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing.

Accomplishments

* Champion of Yugoslavia – 1974, 1975 and 1979 * Co-champion of Yugoslavia – 1976 and 1981 * Cup winner of Yugoslavia – 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976 and 1977 *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

– 1982 * 54 caps for Yugoslavia, 10 goals scored between 1973 and 1982 * Yugoslav Footballer of the Year – 1976

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Surjak, Ivica 1953 births Living people Footballers from Split, Croatia Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers 1974 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1976 players 1982 FIFA World Cup players HNK Hajduk Split players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Udinese Calcio players Real Zaragoza players Yugoslav First League players Ligue 1 players Serie A players La Liga players Yugoslav expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in Italy Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Spain Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Spain