This Tuesday marked one long and sorrowful year since we lost forever one of the symbols of the Purgers' club, our celebrated player and later head coach, the dear and unforgettable Rudolf Belin.

To mark the occasion, a Dinamo delegation led by Honorary President Velimir Zajec, together with Belin's son Kristijan, laid flowers and lit candles at our Rudi's final resting place in the Alley of the Greats at Mirogoj.

A headstone is currently being made in line with the original sketch and design, and we trust that it will soon receive a monument worthy of his character and legacy, to the pride of his family, the club, his friends, and all his supporters and admirers.

Our Rudi followed events at his beloved club in detail until his very last moment. He lived every match with great emotion, kept watch over the results and over every move made by his successors in the blue jersey. That love bound us together until his final day.

He is one of Dinamo's greatest players of all time, a footballer with style, and a key figure in the celebrated generation that won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1967, a competition that later grew into the UEFA Cup, today's Europa League.

Our dear Rudi left us the day before his 83rd birthday... Belin was a gentleman of our football. That is what the media and supporters called him, and teammates and opponents alike used the same words for him. He was a football aesthete who tried himself in almost every role except goalkeeper. Even back when he played in central defence, he won the ball back elegantly, without committing fouls.

He was born in Zagreb on 4 November 1942, the youngest of three brothers. The eldest, Roland, ended his career relatively early, while Bruno was one of the football stars of the league at the time and Rudi's first role model, both in sport and in life. Sadly, Bruno Belin died in a traffic accident when he was not yet 33.

Even as a junior, Rudi stood out for his superb penalties and free kicks, which remained something of a trademark throughout his career. In the Blues' youth ranks he played as a half-back, then as a deep-lying playmaker, later as a right-back and then as a defensive midfielder... At the start of his Maksimir career, he established himself at right-back.

In the 1963/'64 season, he was named Yugoslavia's best player in the Sportske novosti daily's poll. In March 1966 he left for military service, and he rejoined the team in the spring part of the 1967 season, on the eve of the historic ties against Juventus in the quarter-finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. And what a return it was. In the second leg in Zagreb against Juventus, he scored from a free kick into the top corner. The Blues won 3-0.

The most important goal of his career was probably the one he scored in the legendary second leg against Eintracht in Zagreb, where the Blues were chasing a three-goal deficit from the first match. And it was Belin who, with a penalty in extra time, in the 102nd minute, coolly rippled the net for the final 4-0 and a historic celebration.

After finishing his playing career, Belin also became head coach of the Blues. He led the first team in three spells: in the 1977/'78 season, then in August and September 1983, and at the end of the 1989 season. He was also assistant to Miroslav Ćiro Blažević on the road to the unforgettable league title in 1982.

He played for Dinamo from 1959 to 1970, and with the Blues reached two Inter-Cities Fairs Cup finals: in 1963 they lost to Valencia, while in 1967 they won the trophy with a victory over Leeds United. With the Blues he also won the Yugoslav Cup in 1963, 1965 and 1969.

He played 410 matches for Dinamo, scoring 74 goals. He also played for Belgian side Beerschot from 1970 to 1974. For the Yugoslav national team, he made 29 appearances and scored six goals.