(E) Former Derby County defender opens hotel in Croatia
Former Derby County defender opens hotel in Croatia
(13 June 2006 15:52)
Former Derby County defender Igor Stimac has opened a £10m hotel in his home country of Croatia, and is preparing to welcome some of England's national team to the hotel after the World Cup.
Reopening the 111-year-old hotel Therapia in Crikvenica in the northern Adriatic last week, Stimac said Frank Lampard and Joe Cole were set to spend their holidays there after the tournament.
"I expect more celebrities,” he said at the launch of the hotel he bought two-and-a-half years ago.
The four-star Therapia was built in 1895, when Franz Josef ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
It has 113 rooms, several apartments, two restaurants, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a massage centre, a dance terrace and tennis and miniature golf courses.
Besides playing for Derby County and West Ham, Stimac won the bronze medal with the Croatian national team at World Cup 1998 in France.
