Dean Ožbolt (December 13, 1967 – May 28, 2003) was a Croatian

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

player.

Career

Before discovering

Ožbolt played

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

in his youth. His first coach was Romano Rubinić with whom he won the Croatian Handball Championship U-16 in 1983. After playing for one season for Kozala, Ožbolt was invited to play for

RK Zamet RK Zamet (Rukometni Klub Zamet) is a handball club from Rijeka, Croatia, formed in 1957. The club currently competes in the Croatian Premier Handball League and the Croatian Handball Cup. Although the club has not won any mayor trophies, it ha ...

for which he played for 15 years. In Zamet, Ožbolt helped the club reach 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) ...

in 1987, and reach second place in Croatian First A League which also gave Zamet their first match in a European competition and reach their first final in 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 The Croatian Water Polo C ...

. He also captained his side from 1992 to 1996. In 1991 he got called up to play for

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

to play at a tournament in the United States where

won first place. He also played at a tournament in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

in 1992 where he was named player of the tournament.

Personal life

During his playing career he earned his coaching degree in

Pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...

. On May 28, 2003, Ožbolt died in a car accident on the

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

near

Novska Novska is a town in the Sisak-Moslavina County of Croatia. It is located in western part of the historic region of Slavonia, between Kutina and Nova Gradiška, linear distance southeast of the capital, Zagreb. Climate Since records began in 198 ...

Honours

;Zamet *

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav Second League ( Bosnian: ''Druga savezna liga,'' Croatian: ''Druga savezna liga'', Serbian: ''Друга савезна лига'', Slovenian: ''Druga zvezna liga'', Macedonian: ''Втора сојузна лига'', ''Vtora sojuzna l ...

(1): 1986-87 * Croatian First B League (1): 1995-96

References

External links

Dean Ožbolt EH Profile
*Petar Orgulić - 50 godina rukometa u Rijeci {{DEFAULTSORT:Ozbolt, Dean 1967 births 2003 deaths Croatian male handball players 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Yugoslav male handball players Handball players from Rijeka RK Zamet players Road incident deaths in Croatia