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 »  Home  »  Sports  »  Miroslav Blazevic 1935-2023 legendary Croatian football trainer
 »  Home  »  In Memoriam  »  Miroslav Blazevic 1935-2023 legendary Croatian football trainer
 »  Home  »  Education  »  Miroslav Blazevic 1935-2023 legendary Croatian football trainer
Miroslav Blazevic 1935-2023 legendary Croatian football trainer
By Nenad N. Bach and Darko Žubrinić | Published  02/9/2023 | Sports , In Memoriam , Education | Unrated
Ćiro Blažević was born in the town of Travnik in Bosnia and Herzegovina


Mr. Miroslav Ćiro Blažević (with microphone) actively participated at the conference Branding Croatia 2 in 2016 in Zagreb,
organized by Petar Ćurić, Nenad Bach and the Croatian Heritage Foundation. Photo by Tomislav Čuveljak.


Dr. Franjo Tuđman, the first president of the Republic of Croatia, H. E. Dr. Smiljan Šimac, ambassador of the Republic of Croatia in Paris,
with Miroslav Ćiro Blažević, Croatian coach, in Paris in 1998.
Dr. Franjo Tuđman with Miroslav Ćiro Blažević, and to the right of Mr. Blažević
are a few members of Croatian national team: Aljoša Asanović, Robert Jarni, Igor Štimac, and Davor Šuker.



Croatian sensation in France 1998

Miroslav Ćiro Blažević was a legendary trainer of Croatian football representation. Under his leadership, it won sensational third place at the 1998 UEFA World Championship in Paris. Known as a very social and intelligent person, he was not only a great sports trainer, but also a great psychologist, able to communicate with masses and individually. He always expressed his opinion very openly, and did not hesitate to enter into discussions, sometimes very heated. Despite this, he always behaved like a gentleman, keeping his human integrity unaffected.


Ćiro Blažević in France in 1998, with a French police cap

He had a great admiration and respect for dr. Franjo Tuđman, the first president of the Republic of Croatia.


Miroslav Ćiro Blažević and Dr. Franjo Tuđman, president of the Republic of Croatia,
in Paris in 1998.

Miroslav Blažević, nicknamed Ćiro, was born in the lovely town of Travnik in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he completed his primary school, and a secondary school, which was the then high quality Jesuit Gymnasium (Isusovačka gimnazija, Travnik). His parents wanted him to be a priest, but he was destinied to become world class football trainer.


A short biography of Miroslav Ćiro Blažević

Due to his leadership, Croatian football representation became universaly known. Under his baton, his team was composed of world class sportsmen such as Davor Šuker, Zvonimir Boban, Slaven Bilić, Robert Jarni, Robert Prosinečki, Igor Štimac, and others.

Luka Modrić and Miroslav Ćiro Blažević

Zlatko Dalić, also born in BiH, considers himself to be a student of Ćiro Blažević, and when in 2018 Croatian national football team won the second place, Ćiro Blažević was extremely pleased, since Dalić surpassed the 1988 success of Blažević.

In 2022, Croatian national team had a huge success again by winning the third place, upon which Ćiro Blažević said that this success prolonged his life, since at that time he was already mortally ill. Zlatko Dalić dedicated his bronze medal to his idol - Miroslav Ćiro Blažević.


Illuminating lecture delivered by Miroslav Ćiro Blažević
(you can include the English subtitles - go to the Settings wheel).
In addition to his undeniable football knowledge, he's best known for his motivational skills and interesting media appearances. Don't miss a chance to hear a guy who was voted (by other managers) as the best football manager in the World. Popular Ćiro told us a story about a magical power of team motivation and shared his unique approach with us.

The town of Travnik (in Bosnia and Herzegovina), where Miroslav Blažević was born, is also the birthplace of

  • Ivo Andrić, Nobel Prize winner for literature (one among three Croatian Nobel Prize laureates)
  • Sena Jurinac, distingished Croatian opera singer.

During various periods of time, Ćiro Blažević was coaching not only Croatian national team (1994-200), but also national teams of Switzerland (1976), Iran (2001), of his native Bosnia and Herzegovina (2008-2009), and of China (2010-2011).



