Hajduk's and international player Josip Weber died this morning at age of 53, following a long and serious illness.
Rarely for a footballer, he has played for two national teams, Croatian and Belgian.
Josip Weber was born in Slavonski Brod on November 16, 1964. He played as attacker and started his football career in Borac from Podvinje, then BSK from Slavonski Brod, where he played in youth age. In 1985, he moved to Hajduk where he played until 1987. With Hajduk, he won the Yugoslav Cup in 1986/87, played 60 matches and scored 24 goals.
In the season 1987/88, Josip Weber was a player of Dinamo Vinkovci, from where he went to Belgium, at SV Cercle Brugge, where he played until 1994. The three-year contract with Anderlecht, signed for the period from 1994 to 1997 was broken because in 1995 he had to stop playing due to injury. In the Belgian Championship he played around 200 games and scored 150 goals. He was three times the top scorer in the Belgian championship. With Anderlecht, he played the Champions League. In that competition, he even played against Hajduk. He said it was a very strange feeling, a special one. The emotions were mixed, he said, it was very hard to play those games. That season, Hajduk defeated Anderlecht and came to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
For the Croatian national team he played as Cercle Brugge's player, on Australia's 1992 tour, where he played 3 friendly matches and scored one goal. He debuted against Australia in Melbourne on July 5, 1992 (0:1), while he said goodbye to the national team once again against Australia, this time in Sydney, on July 12, 1992 (0:0).
In 1994, he took Belgian citizenship and then joined the Belgium national team. Already in his first appearance against the Zambia team, he scored a record 5 goals. He played the 1994 World Cup in the United States. He played 11 games in total for Belgium and scored 11 goals.
After the football career, in 1997 he was the director of Marsonia from Slavonski Brod.
Getting the Belgian citizenship in 1994 was very important thing in his career. If that were not the case, Weber wouldn't have played the World Cup. So he was the only Croat there. He considered that in the war it meant a lot for Croatia. He had only nice words for Belgium.
"Foreigner is always a foreigner. Although I had a Belgian passport, my heart always beats for Croatia. Although I was fighting with all my heart for Belgium, they never accepted me as Belgian. The naturalized Belgian, the ex-Croat, they would call me like that "said Weber.
When the war started in Croatia, Weber was engaged in humanitarian aid. People loved him in Belgium, worshiping his efficient game. Goals. There were only a few who were three times top scorers in the league. These can only be great attackers. It is a real shame that injuries ended the career of Josip Weber so early.
"I gave my best to Belgium team. Even more than that, because I sometimes played injured. But it didn't feel like when I was wearing Croatian shirt. That's something special. I had the honor to be part of the Croatian national football history. And that was the dream come true for me" Weber pointed out.
After the tour of the Croatian national team in Australia, coached by Stanko Poklepovic, where he scored, no other head coach of Croatia called him up for the national team. He often said that he was really sorry for not being part of the Croatian national team in France, where we achieved great success.
Josip Weber's funeral will take place Slavonski Brod on Friday.
