Zlatko "Cico" Kranjčar (; 15 November 1956 – 1 March 2021) was a Croatian professional

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 Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

. Kranjčar started his career as a player with

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 ...

where he won 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 1981–82, then

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, ...

twice in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

and

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

. He later became the manager of the club which is now part of independent Croatia and went on to win

Croatian First League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva ...

in 1995–96 and 1997–98 and the

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup * Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup *Croatian Minute Movie Cup ...

twice in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. Kranjčar also played for

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

where he had success winning the

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

twice in 1986–87 and 1987–88; the

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (german: ÖFB-Cup), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for 27th t ...

in 1984, 1985 and 1987; and the

Austrian Supercup The Austrian Supercup (German: ÖFB-Supercup) was a Association football, football competition held annually from 1986 until 2004 between the winners of the Austrian Football Bundesliga and the Austrian Cup. 19 editions were played during the sho ...

in 1986, 1987 and 1988. Kranjčar was appointed manager of the Croatia national team and took them to the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

. He also had a short spell with the Montenegro national team. In 2009 he went to Iran and managed

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 ...

. While there he had two spells with

Sepahan Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan Sport Club ( fa, باشگاه فرهنگی ورزشی فولاد مبارکه سپاهان اصفهان, ''Bâšgâh-è Varzeši-ye Fulâd-è Mobârake-ye Sepâhân''), commonly known as Sepahan S.C., are an Iranian spor ...

where he went on to win the

Iran Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League ( fa, لیگ برتر خلیج فارس, ''Lig-e Bartar-e Xalij-e Fârs''), formerly known as the Iran Pro League ( fa, links=no, لیگ برتر ایران, ''Lig-e bartar-e Irân''), is the highest division of profe ...

in 2011–12 and the

Hazfi Cup Hazfi Cup (Jām-e Hazfi; ) is the Iranian football knockout cup competition, run by the Iranian Football Federation. The Iranian football league was not held during the 1980s, hence the winner of Hazfi Cup represented Iran in the Asian Club Cha ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Playing career

Club

Kranjčar started to play for

at the age of 10 in 1966 and stayed at the club until 1983. He debuted for the first team on 3 March 1974, aged 17, in a match against

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 ...

. He played as a striker and quickly became one of the most popular players of the club. He appeared in a total of 556 matches for Dinamo, including friendlies, and scored a total of 256 goals, of which 98 were in the

. With Dinamo, Kranjčar won the

1981–82 Yugoslav First League The 1981–82 Yugoslav First League season was the 36th season of the First Federal League ( sh, Prva savezna liga), the top level association football competition of SFR Yugoslavia, since its establishment in 1946. The season began on 26 July 1 ...

, the first one for the club in 24 years, and two

s in

and

. He then transferred to Austrian club

for which he played until 1990. With the club he won the Austrian Championship twice and even made it to the Cup Winners’ Cup final in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

. The last club in his playing career was VSE St. Pölten for which he played for two months in late 1990.

International

Kranjčar 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 a January 1977

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

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, coming on as a 60th-minute substitute for

Vladimir Petrović Vladimir Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Владимир Петровић, ; born 1 July 1955) is a Serbian football manager and former player. He is widely known domestically by his nickname Pižon ( sr, Пижон), after the French for ''pigeon''. C ...

, and earned a total of 11 caps, scoring 3 goals. His final international was a November 1983 friendly against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He was also capped twice and scored one goal for the Croatia national team and is notable as the first team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the Croatian team in their first international match against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on 17 October 1990 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 ...

. Both games were unofficial however, since Croatia was still part of Yugoslavia at the time.

Managerial career

Early years

Kranjčar started his coaching career in 1991 as an advisor at

Austria Klagenfurt Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ci ...

. From 1992 until 1994 he coached Croatian club

Segesta Segesta ( grc-gre, Ἔγεστα, ''Egesta'', or , ''Ségesta'', or , ''Aígesta''; scn, Siggésta) was one of the major cities of the Elymians, one of the three indigenous peoples of Sicily. The other major cities of the Elymians were Eryx (S ...

and in 1994 he transferred to Croatia Zagreb, where he won the Croatian Championship and

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

in his first season. In 1996 he returned to Austria to coach

FC Linz FC Linz was an Austrian football club, based in Linz, Upper Austria. History SK VÖEST Linz It was founded on 30 June 1946 as ''SV Eisen und Stahl 1946 Linz'', a factory squad of the public ''VÖEST'' steel company (present-day Voestalpine). In ...

