Ivan "Ivica" Medarić (7 November 1912 – 30 November 1990) was a Croatian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played in top league clubs in Yugoslavia and in the Yugoslavia national team.

Playing career

Club

Born in

Sisak Sisak (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavina (Sava basin ...

,Ivan Medarić biography
at Reprezentacija.rs

Austro-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(nowadays

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 ...

), he begin his career at local club

HNK Segesta Hrvatski nogometni klub Segesta Sisak ( English: ''Croatian Football Club Segesta Sisak''), commonly referred to as HNK Segesta Sisak or simply Segesta Sisak is a Croatian professional football club located in the city of Sisak. It is named after ...

. In 1935, along his teammate Jozo Kovačević, they moved to Zagreb and were signed by

HAŠK HAŠK (full name Hrvatski akademski športski klub, ) was a Croatian football club established in Zagreb in 1903. The club was one of the most successful sides in Zagreb and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the period between the two World Wars. The ...

. A year later Medarić signed with

HŠK Građanski Zagreb HŠK Građanski (alternatively spelled ''Gradjanski'' or ''Gradanski''), also known as 1. HŠK Građanski or fully ''Prvi hrvatski građanski športski klub'' (), was a Croatian football club established in Zagreb in 1911 and dissolved in 1945. Th ...

playing back then 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) ...

. In his first season with Građanski, he won the national title, but a year later he was back with HAŠK, and was part of HAŠK team that won the 1937–38 Yugoslav Football Championship. He won 2 Yugoslav championships in a row with two different clubs. He played with HAŠK until 1940 when he moved to Novi Sad and joined

FK Vojvodina Fudbalski klub Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Војводина), commonly known as Vojvodina and colloquially as Voša ( sr-Cyrl, Воша), is a Serbian professional football club based in Novi Sad, Serbia, the second large ...

. He was part of Vojvodina so called "Millioners" team that finished third in the 1940–41 Serbian League and was qualified for the final phase of the Yugoslav League, however due to the start of the Second World War the championship was cancelled. In 1941 the city of Novi Sad was occupied by Hungary. FK Vojvodina stopped their activities. Medarić for some time continued playing football with

NAK Novi Sad Novosadski atletski klub (NAK) (Serbian Cyrillic: Новосадски атлетски клуб, НАК; ) was a football club from Novi Sad that existed from 1910 until 1945. History Formed in 1910 while Novi Sad was still part of Austria-Hungar ...

, then known as Újvideki AC and playing in the Hungarian championship. Medarić was in the group of Vojvodina players that joined NAK, among them there was goalkeeper Plac, Marjanović, Avramović, Jovanović and Živković, in order to avoid problems or even being sent to labour (concentration) camps. Medarić was in danger because he had been a member of the

Yugoslav Communist Party The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...

since he was 20, and he has already been imprisoned for illegal activities during the pre-World War II period in the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

while he was a veterinary student in Zagreb. So in 1943 he left NAK and joined the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

in their fight against Axis forces. During the time he played with Ujvideki AC in the Hungarian championship, he was in the Hungarian press by the magyrized name of Mézes Iván. Immediately after the war, in 1945, he was among the first players of newly founded

NK Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

. He entered into the history of Dinamo as the first ever scorer of the club, when he scored the first goal in the match against the team of the

Yugoslav Air Force The Air Force and Air Defence ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Ратно ваздухопловство и противваздушна одбрана, Ratno vazduhoplovstvo i protivvazdušna odbrana ; abbr. sh-Cyrl-Latn, label=none, separator=/, РВ и ПВ� ...

, a 2:0 win, played on 23 June 1945. He later played one season with

FK Željezničar Sarajevo Fudbalski klub Željezničar Sarajevo ( sh-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Жељезничap Сарајево; English language, English: Football Club Željezničar Sarajevo), commonly referred to as Željo, is a professional Association fo ...

, before retiring in his home-town club

, known then as Naprijed.

International

Medarić was a right-winger, and besides 18 appearances for the team of Zagreb football subassociation, he played one game for the B team of Yugoslavia. He made his senior debut for

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

in an October 1937 Neighbours Cup match away against

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and earned a total of 3 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was an October 1939 friendly against

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

Managerial career

After retiring, he was a coach for some time at Naprijed and at

NK Lokomotiva Nogometni klub Lokomotiva Zagreb (), commonly known as Lokomotiva Zagreb or simply Lokomotiva, is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. It competes in the Croatian First Football League, the country's top division. Founded in 19 ...

. He was condecorated by the

Yugoslav Football Association The Football Association of Yugoslavia (FSJ) (, ; ; ) was the governing body of football in Yugoslavia, based in Belgrade, with a major administrative branch in Zagreb. It organized the Yugoslav First League, the Yugoslavia national football t ...

, and has lived in Zagreb until his death, on 30 November 1990.Ivan Medarić
at National-Football-Teams.com

Honours

;Građanski Zagreb *

: 1936–37 ;HAŠK *

: 1937–38

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Medaric, Ivan 1912 births 1990 deaths Footballers from Sisak People from the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers HNK Segesta players HAŠK players HŠK Građanski Zagreb players FK Vojvodina players NAK Novi Sad players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players FK Željezničar Sarajevo players Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav football managers FK Željezničar Sarajevo managers NK Lokomotiva Zagreb managers