Two outstanding football trainers: Miroslav Ćiro Blažević with Zlatko Dalić and his wife.
Photo by Vjeran Žganec-Rogulja/Pixell.
Davor Šuker and Ćiro Blažević with a French police cap in his hand





Watch Ćiro laughing, crying, swearing and sending a message: Help us!

In the last eight years, Meeting G2 organized 8 conferences with 47 panels and 250 panelists, we presented 42 Croatian start-ups, gathered more than 1100 participants from 34 countries of the world, and helped 340 business people from Croatian diaspora connect with almost 300 Croatian companies, business trips were organized for guests from the diaspora, presenting the economic potential of Osijek, Rijeka, Gospić, Zadar and Zagreb. It's hard to single out the most memorable and interesting panel, but this time we're making an exception to honor our one-of-a-kind soccer coach.

Ćiro Blažević wearing a French police cap.

This Wednesday, 2 days ago, the celebrated Croatian football coach Miroslav Blažević, better known simply as Ćiro, was buried at the Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb. A man who left no one indifferent, a man who attracted attention wherever he appeared, a man who was loved by everyone, both politicians and media and athletes and ordinary people because he himself was an ordinary man.


Miroslav Ćiro Blažević - Meeting G2.3 (November 2017.)

He was born in Travnik in BiH way back in 1935. and he died after due to long and serious illness last week in Zagreb, at the age of 88, just a few days before his birthday.

At his funeral, among tens of thousands of people, the entire Croatian football world gathered, because Ćiro lived football until the last day of his life. However, history will always remember him for two of his greatest successes:

  • the third place and the bronze medal of the Croatian football team at the World Cup in France in 1998. with the generation of famous Vatreni, led by Šuker, Boban, Prosinečki, Ladić, Jarni, Vlaović and others...
  • winning the championship of the former Yugoslavia with Zagreb's Dinamo in 1982 - when Ćiro became famous for his white scarf, and Dinamo additionally built the status of a symbol of the national resistance of Croats against communist Yugoslavia.

We will not talk about Ćiro's rich biography on this occasion, because these days in the Croatian media a lot could be heard, seen and learned about him. We want to remember Ćiro as our dear guest because in 2017 he participated in our conference MEETING G2.3 where he - as a panelist, in the company of several other legendary Croatian athletes - put on a real show!

That year, we organized the third MEETING G2 conference, and as part of it we also held a panel entitled: "Ball and tie - the perfect business combination or How globally famous Croatian athletes can help the Croatian economy". The panelists were: tennis player Iva Majoli, water polo player Dubravko Šimenc, table tennis player Zoran Primorac, swimmer Gordan Kožulj and Ante Bogdanić as an expert in sports branding. However, the main star of the panel moderated by Božo Skoko was certainly - Miroslav Ćiro Blažević.

We tried to search our rich archive, and managed to find a video with Ćiro's answers!

Watch it yourself, listen:

  • what he said about the famous Vatreni and 1998 and our first WC
  • why did he cry when he mentioned Franjo Tuđman
  • why he cursed several times
  • what was his message to Croatian diaspora
  • discover that back in the fall of 2017, Ćiro visionary told Modrić and the national team that they could be the first in the world, and the next summer in Russia, Croatia played in the World Cup final!!! Ćiro - a visionary and an eternal optimist!

To him be eternal glory! May he rest in peace in his eternal home in Croatia, country that he loved so much…

Many thanks to Mara Vitols Hrgetić and Josip Hrgetić for having organized a conference
to which Miroslav Ćiro Blažević was invited as a special guest in 2017.


Ivana Marija Vidović from Dubrovnik, distinguished Croatian pianist and poet,
founder and director of the Epidaurus Festival in Cavtat, with Miroslav Ćiro Blažević in the city of Zagreb.
Many thanks to Ivana for sending us the photos.


Miroslav Ćiro Blažević in the middle, with Petar Ćurić and Nenad Bach,
in 2016 in Croatia's capital Zagreb. Photo by Tomislav Čuveljak.



Croatians in Peru in 2018


Croatians in Peru in 2022



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