Slavko Šajber (25 February 1929 – 3 November 2003) was a

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 ...

n politician,

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 ...

official and former president of the

Football Association of Yugoslavia 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 ...

Early life

Šajber was born in Gradina, near

Virovitica Virovitica () is a Croatian city near the Hungary, Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,688, with 21,291 people in the municipality (census 2011). I ...

, to a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish family, . His family suffered terrible devastation during the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, 37 of its 42 members have been killed by

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...

Business career and sports administration

From an early age he worked at the

Rade Končar Rade Končar ( sr-cyr, Раде Кончар; 6 August or 28 October 1911 – 22 May 1942) was a Serbs of Croatia, Croatian Serb politician and leader of the Yugoslav Partisans in the Independent State of Croatia and Governorate of Dalmatia, ...

factory where he started as a laborer. While working he completed his undergraduate studies, getting a bachelor's degree in economics at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

. For many years he was director of the Slavija Lloyd insurance company. In November 1976, as a general secretary of the

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, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

city committee, he renamed KK Lokomotiva into

KK Cibona Košarkaški klub Cibona, commonly referred to as Cibona Zagreb or simply Cibona, is a men's professional basketball club based in Zagreb, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Association, and compete ...

. That same year Šajber started the project of creating a great basketball team with KK Cibona, and has gathered main sponsors for the club, four Croatia-based food industry giants:

Kraš Kraš () is a Croatian food company based in Zagreb, specializing in confectionery products. In 2012, Kraš was, after Podravka, the second largest Croatian exporter of food. History The company traces its origins from two factories from the ear ...

, Franck, Badel and Voće. After that KK Cibona begins its climb to the European throne, in 1985 and 1986 club has won the

Euroleague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

. Šajber is most remembered when he, as president of the Football Association of Yugoslavia, overturned the last round of 1985-1986 Yugoslav First League championship due to widespread match fixing. After the last week was played,

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; ), often referred to in English as Partizan Belgrade, is a Serbian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Belgrade. It forms ...

was crowned champion due to better goal difference than second-placed

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

. However, after weeks of public pressure and huge public outcry, on 20 June 1986, the Yugoslav FA presidency headed by Šajber decided to impose extraordinary measures that included the following: *voiding the already played week 34 matches of the 1985–86 season and ordering a replay of every single one (nine fixtures in total) *docking 6 points from each of the 12 clubs suspected of being involved in match-fixing, meaning they would start the following league season (1986–87) with -6 points Each club agreed to play the replay except for FK Partizan. As a result, its week 34 fixture was registered as a 0–3 loss, and the club was thus stripped of the league title, which was now awarded to Red Star. After the introduction of multy-party political system and the 1990 parliamentary elections in Croatia, Šajber withdrew from public life.

Death

Šajber died after long

illness A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...

on 3 November 2003 in Zagreb, and was buried at the

Mirogoj Cemetery The Mirogoj City Cemetery (, ), also known as Mirogoj Cemetery (), is a cemetery park that is considered to be among the more noteworthy landmarks in the city of Zagreb. The cemetery inters members of all religious groups: Catholic, Orthodox, M ...

. Gradska groblja Zagreb: Slavko Šajber, Mirogoj RKT-165A-KAZETA-62

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sajber, Slavko 1929 births 2003 deaths` Sportspeople from Virovitica Croatian Jews Football people in Yugoslavia Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery Members of the Central Committee of the 10th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia Members of the Central Committee of the 11th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia