Zlatko "Čik" Čajkovski (24 November 1923 – 27 July 1998) was a Croatian and Yugoslavian football player and coach. His brother, Željko Čajkovski, was a footballer as well. Normally a defensive midfielder, Čajkovski was renowned for his tremendous physical condition and marking ability and is considered to be one of the finest Yugoslav footballers. Despite his normally defensive role he was also a fine passer and possessed top-class technical ability.

Playing career

On club level Čajkovski played initially for HAŠK. After World War II, he moved to the newly-established Partizan.

Partizan

Čajkovski was one of the star ("most eminent") players in first 10 years of club's history. He went on to win two Yugoslav league titles ( 1946/47, 1948/49) and three

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup ( hr, Pokal Jugoslavije; sr, Куп Југославије; sl, Pokal Jugoslavije, mk, Куп на Југославија), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Kup kralja Aleksandra, ...

(Marshal Tito Cup) trophies (1947,

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

, 1954). Čajkovski amassed 391 appearances (156 in the league), scored 97 goals and wore the captain armband, in his closing years with Partizan. "Čik" played as many as 80 international friendlies for the Belgrade side, including a highly rated South American tour in the winter of 1953/54.

FC Köln

After Partizan, Čajkovski found employment abroad. He first went to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in 1955. He decided and signs for FC Köln, and for the next three seasons he played for this German club under the guidance of coach

Hennes Weisweiler Hans "Hennes" Weisweiler (5 December 1919 – 5 July 1983) was a German professional football player and coach. As a coach, he won major titles with Bundesliga clubs Borussia Mönchengladbach and 1. FC Köln in the 1970s. With 11 titles, 8 with ...

. Immediately in the first season, he played in 24 games and scored two goals. He played a total of 57 league games and scoring seven league goals during that time. He played three games in the German Cup and scored one goal.

Yugoslavia

Between 1946 and 1955 he played 55 times for the Yugoslav national team scoring seven goals. Participating at the Olympic Games 1948 and 1952, he won the silver medal on both occasions. The final of the 1952 tournament in Helsinki was lost against the then ascending Hungarian side of the Magic Magyars. He also participated in the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

s of 1950 and 1954. In 1950, Yugoslavia only lost to hosts Brazil in the group phase, during which Čajkovski scored two goals versus Mexico. In 1954, Yugoslavia drew in the group phase against Brazil, but were eliminated in the subsequent quarter final match against eventual tournament winners Germany. In 1953, Čajkovski was one of four Croatian players on the FIFA Select XI who played against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. His final international was a May 1955

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

International goals

Style of play

Although Čajkovski played as a defensive midfielder, he was equally good in the offense and, due to his exceptional stamina and tenacity, he was able to cover virtually the entire field. His unusual zigzag dribbling technique made his moves difficult to predict for the opposing players. Čajkovski was also very skilled in heading the ball, despite his short stature.

Coaching career

Čajkovski acquired his coaching licence under

at the German Sports Academy in Cologne. His first appointment were in Israel, Turkey and the Netherlands. His first great success was the German Championship 1962 with 1. FC Köln. In 1963 he took over the reins at FC Bayern Munich, which he guided from the second division into the first division, two wins in the German Cup and the win in the European Cup Winners Cup final against Rangers FC from Glasgow in 1967. In this period he formed around the goalkeeper

Sepp Maier Sepp may refer to: *Sepp (given name) *Sepp (surname) *Science & Environmental Policy Project * Sepp (publisher) *Substantially equal periodic payments, US tax-law provision *Single Edge Processor Package *State Enterprise for Pesticide Production ...

, Franz Beckenbauer and, the later legendary, striker Gerd Müller, then all in their very early twenties, one of the top teams in Europe and the whole world. Later, Čajkovski coached Hannover 96, 1. FC Nürnberg,

Kickers Offenbach Offenbacher Kickers, also known as Kickers Offenbach, is a German association football club in Offenbach am Main, Hesse. The club was founded on 27 May 1901 in the Rheinischer Hof restaurant by footballers who had left established local clubs ...

, which he took as a second division club to win the German Cup in 1970. After NK Dinamo Zagreb and 1. FC Nürnberg, he had another stint 1. FC Köln and also returned once more to Kickers Offenbach. Then he went to Greece in

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

where he won the double. He then went to Switzerland to coach

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

(1978–1980) and

FC Grenchen FC Grenchen is a Swiss football club, based in Grenchen. They currently play in the 2. Liga, and play their matches at the Brühl Stadium. History FC Grenchen was founded in 1906. In 1937 they gained promotion to the top league of Swiss fo ...

(1980), having his final assignment with

Grazer AK Grazer AK, founded 18 August 1902 as Grazer Athletiksport Klub (in Austria the abbreviation GAK is more common), is an Austrian sports club, from the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria (''Steiermark''). The football section used to be on ...

in 1981. After that, he coached AEK Athens (1982) and

Apollon Kalamarias Apollon Kalamarias (Greek: Απόλλων Καλαμαριάς) is a Greek sport's club from Thessaloniki founded in 1926. The club is named after Apollo, the mythical Greek god and its colors are red and black. History When thousands of Pontic ...

(1983–84).

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

;Partizan *

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

: 1946–47, 1948–49 *

: 1947,

, 1954, ;Yugoslavia * Summer Olympics silver medal: 1948,

Manager

;Köln * German Championship:

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

* Oberliga: 1961–62, 1962–63 ;Bayern Munich *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

: 1965–66, 1966–67 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1966–67 ;Kickers Offenbach * Regionalliga: 1969–70 ;AEK Athens *

Alpha Ethniki The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

: 1977–78 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...

: 1977–78

References

External links

*
Serbian national football team website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cajkovski, Zlatko 1923 births 1998 deaths Footballers from Zagreb Association football wing halves Croatian footballers Yugoslav footballers Croatia international footballers Yugoslavia international footballers Dual internationalists (football) Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Olympic footballers of Yugoslavia Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia 1950 FIFA World Cup players 1954 FIFA World Cup players HAŠK players FK Partizan players 1. FC Köln players Hapoel Haifa F.C. players Yugoslav First League players Oberliga (football) players Liga Leumit players Yugoslav expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in West Germany Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Expatriate footballers in Israel Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Israel Yugoslav football managers 1. FC Köln managers FC Bayern Munich managers Hannover 96 managers Kickers Offenbach managers GNK Dinamo Zagreb managers 1. FC Nürnberg managers AEK Athens F.C. managers FC Zürich managers FC Grenchen managers Grazer AK managers Apollon Pontou FC managers Bundesliga managers Yugoslav expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in West Germany Expatriate football managers in Greece Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate football managers in Switzerland Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery