December 13, 2020 – Former Croatia national team coach Otto Baric has died from COVID-19 at KB Dubrava. He was 87 years old.
The former football coach was at Dubrava Hospital for seven days. As Index.hr was told, Baric was recovering well but struggled with complications from the virus over the last few days.
Otto Baric was born in Einskappel, Austria, on June 19, 1933. As a football player, “Her Otto,” as he was called, played for Metalac and Lokomotiva, and after the end of his playing career, he became coach of Lokomotiva.
Otto Baric led as many as 14 clubs and three national teams in his rich coaching career. He achieved his greatest club success with Rapid Vienna and Casino Salzburg (now Red Bull Salzburg). With Rapid, he won 10 domestic trophies, while in 1985, he played in the Cup Winners’ Cup final and was defeated by Everton 3:1.
With Casino Salzburg, he won two Austrian trophies, and in Europe, he was close to winning the competition in 1994. In the Uefa Cup final, Inter Milan was better in two matches.
Towards the end of his coaching career, Baric led three national teams. He was the Austria coach from 1999 to 2001 and took over Croatia in 2002 after the World Cup in South Korea and Japan. After additional qualifications against Slovenia, he took the national team to the European Championships in Portugal, where Croatia was in a group with England, France, and Switzerland.
He recorded two draws against Switzerland (0:0) and France (2:2), while in the last round at Luz Stadium in Lisbon, Croatia lost to England 4:2. Zlatko Kranjčar replaced Baric on the national team bench.
At the end of his coaching career, Baric led Albania from 2006 to 2007.
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