Franjo Džidić

Franjo Džidić is famous footballer and football coach from Mostar, Bosnia and Hercegovina.

He is inscribed in history as the man who brought the first national crown championship victory to a city on the Neretva river. The victory was even more immense due to the fact that it was won during 2005, which marked the hundredth anniversary of HŠK Zrinjski.

Playing career

He started with football in 1955. His father was a miner and lived in a mining colony beside the former Velez grounds (today's "Old Veležovo" or "Old Playground", a neighborhood in the city of Mostar) and began to train in a football school then Velez. Then, at that time there were only juniors, so he played in the junior selection until 1958.

In 1958 he took his first appearance for the first composition of Velez and he was the first junior in his generation who appeared for the first team. The backbone of the former Velez were: Barbaric, Dilberović, Radiljević, Handžić, Zelenika and Mujić. It was a great football generation, but since the Velez was provincial team it was hard to make football a stable environment. The biggest success of his generation happened in 1966 when they shared with Dinamo Zagreb second and third place, while the state champion was FK Vojvodina Novi Sad.

In Velež he played until 1969 and then went to Borac Čapljina where he remained for three seasons. He had some offers to go abroad, but still remains in Mostar, where he remained until the end of his playing career. FK Borac Čapljina then enters the second division, it was huge success.

In Borac he played until 1972, when he received a call from the leadership of the then Youth Lištica to play and coach. He played for the Mladost then and also trained them for two seasons. The first year they entered the republic in the regional league, and entered in qualifying for the second division West, but it was then too big bite for the environment. Former gain for the city is building of the ground Pecara that exists today in Siroki Brijeg.

Managerial career

After that followed a train of Mostar Lokomotiva and Borac Čapljina and then for six years was an assistant coach in Velez. He was assisted Vukasin Višnjevac, Milos Milutinovic and Muhamed Mujic, with Militinović have won Cup in 1981 and its first trophy passed in Mostar at the federal level. One year he was also a soccer instructor at the level of BiH, and then went to Trebinje to coach FK Leotar.

In Trebinje, was four years in Leotar made a remarkable success. Trebinje is enriched for football and created plenty of players who later earned a football reputation and knowledge. Basically he took the players from Mostar, who could not play in Velez Leotard and have gained prominence. These were: Rahimic, Lucic, Roncevic and Stipe Juric, and after 4 years in Trebinje returned to Mostar.

After that he went to Iskra Bugojno with which enters into the first league and that is retained two years. Then returned to the Velez team consisting of: Kodro, Gude, Josko Popovic, a first steps then made also Igor Musa. He was also the last coach of Velež before the war.

After the war, first went to Šibenik, where practicing self-titled club in the first Croatian soccer league. After Šibenik, he did a half-season in NK Samobor, which was then in second division, and then returned to Mostar. Then he took HNK Cim soon and won first place in the Second Football League of Herceg-Bosna, without losing a game. From Cim he went to NK Široki Brijeg and in two seasons he won two first places. After that he comes to Zrinjski, and then goes one half season to HNK Redarstvenik on loan. What followed was a trip to HNK Ljubuški, and then again back to Široki Brijeg, where he was coach of a youth academy.

Franjo Džidić for the first time led Zrinjski when they were qualifying for the championship of Bosnia and Herzegovina. From the first football league in Herceg-Bosna, Zrinjski and Široki went to Sarajevo, where they waited for FK Sarajevo and NK Čelik Zenica. Zrinjski in the final competition suffered two defeats. Afterwards, he took Zrinjski football school and was head of the profession. Again came the departure to the Široki one year and then he returned to Zrinjski.

In 2005 he won first place in the football Premier League of BiH and it went down in history as the first title of state champion who came to Mostar. Success is even bigger as the champion title was won in 2005, when club celebrated its hundredth anniversary. Zrinjski then had an exceptional generation of young players like Rajović, Karlogan, Milošević, Džidić, Vidić, Smajić, Mitrović, and all others who then played.

Since then, the club is at the top of the game and each year is in qualifying for European club competitions. In qualifying for the Champions League ignominiously ends as there wasn't enough time to form a new team (seven standard players left the club) and subsequently resigns. Following the resignation he takes club's football school, where he is today. He is head of the youth facility there. Since in soccer school, Zrinjski juniors are constantly at the top, they won a national title and the Junior League of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

See also

• HŠK Zrinjski Mostar

References

• Zrinjski.info