Josip Kuže (13 November 1952 – 16 June 2013) 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 footballer. He was a player and later a manager of

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 played for 10 years, making a total of 384 appearances and scoring 14 goals.

Playing career

He was a professional football player with

, winning 11 Yugoslavian U-21 caps. He played a minor role among the great players who still have their huge amount of respect today. During his playing years with Dinamo as a defender from 1971 to 1981 he played in 384 games scoring 14 goals. Kuže scored only 1 goal in 1975/1976 season. During his career he played alongside Balkan footballing greats such as

Zlatko Kranjčar Zlatko "Cico" Kranjčar (; 15 November 1956 – 1 March 2021) was a Croatian professional football manager and player. Kranjčar started his career as a player with Dinamo Zagreb where he won the Yugoslav First League in 1981–82, then Yugosl ...

Snješko Cerin Snježan "Snješko" Cerin (born 18 January 1955) is a retired Croatian association football striker who spent most of his career playing for his hometown club Dinamo Zagreb in the Yugoslav First League in the 1970s and 1980s. Club career A nat ...

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Velimir Zajec Velimir Zajec (born 12 February 1956) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who last managed Dinamo Zagreb. Club career Zajec began his career at Dinamo Zagreb in 1974, aged 18. During 10 years at the club, he helped them ...

Ivica Senzen Ivan "Ivica" Senzen (born 4 May 1951 in Sisak) is a Croatian retired footballer. Playing career After beginning his career at his hometown club Metalac Sisak, Senzen was picked up by Dinamo Zagreb in 1970. Senzen spent the next nine years play ...

Marko Mlinarić Marko Mlinarić (born 1 September 1960) is a Croatian retired footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Nicknamed ''Mlinka'', he was part of the Dinamo Zagreb squad that won the 1981–82 Yugoslav First League. He made his debut for ...

Ismet Hadžić Ismet Hadžić "Hadžija" (7 July 1954 – 14 July 2015) was a Bosnians, Bosnian-Herzegovinian professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender for FK Sloboda Tuzla, GNK Dinamo Zagreb, FC Prish ...

Boro Cvetković __NOTOC__ Boro may refer to: People * Boro people, indigenous peoples of Amazonas, Brazil * A variant spelling for the Bodo people of northeast India * Charan Boro, Indian politician * Isaac Adaka Boro, a celebrated Niger Delta nationalist and Nig ...

and

Stjepan Deverić Stjepan Deverić (born 20 August 1961) is a Yugoslav and later Croatian retired professional footballer and former football manager. Club career Deverić began his career with Dinamo Zagreb in the Yugoslav First League in 1979. He stayed at the ...

Managerial career

After his playing career finished he started as coach of

Sydney Croatia Sydney United 58 Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club and current NSW NPL Champions based in Edensor Park, Sydney, New South Wales Australia. The club was formed as Sydney Croatia in 1958, by Croatian Australians in the area, but it ...

(1982–84) then he coached clubs such as BSK Slavonski Brod (1985–86), Dinamo Zagreb youth (1986–88),

Borac Banja Luka Fudbalski klub Borac Banja Luka (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Бopaц Бања Лука, ) is a Bosnian professional association football club, based in the city of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is the major part of th ...

(1988–89) before he became Dinamo Zagreb's coach in (1989–91). In 1991, he started coaching in Germany with

FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt is a German association football club based in Erfurt, Thuringia. History Foundation to World War II The club has roots that go back to a cricket club founded in 1895. As they broadened their interests they came to be calle ...

(1991–92) and later accepted the job from league-competition

FSV Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

, and stayed there until 1994. From 1995 to 1998, he coached Japanese side

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Gamba'' comes from the Japanese , meaning "to do your best" or "to st ...

. Kuže came back to

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 ...

to coach

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 ...

(1998–99) and had a short stint with FC Chemnitz in 2000 and proceeded to coach Gamba Osaka again from 2000 to 2002. He then went to manage

Inter Zaprešić Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a forme ...

from 2003 to 2004 and in 2005 he took over coaching of

again, winning the league title in his first year as coach.

Dinamo Zagreb coach

He took over the team after they suffered a poor year, finishing down in seventh place. With some new players, he enjoyed early success in the next championship (2005/2006) with 18-2-2 61:11 record in first part of the league, and the final record, after playoffs, was 24-4-4 78:21. After the first ten games, Dinamo's goal-difference was 32:3, which gave them the highest goal-difference for any professional club in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. During this time Dinamo were accredited with playing attractive football. In the new season, 2006–07, some high-class players arrived, and Dinamo, beat French side

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

2–1 during a pre-season friendly. Gameplay went worse in the new season, for the key defense midfielders could not give their best due to injuries, but still tremendous effort was made in second leg of Champions league qualifying round against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

despite being 3-0 down from the first leg 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 ...