. A year later he was back in Croatia where he coached the clubs

Slaven Belupo Nogometni klub Slaven Belupo ( en, Slaven Belupo Football Club), often referred to as NK Slaven Belupo, Slaven Belupo or simply Slaven, and known internationally as NK Slaven Koprivnica, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city ...

, Segesta (again) and

Samobor Samobor () is a city in Zagreb County, Croatia. It is part of the Zagreb metropolitan area. Administratively it is a part of Zagreb County. Geography Samobor is located west of Zagreb, between the eastern slopes of the Samobor hills ( hr, Samo ...

. In 1998 he came back to Croatia Zagreb and led the club to another win in both the Croatian Championship and Cup as well as to an appearance in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

. In 1999 he started to coach Egyptian club

Al-Masry Al Masry Sporting Club ( ar, النادي المصري للألعاب الرياضية) is an Egyptian sports club based in Port Said, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team, that competes in the Egyptian Premier Leag ...

and in 2000 he went on to coach Slovenian club

NK Mura Nogometni klub Mura ( en, Mura Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Mura or simply Mura, was a Slovenian association football club based in Murska Sobota. The club was founded on 16 August 1924 as one of the first clubs in the Prekmurje re ...

, where he also stayed for one season. In 2002, he became the Croatian championship winner with

NK Zagreb Nogometni klub Zagreb (''Zagreb Football Club''), commonly known as NK Zagreb or simply Zagreb (), is a Croatian amateur football club based in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb. It currently competes in the fifth tier league competition of ...

Croatia

After

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

failed to advance through the group stage at the

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

, Kranjčar was chosen to replace

Otto Barić Otto Barić (; 19 June 1933 – 13 December 2020) was a Croatian professional football player and manager. Coaching career 1970s to 1980s Born in Eisenkappel, near Klagenfurt, Barić started his coaching career in 1969 at West German club Germa ...

as the national team's coach for the next two years. He went on to lead Croatia in a total of 25 international matches between August 2004 and June 2006. Under his guidance, the team finished top of their group in the

2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South Americ ...

, staying undefeated by recording seven wins and three draws in their ten qualifying matches. At the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

finals, however, they failed to reach the knock-out stages after losing once and drawing twice in their three group matches. Due to this, the

Croatian Football Federation The Croatian Football Federation ( hr, Hrvatski nogometni savez, HNS) is the governing body of association football in Croatia. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of Zagreb. The organisation is a member of both FIF ...

decided not to renew Kranjčar's expiring contract on 14 July 2006. In June 2007, Kranjčar took over a coaching position with the United Arab Emirates team Al-Shaab, but was sacked in December after a dispute with the board about player selection. On 22 April 2009, he was named as the new head coach of DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda.

Persepolis

On 1 July 2009, he was appointed head coach of

side

after he signed a two year contract.24sata
Dubravko Miličić: Cico Kranjčar dobio otkaz već nakon prvoga poraza, 26 September 2009 Despite having good players such as

Karim Bagheri Karim Bagheri ( fa, ; born 20 February 1974) is an Iranian professional football coach and former player. He played over half of his professional career for Persepolis in the Persian Gulf Pro League. He is an assistant coach for Persepolis and t ...

, Misagh Memarzadeh,

Sepehr Heidari Sepehr Heydari ( fa, سپهر حیدری, born 19 June 1980 in Esfahan, Iran) is a retired Iranian football defender. He has a bachelor of Mechanical engineering from Najaf Abad Azad University. Club career He started to show his talent in ...

, Shpejtim Arifi and

Sheys Rezaei Sheys Rezaei Khonakdar ( fa, شيث رضایی خنکدار, born 2 April 1984 in Sari, Iran) is an Iranian footballer and singer. Club career Sheys is originally from Hamid Abad (one of Sari's suburbs). He has played most of his career for Per ...

, Persepolis was unsuccessful in the first weeks of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

. He was sacked by the club chairman

Habib Kashani Habib Kashani ( fa, حبيب کاشانی) is an Iranian politician and businessman. He is an outgoing member of City Council of Tehran since 10 April 2003. He was the chairman of famous multisport club Persepolis Athletic and Cultural Club based ...

on 25 September 2009 after his loss against

Paykan The Paykan ( fa, پيکان meaning ''Arrow'') is the first Iranian-made car produced by Iran Khodro (formerly called "Iran National") between 1967 and 2005. The car was very popular in Iran from its introduction until its discontinuation. It ...

but he was returned to the club after the support of the technical committee five days later.
Kranjcar is sacked temporary, 25 September 2009 His contract was renewed until the end of half season. He was replaced by

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 ...

on 28 December 2009 after his contract expired.

