Legendary football player Hajduk and national team player Yugoslavia Ivan Gudelj died at the age of 67.
He was a famous football player of Hajduk and an exceptional talent who was on the verge of signing a contract with Real Madrid. During the negotiations, he learned that he was suffering from hepatitis B, which forced him to end his football career at the age of 26.
Who was Ivan Gudelj?
Gudelj played 362 games for Hajduk and scored 93 goals. With the Split club, he won the Championship of Yugoslavia in 1979 and the Cup of Yugoslavia in 1984. With Hajduk, he also achieved great European success, reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1984 and the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup in 1980.
He recorded 33 appearances and three goals for the Yugoslav national team, playing at the 1980 Olympic Games, the 1982 World Cup and the 1984 European Championship.
He was declared the best young player in Europe in 1979, when he won the U19 European Championship with the Yugoslav national team.
Then he became the youngest captain in the history of the Yugoslav national team and a member of the ideal team at the World Cup in Spain in 1982. He scored one goal at the World Cup in Spain.
Hepatitis instead of Real Madrid
Gudelj had to leave football at the age of 26 after being diagnosed with hepatitis B just as he was about to sign a contract with Real Madrid, while Barcelona and Bordeaux were also inquiring about him during that period.
After feeling a sharp pain in his muscles, Gudelj collapsed during the match between Hajduk and Crvena Zvezda at Poljud Stadium. It was his last game, and soon after he was diagnosed with hepatitis.
Life after football
After the end of his playing career, he stayed with football. He graduated from the Faculty of Kinesiology and worked as a coach.
He coached Primorac from Stobreฤ, Zadar, Dubrovnik and Austrian Vorwerc ล tajr, worked with junior national teams, and during the 2005/06 season he briefly took over the first team of Hajduk.
A documentary film, Ivan's Game, was made about his life, which tells about his football career and his fight with hepatitis.
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