Ivica Osim obituary

04-May-2022 16:02:13 | The Guardian

Bosnian footballer and coach who won 16 caps playing for Yugoslavia and went on to manage Japan’s national team

The Bosnian footballer and manager Ivica Osim, who has died aged 80, was perhaps most famous for resigning in bitterness as coach of Yugoslavia on the eve of the European Championship finals in 1992, protesting at the Serbian bombardment of his native city, Sarajevo. Declaring that “my country doesn’t deserve to play in the European Championship”, he walked out, never to return.

Osim did not at any point regret the decision, and said at the time that “on the scale of human suffering, I cannot reconcile events at home with my position as national manager”. In any case, Yugoslavia were soon expelled from the finals due to their war-torn status, and their place was taken at the last moment by Denmark, who went on to win the tournament.