Mladen Košćak (16 October 1936 – 3 August 1997) was a Croatian footballer.

Club career

Born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, Košćak joined the youth academy of local side

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

, with whom he spent his entire career. He started playing at full professional level in the 1955–56 season. Košćak soon established himself as a first-team regular and was instrumental in Dinamo's

1957–58 Yugoslav First League The 1957–58 Yugoslav First League season was the 12th season of the First Federal League ( hbs, Prva savezna liga), the top level association football league of SFR Yugoslavia, since its establishment in 1946. Fourteen teams contested the compet ...

title. Although he was considered a huge talent, his career was hampered by a serious injury and he effectively stopped playing by 1960, appearing in only a single match in his last three years with the club before retiring in 1963.

International career

Internationally, he was capped 4 times for the

Yugoslavia national football team The Yugoslavia national football team; hr, Jugoslavenska nogometna reprezentacija; sl, Jugoslovanska nogometna reprezentanca; mk, Фудбалска репрезентација на Југославија, Fudbalska reprezentacija na Jugosl ...

and was member of the national squad which won the silver medal at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. His final international was a December 1956

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

away against

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

References

External links

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Mladen Koščak
at Reprezentacija.rs 1936 births 1997 deaths Footballers from Zagreb Association football defenders Yugoslav footballers Yugoslavia international footballers Footballers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Yugoslavia Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Yugoslav First League players {{Croatia-footy-defender-stub