Svemir Delic, the oldest football player of Hajduk and Croatian national team died on January 03, 2017 in Split. The funeral will take place on Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at 14:20 at Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb.
Svemir Delic was born in Sinj, on September 14, 1929. He was a defensive player. He was particularly known for his speed, good performance and a sharp start on the first ball.
His playing career began in his hometown club Junak from Sinj. From 1949 to 1952, he was the footballer of Dinamo Zagreb and they won the Yugoslav football Cup in 1951. Then, in 1952, he went to Split and played 64 matches for Hajduk from 1952 to 1954. After Hajduk, he returned to Zagreb and played for NK Zagreb from 1954 to 1959, when his playing career ended.
For Croatian national team, he played once as a player of NK Zagreb, in the match against Indonesia on September 12, 1956 (5:2) in Zagreb. By the decision of the Croatian Football Federation, this matches has been recognized as official.
During his two-years stay in Hajduk, he played some excellent matches. Particularly brilliant was the match against Red Star, on March 29, 1953 in Belgrade, when Hajduk won 4:1. Delic mentioned this match as one of the best matches in his career. As a player of Hajduk and Dinamo, he said, it was always a special feeling to play the matches against the opponents from any of the former "big four" clubs, Dinamo, Hajduk, Red Star and Partizan. When playing such matches for Zagreb, he said the feeling was never such as in the times when he was wearing the white Hajduk's or the blue Dinamo's shirt.
In 1953, Svemir Delic and Hajduk went on a great historical tour in South America, where even the president of Argentina, Juan Peron invited Hajduk to be his guests for 10 days. He even put the aircraft at their disposal, so that they can see Argentina. This ten days extension of their stay in South America costed Hajduk the national title in the season 1952/53. Previously, the management of Hajduk obtained the approval of the highest state officials that they could stay in Argentina. However, it was not enough for the Football Association of Yugoslavia and they did not agree to postpone two matches of Hajduk. Hajduk was therefore forced to play with the junior team and lost three important points, which later were crucial, so that Red Star became the champion of Yugoslavia instead of Hajduk.
He ended his playing career relatively early because of a serious knee injury, and then devoted himself to the economics, which was his another profession. As an active player and for many years later, he was also a sports reporter that wrote for many newspapers. His articles that he wrote while he was still playing truly reflect his modesty. He never praised his game, but he just kept silent about himself.
