Ico Hitrec
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ivan Hitrec | ||
| Date of birth | 13 April 1911 | ||
| Place of birth | Zagreb, Austria-Hungary | ||
| Date of death | 11 October 1946 (aged 35) | ||
| Place of death | Zagreb, FPR Yugoslavia | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1924-1927 | Ilirija Zagreb | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1927-1931 | HAŠK | ||
| 1931-1932 | Grasshopper Club Zürich | ||
| 1933 | Krajišnik Banja Luka | ||
| 1933 | Sparta Zagreb | ||
| 1933-1940 | HAŠK | ||
| National team | |||
| 1929-1939 | Kingdom of Yugoslavia | 14 | (10) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1945 | OSK Mladost | ||
| 1945-1946 | Dinamo Zagreb (assistant) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Ivan "Ico" Hitrec (13 April 1911 – 11 October 1946) is widely considered as the greatest Croatian football player before World War II.
The centre-forward became a legend after scoring twice against then famous Spanish keeper Ricardo Zamora during the first night game in Zagreb between Zagreb and Madrid in 1933. As one of the first Croatian international players, he went on to play for Grasshopper of Switzerland, and "Kicker", at the time the foremost sports journal in Europe, chose him as a member of the European elite 11.
Hitrec was also a goal-scorer for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia national team. He appeared in 14 international games and scored 9 goals in 7 of them. He was one of seven Croatian players to boycott the Yugoslavian national team at the 1930 FIFA World Cup after the Football Association of Yugoslavia was moved from Zagreb to Belgrade.
He was also the first technical officer and in his office in the Zagreb power-works in Gundulićeva street, the best players from Građanski met and discussed forming a new club with blue shirts which later became Dinamo Zagreb.
Hitrec was quoted as saying that he didn't like to perform 11m penalty kicks because they were "too close" (to the goal). He was able to sprint 100 meters in under 12 seconds which was quite fast given that the fastest sprinter at the time Jesse Owens ran the 100-meter dash in 10.30 seconds.
Honours
Grasshopper Club Zürich
- Swiss Cup (1932)
HAŠK
- Yugoslav First League (1937/1938)