Zvonimir Boban (born October 8, 1968) is a Croatian former football midfielder who played most of his professional career for Serie A club AC Milan and was a member of the Croatia national team, which he captained to third place at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.Born in Imotski, Boban started his career with Dinamo Zagreb. In the now-famous game against Red Star Belgrade, he attacked a policeman who was beating a Dinamo supporter when a riot broke out between the fans (see Dinamo Zagreb-Red Star Belgrade riot). The incident made Boban a national hero in Croatia.
Serie A
AC Milan signed him in 1991, immediately loaning him to AS Bari, as they felt he needed time to settle in Italy without counting as one of the 3 non-Italian players the club was limited to at the time. After one season, he was brought back to the Milan squad. He stayed in the club for 9 seasons, and enjoyed great successes with them. He helped the team win the 1994 Champions League title and become runners-up in 1995. He won 4 Serie A titles with Milan as well. In 2001, with his role at Milan diminished, he was loaned to Celta Vigo, where he played in only four matches during his last season before going into retirement in 2002.
National team
Boban played a big part in Yugoslavia's win in the 1987 World Youth Championship. At the full international level, he earned 8 caps for Yugoslavia between 1988 and 1991. He played his last game for Yugoslavia in May 1991 against the Faroe Islands, where he scored a goal. When Croatia declared its independence, Boban left the team to play for his country.
He played his first international match for Croatia in a 1990 friendly match against Romania, and played his last match for the national team in a 1999 friendly against France. In his career with the Croatian national team, Boban won 51 international caps and scored 12 goals.
1998 World Cup
Boban was a member of the team that finished third at the 1998 World Cup, and was captain of the squad at that tournament, as he had been at the 1996 European Football Championship. A mistake by him in the 1998 World Cup semi-final allowed France to equalize immediately after Croatia had fought hard to earn a one-goal lead.
As a result, Croatia was unable to maintain their advantage for any significant amount of time. To make matters worse, Boban was injured and wanted to come off at half time but stayed on. France eventually won the match 2-1 and eventually won the tournament. Croatia then defeated Netherlands to win the third place and the bronze medal.
After retirement
Since retiring from football, Boban has completed his history degree at the University of Zagreb. He also started a career in sports journalism, being the administration president for the Croatian daily sports newspaper Sportske novosti, a co-commentator during live broadcasts of the Croatian national team's matches on the country's commercially-funded national TV station RTL Televizija as well as a commentator for the Italian Sky Italia and columnist for La Gazzetta dello Sport.
