Rome, Italy.- Serbian former player and coach Sinisa Mihajlovic passed away in the Italian capital due to leukemia, which he had been suffering from since 2019. He was 53 years old.
“With his wife Ariana, their children Viktorija, Virginia, Miroslav, Dušan and Nikolas, his granddaughter Violante, his mother Vikorija and his brother Dražen, with their sadness inform of the unjust and premature death of their exemplary husband, father, son and brother Sinisa Mihajlovic”.
The Serbian, characterized by his quality in shots from set pieces, arrived at Bologna for a second time as coach in January 2019, having made his debut with the same team in 2008 and was also sacked in 2009. On 6 September the first coach was sacked from Serie A this season.
Mihajlović left the bench in the middle of last season due to the said medical treatment, but he returned to lead the game off the pitch only a month after being hospitalized for the last three days.
His best position in the table was tenth, which was cut in 2019, the year before his second stage.
The son of a Croatian mother and a Serbian father, he began his career in his native Yugoslavia (Vukovar), at Vojvodina, now a Serbian team, in 1988. After a season and a half he made the jump to Red Star Belgrade, with whom he managed to lift the European Cup in 1991 after defeating French Olympique de Marseille.
In 1992 he made the jump to Italy for Roma, where he played for two seasons, in 1994 he signed for Sampdoria. Four years later, in 1998, he signed for Lazio and wore the ‘Biancoceleste’ kit until 2004, when he moved to Inter, a team he retired from in 2006.
As a coach, in addition to Bologna, he led Catania, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Milan, Torino and the Serbian team.
Furthermore, Serie A also expressed its regret: “The Lega Serie A is deeply saddened by the death of Sinisa Mihajlović, a symbol of football and life. His pure class, his strength and his humanity as a player and coach are an example that leaves an indelible mark on Italian and world football.”
