Following a short illness, Ivica Hlevnjak, our dear Bukle, a legendary player of Hajduk, passed away today at the age of 72.
Born in El Shatt on April 28, 1944, he was a striker and mid-fielder who was also a Yugoslavian national team player.
Ivica Hlevnjak dedicated his life to Hajduk and to football in Split. He came to Hajduk at the age of 12 and made his debut for senior team at the age of 18, on December 16, 1962 in a Cup match against Partizan. Hajduk won 3:1 and young Hlevnjak scored two goals. He played his last match for Hajduk on June 10, 1973. It was a home game against Vojvodina and Hajduk won 7:0.
In this period, he collected 665 caps for Hajduk which makes him the most capped player after Frane Matosic. He scored 237 goals, holding 8th place on the club's top scorers list.
He won his first and only national Championship with Hajduk only in the season 1970/71.
He remembered that season dearly, as Hajduk finally won Championship after long 16 seasons during which Hajduk didn't manage to become the national champion.
He also helped win two Yugoslavian Cups, in the seasons 1966/67 and in 1972.
From 1973 till 1976 he played in Strasbourg, France and then in Espinal from 1976 till 1979.
He came back to Split on invitation of Tito Kirigin and Ante Žaja and worked in the club's Marketing department until retirement.
As a player of Hajduk, he played three matches for Yugoslavian national team in a period from 1969 til 1970. He made his debut in a friendly game against Sweden on February 26, 1969 and his last game for the national team was a friendly match against Germany in Zagreb (2:0).
Ivica Hlevnjak marked the toughest result crisis period in club's history, when Hajduk was on the verge of being relegated to the lower league. Thanks to Bukle and his goals, Hajduk managed to stay among the best Yugoslavian and nowadays Croatian teams.
He is one of rare players who were awarded with the Hajduk Golden Captain Band.
Commemoration for our Bukle will be held on Monday, November 30, 2015 at 12:00 at Poljud and his funeral is scheduled the same day, at 13:30 at the cemetary Lovrinac.
