Another legend of Hajduk left us. On January 12, 2016, a former Hajduk’s player and coach Marin Kovacic deceased at the age of 72.

Marin Kovacic, born in Split on October 14, 1943, came to Hajduk as a boy, played for all Hajduk’s Youth Academy categories and for the first team, coached each of the club’s youth categories, was the first team’s assistant coach and also the first team’s head coach, head of Youth Academy, mentor and scout.

Marin Kovacic was a great player who also played for national youth teams.

He was playing for Hajduk’s first team from 1960 to 1968. In that period he collected 179 caps and scored 37 goals. As a first team player, he won the first Yugoslavian Cup in the history of Hajduk in the season 1966/67.

Apart from Hajduk, Marin Kovacic played for different European clubs in the following nine years. In 1977, he returned to Hajduk as a Youth Academy coach where he worked for years, having opportunity to train many famous Yugoslavian and Croatian football players, including Zoran Vulic, Mladen and Jozo Bogdanovic, Vladimir Cutuk, Zoran Varvodic, Aljosa Asanovic, Josko Spanjic, Frane Bucan, Stjepan Andrijasevic etc.

He was a senior team’s assistant coach to Pero Nadoveza and Stanko Poklepovic, but he preferred training youth categories so he returned to Youth Academy on his own request.

Marin Kovacic was the first team’s head coach in one part of the season 1987/88.

From 1977 to 1987, he coached all Hajduk teams. In 1989 he was a coach of Neretva from Metkovic and in 1990 he coached U-19 national team of Malaysia. From 1991 to 1993 he coached Austrian teams FC Klagenfurt and FC Rapid Vienna.

From 1994 to 1999, Kovacic coached Slovenian teams. During that period, he was a head coach of FC Mura, FC Primorje, FC Koper and FC Olimpia Ljubljana.

He was a head coach in different Dalmatian clubs too.

He ended his coaching career in Hajduk’s Youth Academy and many players of Hajduk can thank to Marin Kovacic for becoming football stars.