Ivan Gudelj (foto: Uradni facebook profil kluba)
Ivan Gudelj, one of Hajduk Split's greatest players and the youngest captain in Yugoslavia history, has died aged 66 following a short and serious illness.
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Ivan Gudelj, a legend of Hajduk Split and Croatian football, has died at the age of 66 following a short and serious illness.
Gudelj was one of the outstanding Yugoslav footballers of his generation, but his career was dramatically cut short at just 26 years of age after he was diagnosed with hepatitis B.
Born in Imotski in 1960 and raised in Zmijavci, Gudelj joined Hajduk as a youngster in 1975 and spent his entire senior career at the Split club. He made 362 appearances and scored 93 goals, winning the Yugoslav championship in 1978/79 and the Yugoslav Cup in 1983/84.
He also played in some of Hajduk's greatest European campaigns, including the 1980 European Cup quarter-finals and the UEFA Cup semi-finals in 1984.
The youngest captain in Yugoslavia history
Gudelj captained Yugoslavia to the European youth title in 1979 and later made 33 appearances for the senior national team, scoring three goals. In 1982, he became the youngest captain in Yugoslavia's history and represented the country at the World Cup in Spain, where L'Équipe included him in its ideal team of the tournament.
He later captained Yugoslavia at Euro 1984. By the middle of the decade, Real Madrid and Bordeaux were among the major European clubs interested in signing him, with Gudelj later revealing that he planned to move to Madrid when Yugoslav transfer regulations allowed it.
Illness ended his career at just 26
Everything changed in September 1986. Gudelj became exhausted during Hajduk's match against Crvena zvezda, and subsequent examinations revealed hepatitis B. He never played professionally again.
His battle with the virus lasted for decades. In 2023, 37 years after his diagnosis, tests showed that the virus was no longer detectable in his blood. Gudelj later became the first Croatian hepatitis ambassador and used his experience to raise awareness about testing and treatment.
After his playing career, he remained deeply involved in football. Gudelj worked with several clubs and Croatian youth national teams, coached Croatia's U-21 side, and returned to Hajduk as first-team coach during the 2005/06 season.
His private life was also marked by tragedy when his wife Mirjana died in 2015 at the age of 45 following a serious illness. They had two daughters, Ivana and Đana.
Gudelj remained closely connected to Hajduk until the end of his life. For supporters in Split, he will forever be remembered as one of the club's great midfielders – and as a player whose path towards the biggest stage in European football was interrupted far too soon.