Montenegro

In February 2010 he took over the Montenegro national team from

Zoran Filipović Zoran Filipović ( sr-Cyrl, Зоран Филиповић, ; born 6 February 1953) is a Montenegrin former football coach and player, best known for his playing stints with Red Star Belgrade and S.L. Benfica. Club career Filipović, born 6 Febr ...

, having a very poor start with two defeats in two friendly matches against Macedonia away and

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

at home and third defeat against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

with which Filipović had a stunning 3–1 home victory. He was dismissed on 8 September 2011, following Montenegro's defeat to

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in a UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier six days earlier. The Montenegro Football Federation said he was sacked due to alcohol addiction.

Sepahan

Kranjčar signed a two-year contract with

three-time champion,

on 28 October 2011 replacing his compatriot

Luka Bonačić Luka Bonačić (; born 21 March 1955) is a Croatian football coach and former professional player. Early life He was born in Split, Croatia that was then part of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He began his football career at the Spl ...

.Goal
Kranjcar becomes new Sepahan head coach, 28 October 2011 In his first match as Sepahan head coach, Sepahan had a 0–0 draw with Persepolis which Kranjčar coached in 2009. On 11 May 2012, Sepahan clinched the title for the fourth time (three in a row) and first under Kranjčar with a draw against Mes Sarcheshmeh. They also defeated Esteghlal in the Round of 16 of the ACL and reached the Quarter-finals. Златко Крањчар

Kranjčar's side faced Foolad in the Round of 32 of the

on 13 December 2012 which defeated them 2–1 at

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...

. They defeated Mes Rafsanjan, Sanat Naft and Esteghlal in next matches to reach the final. In

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, his side won against Persepolis 4–2 on penalties to crown their 4th domestic cup title in last ten years. In his second season as Sepahan head coach, his side finished in third place, three points behind winner, Esteghlal. Zlatko Kranjcar in press conference as Sepahan manager 02

Zlatko Kranjcar in press conference as Sepahan manager 02

On 8 September 2014, Kranjčar resigned as Sepahan manager for an unannounced reason. He was replaced by

Hossein Faraki Hossein Faraki ( fa, حسین فرکی, born 22 March 1957) is a retired Iranian football player and a coach. Personal life He was born on 22 March 1957 in Tehran, Iran. He began playing football with PAS Tehran in 1976. Faraki has a son named ...

Al-Ahli

On 7 February 2015, Kranjčar was named as the new manager of

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

-based club Al-Ahli, signing a two-year contract. He was sacked in February 2016 after a run of poor results.

Return to Sepahan

On 17 March 2017, Kranjčar returned to Iranian club

signing a two-year contract. However, on 20 January 2018 after a series of bad results, Kranjčar parted ways with them by mutual consent to leave Isfahan.

Iran U23

On 29 April 2018, Kranjčar became the head coach of the Iran national under-23 team, signing a contract until 2020.

Personal life

Kranjčar was married in 1983 and had a son,

Niko Niko may refer to: People The given name is sometimes a short form of Nikola, Nikolas, Nikolaos or others. * Nikō (1253–1314), Japanese Buddhist disciple of Nichiren * Niko (musician), American musician active from 2002 * NiKo (born 1997), B ...

, who is also a professional footballer. He was fluent in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. On 1 March 2021, Kranjčar died at the age of 64 after a short but severe illness. His health deteriorated in

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serv ...

, where he ended up in hospital. He was urgently transferred to

but doctors were unable to save his life.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Yugoslavia's and Croatia's goal tally first.''

Managerial statistics

Source
hrnogomet.com

Honours

Persepolis Sepahan - 2013 Hazfi Cup Final 03

Player

Dinamo Zagreb *

: 1981–82 *

* Yugoslav Youth Cup:

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

Rapid Wien *

: 1986–87, 1987–88 *

: 1984, 1985, 1987 *

: 1986, 1987, 1988 Individual *

all time XI

Manager

Dinamo Zagreb *

: 1995–96, 1997–98 *

NK Zagreb *Croatian First League: 2001–02 Sepahan *

: 2011–12 *

Individual

Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport ( hr, Državna nagrada za šport "Franjo Bučar") is the highest recognition that Republic of Croatia gives for extraordinary achievements and contributions of remarkable meaning for the development of sport in Cr ...

: 2005 * Iranian Manager of the Year: 2012 * Iran Football Federation Award Coach of the Season:

References

External links