Anniversary Of The Death Of Arguably Croatia’s Finest Ever Footballer

Today marks the 30th anniversary since the death of Croatian footballer Bernard Vukas, whom many consider is the greatest player Croatia has ever produced.

Vukas, who finished his career with Hajduk Split was voted by the Croatian Football Federation as the best Croatian player of all time in 2000. He has also been voted at best Croatian athlete of the 20th century by local media polls.

Vukas was renowned for his unbelievable dribbling skills, and many who were fortunate to watch him claim that he was the Lionel Messi of his day. In 1953 Vukas played alongside fellow Croats Branko Zebec, Vladimir Beara and Zlatko Cajkovski for the FIFA Rest of the World team against England at Wembley.

Streets in both Croatia’s capital Zagreb and Split have been named after Vukas, who started his career with Concordia Zagreb. He also played for NK Zagreb, AC Bologna, Grazer AK, Kapfenberger SV, Austria Klagenfurt and Hajduk Split. He also represented Yugoslavia 59 times, scoring 22 times and winning 2 Olympic silver medals.