Marcel Žigante (1929 – 8 March 2015) was a Yugoslav and later Croatian professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

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 i ...

Playing career

Born in

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

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 ...

, present day

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 ...

, Žigante's

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 ...

career began in a small club called Šparta Zagreb in 1943. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he started playing for

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 ...

in 1945. He did not stay there for long though. First, Žigante went to

Čapljina Čapljina ( cyrl, Чапљина, ) is a city located in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located on the border with Croatia a mere from the Adriatic Sea. The rive ...

and then, in 1949, he joined

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

. He played there until 1955, during which time he collected 96 league appearances. Žigante then played with Radnički Beograd as they reached 3rd place in the

1955–56 Yugoslav First League The 1955–56 Yugoslav First League season was the tenth season of the First Federal League (Serbian: ''Prva savezna liga'', Croatian: ''Prva savezna liga''), the top level association football competition of SFR Yugoslavia, since its establishme ...

season. His next club was Sarajevo's fierce city rival Željezničar. He played in 41 league games and scored 11 goals for the club during his three-year tenure. Žigante decided to end his playing career in 1960 after leaving Željezničar. He is remembered as one of the best

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

s during the 1940s and 1950s in Yugoslavia.

Managerial career

Although he was a geography teacher as well, Žigante stayed in football as a manager. He was first manager of Famos Hrasnica (1962–1964) during which time they got promoted to the

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 ...

. After that, he was the manager of Rudar Kakanj (1964–1965) and Leotar (1965–1966). In 1966, Žigante returned to Željezničar where he was one of the creators of a great generation of players that won 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 1972 alongside

Milan Ribar Milan Ribar (21 November 1930 – 26 May 1996) was a Bosnian professional football manager and player. He is the only manager in Željezničar history to have won the Yugoslav First League. Playing career Ribar played for hometown club Želje ...

. He worked as the manager of Željezničar in the 1966–67 and 1967–68 seasons. In 1968, he became the new manager of

Bor Bor may refer to: Places Populated places * Bor (Tachov District), a town in Plzeň Region, Czech Republic * Bor, Petnjica, Montenegro * Bor, Russia, the name of many inhabited localities in Russia * Bor District, a district in Serbia ** Bor, Se ...

(1968–1972), which he promoted to the

in 1972. Žigante then managed

(1972–1973) and Čelik Zenica (1974–1975), with whom he won the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

Death

Žigante died on Sunday, 8 March 2015, in his hometown of

Honours

Manager

Bor *

: 1971–72 (East) Čelik Zenica *

(Joint Winner)

References

External links

*
Marcel Žigante
at nogomet.lzmk.hr {{DEFAULTSORT:Zigante, Marcel 1929 births 2015 deaths Footballers from Rijeka Men's association football wingers Yugoslav men's footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players HNK Čapljina players FK Sarajevo players FK Radnički Beograd players FK Željezničar Sarajevo players Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav Second League players Yugoslav football managers FK Famos Hrasnica managers FK Rudar Kakanj managers FK Leotar managers FK Željezničar Sarajevo managers FK Bor managers HNK Rijeka managers HNK Orijent managers NK Čelik Zenica managers Yugoslav First League managers