In memoriam - Željko Čajkovski

Legendary former Dinamo inside-forward, Željko Čajkovski died at the age od 92 in German city of Munich.

Čajkovski was born on May 5, 1925 in Zagreb. On club level he played from 1942 for HAŠK Zagreb and, after the dissolution of the club, from 1945 onward for Dinamo Zagreb. With Dinamo he won the championship titles of 1950 and 1954 as well as the 1951 cup tournament. In 1956 he joined the German first division club Werder Bremen for two seasons.

With the Yugoslavian national team he won the silver medal in the football tournament of the 1948 Olympics held in London, losing in the final 1-3 to Sweden, then starring the young Gunnar Nordahl, Gunnar Gren, and Nils Liedholm. In the qualification for the 1950 World Cup he scored in December 1949 the winning goal in the 114th minute of the decisive match against France. Together with his brother Zlatko he was in the side that won its 1950 FIFA World Cup matches against Switzerland and Mexico, to which he contributed a goal. A 0-2 defeat against hosts and eventual runners up Brazil, however, put an end to the Yugoslav campaign.