Zvonimir Boban (born October 8, 1968 , Imotsky ) is a Yugoslav and Croatian footballer , sports journalist and functionary. Bronze medalist of the 1998 World Cup in the Croatian national team .
 Zvonimir Boban | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| general information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Zorro, Zvone | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Imotsky , Yugoslavia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Citizenship |  SFRY  Croatia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Growth | 184 cm | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | midfielder | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club Information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club |  Milan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | football director | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Awards and medals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Now - the head of the football department of the Italian club " Milan " [2] . From 2016 to 2019, he served as the Deputy Secretary General of FIFA .
Club career
He made his debut in 1985 at the Dynamo club (Zagreb) . He became a member of the youth team of Yugoslavia, who won the world championship among youths in 1987, and after that at the age of 18 he became the youngest captain in the history of Zagreb Dynamo (in 2001, this record was broken by Niko Kranjčar ).
Boban became the national hero of Croatia after the episode of May 13, 1990, when the match in Zagreb between the local Dynamo and Belgrade's Red Star turned into a massacre between the fans. After the police intervened in the skirmishes, Boban also intervened in a fight and hit a policeman who hit one of Dynamo fans. This story fell into the spotlight of the public, excited by the recent victory of supporters of the transformation of Yugoslavia into a confederation in the elections in Croatia, and is considered one of the episodes in the development of the intra-Yugoslav crisis that led to the civil war. Boban was disqualified by the Yugoslav Football Federation for 6 months and was unable to take part in the 1990 World Cup final tournament. The 1990/91 season was the last for Croatian teams to participate in the Yugoslav Championship, where Dynamo finished second and Boban scored 15 goals in 26 matches.
In the summer of 1991, he accepted the offer of Milan , the amount of compensation amounted to 8 million euros [3] . At that time, the Italian teams were allowed to declare only three legionnaires, so the club decided not to take risks and give Boban the opportunity to adapt to his new championship, playing for Bari . Following the results of Series A 1991/92, Bari took 15th place and left the top division, but the quality of Boban’s game convinced the Milan leadership to let him start the next season in a red and black T-shirt. From that moment, he played for Milan for nine consecutive seasons, moving from a substitute to one of the team’s key players. In August 2001, it was again leased out, this time in the Celta performing in the Spanish Example. However, having difficulty getting into the starting lineup of the new club, Boban decided to end his professional career in October of that year, shortly after his 33rd birthday [4] .
National Teams
In 1987, he won the World Cup with the youth team of Yugoslavia, playing in 6 matches and scoring 3 goals. According to the results of the voting, he took second place in the list of the best championship players, losing only to his teammate.
From 1988 to 1990, he played 7 matches and scored 1 goal for the adult national team of Yugoslavia.
After the collapse of Yugoslavia, he played 51 matches with the Croatian national team, including at the European and World Championships . On his account 12 goals scored.
After completing a gaming career
By his own admission, he does not want to become a coach, as he "donated a lot of nerves to football as a player."
Boban was involved in sports journalism, wrote articles for the Croatian sports newspaper Sportske novosti , was a columnist at La Gazzetta dello Sport , commented on football matches for Italian and Croatian television. He also owns a bar in Zagreb called Boban [3] .
On May 30, 2016, Boban was appointed FIFA Deputy Secretary General [5] .
In the summer of 2019, Zvonimir left FIFA to return to Milan as a club manager [6] .
Achievements
- World Champion among players under 20 years of age in Yugoslavia (1987)
- The best player in Croatia (1991, 1999)
- Four-time Serie A winner as part of AC Milan (1992/93, 1993/94, 1995/96, 1998/99)
- Champions League winner as part of AC Milan (1993/94)
- UEFA Super Cup winner in the Milan squad (1994)
- Bronze medalist of the world championship in the national team of Croatia (1998)
Personal life
He holds the degree of professor of historical sciences at the University of Zagreb . Owns a restaurant in the center of Zagreb. He works as a sports analyst on Croatian and Italian television. In his free time he plays tennis. His friend is the famous Croatian tennis player Goran Ivanishevich .
Since 1994, married to Leonard Boban. The couple has 5 children, 4 of whom are foster children.
Notes
- ↑ Transfermarkt.com - 2000.
- ↑ OFFICIAL: Boban left FIFA for the sake of Milan . Sports.ru. Date of treatment June 18, 2019.
- ↑ 1 2 Legend of Calcio: Zvonimir Boban . Forza Italian Football (5 July 2015). Date of treatment December 16, 2017.
- ↑ Boban retires . BBC Sport (October 16, 2001). Date of treatment December 16, 2017.
- ↑ Homewood, Brian. Former Croatia captain Boban given high-ranking FIFA role . Reuters (May 30, 2016). Date of treatment March 10, 2019.
- ↑ OFFICIAL: Boban left FIFA for the sake of Milan . Sports.ru. Date of treatment June 18, 2019.