The Croatian Football Association announced today on Wednesday that Legendary Croatian football coach Miroslav ‘Ćiro’ Blažević, who led Croatia to bronze at the 1998 World Cup in France, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 88. Affectionally known by his nickname, Ćiro was born in Travnik in Bosnia and Hercegovina on 10 February in 1935. He started playing football at the Bratstvo club in Travnik.  The Bosnia and Herzegovina-born star played for the likes of Dinamo Zagreb, Lokomotiv Zagreb, FK Sarajevo, HNK Rijeka, and Swiss teams FC Sion and FC Moutier during his 12-year playing career from 1954. However, undoubtedly his crowning moment came two years later when he secured a third-place finish at the 1998 World Cup. Blazevic, who would have turned 88 on Friday, had a long managerial career across Europe which lasted from 1968 right up until 2015. He enjoyed a playing career spanned from 1954 to 1966, during which he played for Dinamo Zagreb, Lokomotiva Zagreb, FK Sarajevo, HNK Rijeka, and Swiss clubs FC Sion and FC Moutier.  After his career as a player in the former Yugoslavia and Switzerland, "Chiro" began his coaching career in 1968 in Switzerland, especially as the head of the technical management of Sion Club which led him to win the Swiss Cup in 1974.