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

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 (), is a Croatian professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Split, Croatia, Split, that competes in the Croatian First Football League, Cro ...

(1974–76; 43/10) and

NK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as HNK Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka competes in Croatia's top division, Supersport HNL, of which they have been members ...

(1976–81; 72/7) in the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

. 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 (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

Persepolis Persepolis (; ; ) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by the southern Zagros mountains, Fars province of Iran. It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and ...

and Rah Ahan. 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 ( ; born 21 March 1969) is an Iranian Association football, football manager and former professional footballer. A Striker (association football), striker, he was the captain (association football), captain of the Iran national footbal ...

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 fo ...

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

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 (, ''Bāšgāh-e Futbāl-e Malavān-e Bandar-e Anzali'') is an Iranian football club based in Bandar-e Anzali, Iran. It currently won Iran's second league, the Azadegan League and came back to Persian Gulf P ...

. 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 association football, soccer coach and former player who is currently the goalkeeping coach for the Iraq national football team. Standing at 2.02 m, Kalac is the tallest player to have ...

in October 2021.

Personal life

Death

He died in

Split, Croatia Split (, ), historically known as Spalato (; ; see #Name, other names), is the List of cities and towns in Croatia, second-largest city of Croatia after the capital Zagreb, the largest city in Dalmatia and the largest city on the Croatian coast ...

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 (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

1976 Events January * January 2 – 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 18 – Full diplomatic ...

;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 ...

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 ...

: 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 Istres FC 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 Expatriate football managers in Iran {{Croatia-footy-midfielder-stub