Former Serbia international Sinisa Mihajlovic has died at the age of 53 after a three-year battle with leukemia, the Italian football league Serie A confirmed on Friday, where Mihailovic was Bologna coach until last September.
A Yugoslav then Serbian international, Mihajlovic wore the jersey of Borovo, Novi Sad and the Red Star of Belgrade in Serbia before heading to Italy where he played for AS Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio, with who won the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1999 and an Italian league title in 2000, and Inter Milan.
After ending his playing career in 2006, he began coaching in 2008 in Bologna before joining Catania in December 2009. After a spell at Fiorentina, he coached the Serbian national team between 2012 and 2013 before to return to Italy to coach Sampdoria, AC Milan and Torino.
After a brief stint (nine days) at Sporting de Portugal, Mihajlovic returned to Bologna in January 2019. Six months later he announced he had leukemia but continued to coach the club during his treatment. He was fired last September.
A few months ago, his Bologna players had surprised him by going to visit him in the hospital and singing in front of him while he was on the balcony of his room. A sequence that the man will certainly never forget. The coach was unanimous in world football.