Dražan Jerković (Serbo-Croatian pronunciation:[jěːrkoʋitɕ];[1] 6 August 1936 – 9 December 2008) was a Croatian footballforward and manager.
Biography
His first name is sometimes (incorrectly) spelled "Dražen". He was born in Šibenik, at the time in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Career
Jerković played for Dinamo Zagreb (1954–65). Severe injuries forced him to retire early, at the height of his career. With Dinamo he won the league title in 1958, and league cup in 1960 and 1965. In 315 games for Dinamo, he scored 300 goals.[2]
He played internationally for Yugoslavia between 1960 and 1964, scoring 11 goals in 21 games. He participated in Euro 1960 and World Cup 1962. He was also part of the Yugoslav squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but did not play.
In Euro 1960 he scored two goals against France in the semifinal, which Yugoslavia won (5-4). In the final, Yugoslavia lost against USSR (1-2; AET), finishing second.
In World Cup 1962 Jerković scored four goals and was, with five other players, the top goalscorer, winning the World Cup Golden Boot. Yugoslavia finished in fourth place. In the quarter-final, Yugoslavia beat Germany (1-0). In the semifinal Yugoslavia lost to Czechoslovakia (1-3), and lost to Chile for third place (0-1).
Jerković played in a single international match with Croatia, as a Croatian national team was assembled in communist Yugoslavia once for a friendly against Indonesia in 1956. He was also the first manager of the new Croatia national football team, between 1990 and 1992. He died in December 2008 in Zagreb, Croatia.
