Jozic - man in charge of Croatia (Allsport).

By Reece Killworth, Sportinglife.com

When the Croatian Football Federation opted to replace the legendary Miroslav Blazevic with Mirko Jozic, more than a few eyebrows were raised from outside the country.

But Jozic is the man that probably knows more about Croatian football than anyone else.

After an unsuccessful spell as a player in the second division in his home country, Jozic began his coaching career with FC Junak.

But soon after - in 1972 - he given the chance to lead Croatia's youth team.

For the next 17 years Jozic did a string of jobs in the Croatian FA, including a spell as chairman of the youth committee.

In 1988 he was tempted by Yugoslavia and in his two years as a member of the youth coaching team, Jozic tasted his first successes.

The Yugoslavs won the European Under-19 Championships and the World Under-20 Championships and were runners up in the European Under-17 Championships.

That earned him the post as Under-21 coach before he was lured to South America by Chilean side Colo Colo, who named him as their head coach.

And everything he touched continued to turn to gold as he won three Chilean National Championships and three cup competitions including the prestigious Copa Libertadores.

Chile offered him the chance to lead the national side but after a year there he headed off to Mexico to coach Hadjuk Split.

Short spells at Al Hilal, Newells Old Boys and Sporting Lisbon followed before Jozic returned to Croatia as director of youth development with the national federation.

And when Blazevic resigned, Jozic completed his rise to the biggest job in Croatian football.

Since then he has built his reputation by taking his side through qualifying unbeaten

Jozic is a firm believer in building a team rather than relying on one or two stars and his side seem happy to play for him.

He is not afraid to blood youngsters when necessary but also likes to have old heads in his side to bring the less experienced players on.