Miroslav Brozović has passed away
For a whole decade he was at the Zagreb club, where with his solid stature, aggressive approach, and brilliant technical performance, he anchored the defence and won three championship titles. He played for the blues during the Građanski era, briefly played under the Dinamo name, but in those early post-war days he moved to Partizan. The popular Miroslav Brozović, affectionately nicknamed Meho by the Zagreb fans, left us forever on November 5, 2006, in his 90th year.
He was born on August 26, 1917, in Mostar. Already in his childhood days in his hometown, he tried his hand at numerous sports - tennis, football, athletics... He first played for JŠK from Mostar, then for Zrinjski, also a club from his hometown, and at the age of 18 he moved to Zagreb's Građanski. As soon as he arrived, during his introduction at training in 1935, his teammates, without any particular reason, came up with the nickname Meho.
"Coach Anton Toni Ringer introduced me to the players: 'We've got a young lad from Mostar, Mira Brozović.' One of them called out: 'He's not Miro, he's Meho!' And from then on everyone knew me as Meho!", Brozović recalled.
During those 10 years among the Zagreb players, he was one of the main guarantors in the defensive line and made a strong contribution in the hunt for trophies. Moreover, on the path to the 1937 championship title, he also signed an important sequence in the attacking part when Građanski defeated their main rival at the time, Jugoslavija from Belgrade, on home soil. It was 4-2, and Brozović scored twice.
Shortly after the war, he had to move to Partizan before playing for Sarajevo in 1948, where he simultaneously held the role of both player and coach. He spent five seasons there and ended his playing career in 1953.
He earned 17 caps for the Yugoslav national team, serving as captain at the 1948 Olympics in London where they won the silver medal. Previously, he had earned the same number, 17 caps, for the Banovina of Croatia and NDH national teams, where he also briefly served as captain.
After ending his playing career, he was extremely successful as a coach as well. Moreover, in 1967 he led Sarajevo to the championship title, ahead of Dinamo. In that season, Sarajevo and Dinamo were fighting for first place, and the key moment that directed Sarajevo towards the title was their mutual match in Zagreb where they played 0-0 in the penultimate round. In the end, Sarajevo finished two points ahead of second-placed Dinamo.
After the end of the championship, Brozović was considered as a possible successor to Branko Zebec on Dinamo's bench.