Ico Hitrec

Ivan 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(1946-10-11) (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) was a Croatian-Yugoslavian football player.

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.[1][2]

Hitrec was 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.[1][2]

He was 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).[1][2]

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.[1][2]

Honours

Grasshopper Club Zürich

HAŠK

References

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