Ivan "Ivica" Horvat (16 July 1926 – 27 August 2012) was a Croatian professional football player and manager who capped for Yugoslavia. In 2004 he received the Croatian Olympic Committee's Matija Ljubek Award.[2]

Ivica Horvat
Personal information
Full name Ivan Horvat
Date of birth (1926-07-16)16 July 1926[1]
Place of birth Sisak, Kingdom of SCS
(now Croatia)
Date of death 27 August 2012(2012-08-27) (aged 86)[1]
Place of death Krk, Croatia
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Centre-back[1]
Youth career
1940–1945 Ferraria Zagreb
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1945–1957 Dinamo Zagreb 230 (2)
1957–1961 Eintracht Frankfurt 56 (0)
Total 286 (2)
International career
1946–1956 Yugoslavia 60 (0)
Managerial career
1961–1964 Eintracht Frankfurt (assistant)
1964–1965 Eintracht Frankfurt
1967–1968 Dinamo Zagreb
1970 PAOK
1971–1975 Schalke 04
1975–1976 Rot-Weiss Essen
1978–1979 Schalke 04
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Yugoslavia
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1952 Helsinki Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

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Club

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Horvat played from 1945 until 1957 for Dinamo Zagreb. In 1957 he moved to Germany to Eintracht Frankfurt, where he stayed until the end of his career.

International

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In the Yugoslavia national team Horvat appeared from 1946 until 1956 in 60 fixtures. He took part in the World Cup in 1950 and 1954.

He also played with the Yugoslav team at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki and won the silver medal.[3] In the final, Yugoslavia lost to the rising star of the 1950s, Hungary.

In the quarterfinals of the 1954 World Cup the Plavi lost due to an own goal from Horvat with 0–1. This goal was scored in the 10th minute and remained the fastest own goal in World Cup history until 2006 the Paraguayan Carlos Gamarra hit between his own posts against England after three minutes.

His final international was a November 1956 friendly match away against England.[4]

Managerial career

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From 1961 until 1979 Horvat worked as manager, in the beginning as assistant at Eintracht Frankfurt and became successor of the manager legend Paul Oßwald in 1964. But Frankfurt could not convince in the Bundesliga and Horvat was sacked in 1965. He was succeeded by Elek Schwartz.

With Dinamo Zagreb he won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the predecessor of the UEFA Cup, in 1967 in the final matches against Leeds United (2–0, 0–0) after previous manager Branko Zebec left club.

From 1971 he worked in the Bundesliga again, this time for FC Schalke 04, winning the DFB-Pokal in 1972 and becoming runner-up in the league. In 1975 Horvat moved to Rot-Weiss Essen, he stayed there until September 1976.

In the beginning of the 1978–1979 Horvat returned to Schalke but due to the team's bad performances and an embarrassing derby loss against Bochum he was fired in March. Thereupon Horvat finished his managing career.

Honours

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Player

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Dinamo Zegreb

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Eintracht Frankfurt

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Yugoslavia

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Manager

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Dinamo Zegreb

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Schalke 04

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Umro legendarni nogometaš Dinama Ivica Horvat". Jutarnji list (in Croatian). HINA. 28 August 2012. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  2. ^ "Ivica Horvat". Olympedia. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  3. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ivica Horvat". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  4. ^ "Player Database". EU-football. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
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