. Playing with a 5-3-2 formation, a much improved Dinamo side from the first leg, held a 1–0 lead until late into the game before Arsenal managed to turn it around with ten minutes remaining and eventually came away with a 2–1 victory. Despite the defeat Dinamo were praised, along with Kuze, for an impressive performance despite some injury concerns, Mathias Chago,

Davor Vugrinec Davor Vugrinec (born 24 March 1975) is a Croatian former professional footballer. He primarily played as a striker, but also operated as an attacking midfielder or a second striker. He is all-time top scorer of the Croatian First Football Leagu ...

and

Jens Nowotny Jens Daniel Nowotny (born 11 January 1974) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played in nearly 300 official games with Bayer Leverkusen in one full decade, helping them reach the 2002 Champions League final ...

all missed the match due to injury. Despite his success in getting Dinamo in a position to challenge for the Croatian league after several below-par years, his team's performance against Arsenal was deemed not good enough and he left the club in November 2006 with both Kuze and the club stating the agreement was made with mutual consent.

Rwanda national team

In November 2007 Kuze was appointed manager of the

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

replacing

Michael Nees Michael Nees (born 23 July 1967) is a German professional football coach and former player who last worked as manager of the Kosovo national under-21 team. Administrative career Kosovo At the end of January 2017, Nees start working as technica ...

who was sacked after failing to qualify for the 2008

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

. His initial contract will run for three years.

JEF United Chiba

In January 2008, Japan's

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

side

JEF United Chiba , full name and also known as , is a Japanese professional football club that plays in the J2 League. On 1 February 2005, the club changed its name from ''JEF United Ichihara'' to the current name after Chiba city had joined Ichihara, Chiba as ...

announced that they appointed Kuze as their head coach. However, this reign lasted just four months., and he was replaced by

Alex Miller Alex Miller (born 4 July 1949) is a Scottish football manager and former player. As a player, he had a 15-year career with Rangers, winning several trophies. As a manager, he won the 1991–92 Scottish League Cup with Hibernian. He subsequen ...

Albania national team coach

Kuže entered in the history of

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 ...

as the coach with the largest victory against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

in 2009, 6–1 in a friendly. As of 27 March 2011 and after 18 months at the job, he has had four victories (including friendlies, with Cyprus and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

), three losses, and five draws (of which an important one against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers). He is still warmly remembered by the Red and Black Fans organization for deeply affiliating with the Albania national team.

Tianjin Teda

Kuže was appointed as the new manager of

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

side

Tianjin Teda Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Tianjin, and their home stadium is t ...

on 6 January 2012. On 20 May, Kuže waved money towards the referee after a Super League match which Tianjin Teda lost to

Liaoning Whowin Liaoning Football Club (), officially known as Liaoning Hongyun (), was a professional association football club with a long history in Chinese football. The club can predate their formation to 1953, when Shenyang government sports body joined ex ...

2-1 by a controversial penalty in the stoppage time. On 22 May, he received a ban of 7 matches and was fined ¥38,000 by CFA for his act and his remarks on the press conference. He was released by Tianjin Teda on 28 May.

Managerial statistics

Death

On 16 June 2013, Kuže died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

, aged 60, after a several months' battle with the disease.Ex-Dinamo Zagreb coach Josip Kuze dies, aged 60
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuze, Josip 1952 births 2013 deaths People from Vranje Croats of Serbia Association football defenders Yugoslav footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav football managers Sydney United 58 FC managers NK Marsonia managers FK Borac Banja Luka managers GNK Dinamo Zagreb managers FK Budućnost Podgorica managers FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt managers Croatian football managers 1. FSV Mainz 05 managers Gamba Osaka managers NK Zagreb managers Chemnitzer FC managers NK Inter Zaprešić managers HNK Rijeka managers NK Varaždin managers Rwanda national football team managers JEF United Chiba managers Albania national football team managers Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. managers J1 League managers Yugoslav expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer managers in Australia Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate football managers in Germany Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Germany Croatian expatriate football managers Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate football managers in Japan Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate football managers in Rwanda Expatriate football managers in Albania Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Albania Expatriate football managers in China Croatian expatriate sportspeople in China Deaths from leukemia Deaths from cancer in Croatia