Zlatko Čajkovski
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Zlatko "Czik" Čajkovski (24 November 1923, Zagreb, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes - 27 July 1998, Munich, Germany) was a Yugoslav football (soccer) player and coach.
He played for Partizan Belgrade and the Yugoslav national team. He had his greatest coaching successes with Bayern Munich, 1. FC Köln and Kickers Offenbach.
After his active career he settled in Munich, where he remained a frequent and welcome visitor at matches of his former club Bayern. The temperamental, rotund gourmet who earned his nickname Czik (Yugoslav for "(cigarette) bud") due to his diminutive stature — he measured only 164 cm — died from diabetes in a Munich hospital.
His brother, Željko Čajkovski, was also a football player.
[edit] Playing career
"Czik" Čajkovski played 57 times for the Yugoslav national team with which he took part in the Olympic Games 1948 and 1952 and in the FIFA World Cups of 1950 and 1954. On club level he played for Partizan Belgrade and 1. FC Köln.
[edit] Coaching career
Čajkovski acquired his coaching licence under Hennes Weisweiler at the German Sports Academy in Cologne. His first appointment were in Israel, Turkey and the Netherlands.
His first great success was the German Championship 1962 with 1. FC Köln. In 1963 he took over the reins at FC Bayern Munich, which he guided from the second division into the first division, two wins in the German Cup and the win in the European Cup Winners Cup final against Rangers FC from Glasgow in 1967. In this period he formed around the goalkeeper Sepp Maier, Franz Beckenbauer and, the later legendary, striker Gerd Müller, then all in their very early twenties, one of the top teams in Europe.
Later "Czik" Čajkovski coached Hannover 96, 1. FC Nürnberg, Kickers Offenbach, which he took as a second division club to win the German Cup in 1970. He had another stint 1. FC Köln and also returned once more to Kickers Offenbach before having a final assignment with FC Grenchen in Switzerland in 1980.
