FORMER CROATIAN international footballer Nikola Pokrivac has been killed in a car crash aged 39, the country’s national football federation announced on Saturday.
Local media said he was in a vehicle with three teammates from lower league club NK Vojnic when they were involved in a four-vehicle collision in Karlovac in central Croatia on Friday evening.
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His teammates were taken to hospital with serious injuries, while it was reported that a person in another car also died.
Pokrivac — capped 15 times and a member of the squad that reached the Euro 2008 quarter-finals — achieved the Croatian domestic double three times with Dinamo Zagreb. He won the 2010 Austrian title with RB Salzburg.
Pokrivac retired from professional football in 2015 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
However, the former Monaco midfielder — who had a daughter — resumed his career in 2021 and joined Vojnic last year.
“Nikola was a great football player, who lived football until his last moment in this world, and who showed great courage in life by overcoming a terrible disease,” said Croatian Football Federation president Marijan Kustic.
“This is a great loss for our football community, and especially painful for the family.”
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Ex-Croatia international Pokrivac dies at 39
FORMER CROATIAN international footballer Nikola Pokrivac has been killed in a car crash aged 39, the country’s national football federation announced on Saturday.
Local media said he was in a vehicle with three teammates from lower league club NK Vojnic when they were involved in a four-vehicle collision in Karlovac in central Croatia on Friday evening.
His teammates were taken to hospital with serious injuries, while it was reported that a person in another car also died.
Pokrivac — capped 15 times and a member of the squad that reached the Euro 2008 quarter-finals — achieved the Croatian domestic double three times with Dinamo Zagreb. He won the 2010 Austrian title with RB Salzburg.
Pokrivac retired from professional football in 2015 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
However, the former Monaco midfielder — who had a daughter — resumed his career in 2021 and joined Vojnic last year.
“Nikola was a great football player, who lived football until his last moment in this world, and who showed great courage in life by overcoming a terrible disease,” said Croatian Football Federation president Marijan Kustic.
“This is a great loss for our football community, and especially painful for the family.”
– © AFP 2025
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39 Nikola Pokrivac NK Vojnic RIP Soccer Croatia