To use this site, please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page.
This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content, and analyzing our website traffic. By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies.
Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo Ivica Osim, former head coach of Japan’s national soccer team, is seen Austria in 2014.
Jiji Press
9:21 JST, May 2, 2022
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Ivica Osim, former head coach of Japan’s national soccer team, died in the Austrian city of Graz on Sunday morning. He was 80.
Osim was born in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, currently the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1941. He participated in the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games as a member of Yugoslavia’s national soccer team.
He became head coach of Yugoslavia’s national team in 1986, leading the team to last eight in the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy.
Osim came to Japan in 2003 to become coach of the soccer club now called JEF United Ichihara Chiba. Under his leadership, the team won its first J. League title in 2005.
He was known for witty remarks on his philosophy about soccer.
Osim became head coach of Japan’s national team in July 2006 just after the year’s FIFA World Cup in Germany, succeeding Zico, a Brazilian soccer legend.
But Osim suffered acute cerebral infarction in November 2007. He was replaced by Takeshi Okada, who led the Japanese national team in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Osim later recovered and served as adviser to the Japan Football Association between June and December 2008.
Under Osim, Japan’s national team marked 12 victories, three losses and five draws.
