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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1939-08-31)31 August 1939 | ||
| Place of birth | Mostar,Kingdom of Yugoslavia | ||
| Date of death | 4 January 2025(2025-01-04) (aged 85) | ||
| Place of death | Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina | ||
| Position | Centre-back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1955–1958 | Velež Mostar | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1958–1969 | Velež Mostar | ||
| 1969–1972 | Borac Čapljina | ||
| 1972–1974 | Mladost Lištica | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| 1972–1974 | Mladost Lištica | ||
| 1975–1976 | Lokomotiva Mostar | ||
| 1976–1977 | Borac Čapljina | ||
| 1984–1988 | Leotar | ||
| 1988–1990 | Iskra Bugojno | ||
| 1990–1992 | Velež Mostar | ||
| 1992–1993 | Šibenik | ||
| Samobor | |||
| 1996–1997 | Široki Brijeg | ||
| 1997–1998 | Zrinjski Mostar | ||
| 2003 | Zrinjski Mostar | ||
| 2004–2005 | Zrinjski Mostar | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Franjo Džidić (31 August 1939 – 4 January 2025) was a Bosnian professionalfootball manager andplayer. He is inscribed inZrinjski Mostar history as the manager who won the club's first everBosnian Premier League title in the2004–05 season.
Born inMostar,Kingdom of Yugoslavia, present dayBosnia and Herzegovina, Džidić started playingfootball in 1955. His father was a miner and lived in a mining colony beside local teamVelež Mostar's old stadium (today's "Old Veležovo" or "Old Playground", a neighborhood in the city of Mostar) and began to train in a football school of Velež.
In 1958, Džidić made his first appearance for the first team of Velež. He played for Velež until 1969, after which he joinedBorac Čapljina where he remained for three seasons. He had some offers to go abroad, but decided to stay inYugoslavia, where he remained until the end of his playing career.
In 1972, Džidić joinedMladost Lištica, today known asŠiroki Brijeg, on aplayer-manager type contract. Džidić ended his playing career and ultimately stepped down as manager in 1974.
Džidić became a manager after ending his playing career, working as a player-manager atMladost Lištica, today known asŠiroki Brijeg,Lokomotiva Mostar andBorac Čapljina, after which for six years he was an assistant manager atVelež Mostar. He assistedVukašin Višnjevac,Miloš Milutinović andMuhamed Mujić. With Milutinović he won theYugoslav Cup in 1981, beatingŽeljezničar in the final. One year Džidić was also a football instructor at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and then went toTrebinje to managerLeotar.
He spent four years in Leotar, having remarkable success. Trebinje is enriched by football and created plenty of players who later earned a football reputation and knowledge. Basically he took the players from Mostar, who could not play in Velež and then gained prominence in Leotar. These were:Ibrahim Rahimić, Lučić, Ronćević and Stipe Jurić. After 4 years in Trebinje, Džidić left Leotar.
After Leotar, he went toIskra Bugojno and spent two years there. Then he returned to the Velež team consisting of:Meho Kodro,Joško Popović,Igor Musa and so on. Džidić was also the last manager of Velež before theBosnian War.[1]
After the war, he first went to Croatian1. HNL clubŠibenik. After Šibenik, he did a half-season inSamobor, which was then in the2. HNL, and then returned to Mostar. He later went back to Široki Brijeg and in one season won too, theFirst League of Herzeg-Bosnia. After that he was named manager ofZrinjski Mostar.
Džidić led Zrinjski for the first time in the1997–98 First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina play-offs. From theFirst League of Herzeg-Bosnia, Zrinjski and Široki Brijeg were put in two groups where they waited for their respective opponents of each group,Sarajevo andČelik Zenica. Zrinjski in the final competition suffered two defeats and failed to qualify for the play-offs final. In 2003, Džidić came back to Zrinjski but shortly after got sacked due to poor results.
In 2004, he once again came back to Zrinjski. That proved to be the right choice, since Džidić led the Zrinjski team to win first place in theBosnian Premier League in the2004–05 season, with it going down in history as the first title in Zrinjski's history for the club's one hundredth anniversary.
Džidić died in his hometownMostar on 4 January 2025, at the age of 86.[2]
Široki Brijeg
Zrinjski Mostar