It was a fascinating journey: as an outstanding defender, he moved from Dinamo to Eintracht, where he ended his playing career and immediately took on a coaching role, then moved from Eintracht's bench to – Dinamo's. The celebrated Maksimir defender and coach Ivica Horvat left us forever on August 27, 2012, in his 87th year.

After winning two championship titles and a Cup with the Blues, he continued his career at Eintracht. He also claimed a championship title there. However, the most special excitement followed in his coaching career.

He was eliminated in the semi-final but won in the – final! Horvat's example is probably unique in football history. In the legendary second leg of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-final in 1967, Horvat sat on the bench at Maksimir Stadium – for Eintracht. He was serving as assistant to Eintracht's head coach Elek Schwartz at the time.

Moreover, Horvat dedicated the last two seasons of his playing career to Eintracht, after spending a full 12 years at Dinamo. Later, he also developed his coaching knowledge at the Frankfurt club. He took the bench as head coach in April 1964 and led the team in the final stages of the first Bundesliga season. German football had previously been played on a regional basis, where the best teams from individual regions would play off for the national championship, which was ultimately decided by a final match on neutral ground. The unified Bundesliga was formed in the summer of 1963, and at the end of that inaugural season, Horvat took Eintracht's bench and independently led the team for the following year.

Later he remained in the coaching staff as assistant to new strategist Schwartz and in that role faced the matches against Dinamo. While the Germans celebrated the end of the first semi-final match against Dinamo, winning 3-0, it was Horvat who publicly warned that this result didn't yet mean progression to the final and that the return leg could be fiery.

The Germans only understood his warning after Dinamo outplayed them in the return leg and stormed into the final with a 4-0 victory. And Horvat? He exchanged his role as Schwartz's assistant at Eintracht for the position of Dinamo's head coach after Branko Zebec left, having parted ways with the club management and departed Maksimir.

So, Horvat led the team in two final matches against Leeds United and claimed the biggest trophy in the club's history. His greatest coaching move in his career was – introducing teenager Marijan Čerček in the final. Without hesitation, he included him in the starting eleven in the final itself, and he repaid the trust – with a goal against Leeds. It was precisely that Čerček goal for 1-0 that directed the trophy towards the Maksimir trophy cabinets.

Horvat sat on the Blues' bench for a full three seasons, until the summer of 1970 when he was replaced by Zlatko 'Čik' Čajkovski, his partner from the tightest defense in the famous Olympic national team from 1952.

In three years on Dinamo's bench, alongside winning the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final, Horvat also claimed the Cup Winners' Cup in 1969. The Maksimir team was then close to winning the double crown. In the spring part of the competition, Dinamo was at the top of the table with a five-point lead over their closest followers, Red Star. However, narrow defeats against Proleter in Zrenjanin and Hajduk in Split, and soon after against OFK Belgrade in Zagreb, pulled the Blues down to second place.

Horvat was born on July 16, 1926, in Sisak, and joined Dinamo in 1945. Previously, he had played for Zagreb's Ferraria. As a player, he won championship titles with Dinamo in 1948 and 1954, plus the Cup Winners' Cup in 1951. His equally popular brother Drago also participated in all these successes. He recorded his last appearance on a tour of Brazil in 1957 when he marked the then 17-year-old Pelé. For the Blues, he played 507 matches and scored 28 goals.

Horvat earned 60 caps for the Yugoslav national team, playing in two World Cups – 1950 and 1954. In between, in 1952, he won an Olympic silver medal. He ended his playing career in Germany, and in his coaching career, alongside the mentioned episodes at Eintracht and Dinamo, he also managed Schalke and Rot Weiss Essen.