Stjepan Lamza

Stjepan Lamza (23 January 1940 – 12 January 2022) was a Croatian footballer who played as a midfielder. He is considered one of the greatest Croatian players of all time and played for much of his career for Dinamo Zagreb, whom he helped in winning the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1967. He made seven appearances for Yugoslavia national team.

Club career Lamza started his career in his hometown Sisak where he played for a local club Segesta and later transferred to a Slovenian club Branik Maribor. It was in Branik when his talent was spotted by, then Yugoslav giants, Dinamo Zagreb and he soon moved there.

It was in Zagreb where Lamza made his name and he played a total of 281 games for the blues, scoring 72 goals in the process. When other teammates and guest started to wake up they found Lamza drunk in the lobby and one of Dinamo's officials (Karlo Žagar) ordered the waitress to take him back to his room so others would not see him in the state he was in. Dinamo won the match 2–0, with Lamza scoring the first goal.

Personal life and death Lamza once stated that he was probably saved when Dinamo's patronage Zdravko Mamić and head coach at the time Miroslav Blažević offered him to work for the club, at the beginning of the nineties, as he had only around €200 of pension from which he did not know how he would have been able to survive. He stated that he saw Luka Modrić as his successor due to his similar style of playing and physique.

Honours Dinamo Zagreb Yugoslav Football Cup: 1963, 1965, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: 1966–67