Former Bosnia coach Ivica Osim dies aged 80

Ivica Osim, a former Bosnian player and coach who headed the last Yugoslavia squad before the country violently disintegrated in the 1990s, died on Sunday at the age of 80, according to local media.

The Sarajevo-born Osim died in Graz, Austria, the BHRT television channel reported.

“Osim will be remembered as the legendary ‘Strauss from Grbavica’, a top football player and coach, but also as a great man and patriot, with unique charisma and moral qualities,” the chairman of Bosnia’s joint presidency, Sefik Dzaferovic, said.

Osim was dubbed ‘Strauss from Grbavica’ in reference to the Bosnian neighbourhood where he grew up.

A midfielder, he started his professional career in 1959 with Zeljeznicar Sarajevo where he played for 11 years across two spells.

In 1970 he left for France where he played for Strasbourg, Sedan and Valenciennes.

Osim started his coaching career in 1978 with Zeljeznicar.

He was in charge of a superb Yugoslavia team at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, reaching the quarter-finals before losing in a penalty shootout to Diego Maradona’s Argentina.

When Serbian forces began bombing Sarajevo at the start of Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war, Osim, barely holding back the tears, told Serb journalists that he hoped they would remember “that I come from Sarajevo”.

Later in his career, he worked as a coach for Partizan Belgrade, Panathinaikos, Sturm Graz, JEF United, and Japan.