Date of birth 1929 1962-1964 Famos Hrasnica Years Team Role Football player | Date of death 8 March 2015 Name Marcel Zigante Place of birth Susak 1964-1965 Rudar Kakanj | |
Died March 8, 2015, Rijeka, Croatia | ||
Marcel Žigante (born in 1929 in Sušak, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, today Rijeka) is a former Croatian football player and manager.
His football career began in a small club called Šparta Zagreb in 1943. After the end of World War II, he started playing for Dinamo Zagreb in 1945. He did not stay there for long. First, he went to Borac Čapljina and then, in 1949, he moved again to FK Sarajevo. He played there until 1956, during which time he collected 182 league appearances. He played with Radnički Belgrade as they reached 3rd place 1955–56 Yugoslav First League. His next club was FK Sarajevo's city rivals FK Željezničar. He played 47 games and scored 14 goals for the club. He decided to end his playing career in 1960. He will be remembered as one of the best right wingers in 1940s and 1950s in Yugoslav football.
Although he was a geography teacher as well, he stayed in football as a coach. He was a head coach of FK Famos Hrasnica (1962–1964) during which time they have entered Yugoslav Second League. After that, he was a head coach of FK Rudar Kakanj (1964–1965) and FK Leotar (1965–1966). In 1966, he returned to FK Željezničar where he was one of the creators of a great generation of players that won Yugoslav League Championship in 1972 alongside Milan Ribar. He worked as a head coach in 1966-1967 and 1967-1968 seasons.
In 1968, he was a coach of FK Bor (1968–1972) which played in Yugoslav First League at the time, and then in NK Rijeka (1972-1973) and NK Čelik Zenica (1974–1975). Marcel Žigante died on Sunday, 8 March 2015, in Rijeka's hospital.