| About 28 years ago, our hero saw the light in the Croatian port Split. The child was named Ivica. It didn't took long to remark that "the sailor" (the meaning of "Mornar" in the Serbian-Croatian language) was a talented football player. In exceptation of his d�but in the first team of local football proud Hajduk, the solid young man studied Tourism. But he would never need this knowledge to earn his money... At the age of 16 (!) Ivica made already his first appearence for Split. Mornar developed himself quickly and became an indispensable member of the club's squad. In a time span of 4 years he would win 3 titles, 2 cups and 3 supercups ! "Moka" (his nickname that he received when he was still a child) was a also capped 6 times for the national team. During the season 95/96 Mornar joined - keen on a new challenge in his carreer - Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt. But despite the presence of some big names (K�pke, Okocha...), Eintracht would relegate to the second division. Later Ivica made the following statement about this (negative) experience : "In Germany I learned to think and act realistic. This would be useful in the next years..." Moka didn't want to spend his days in a lower, unknown division and left the sinking ship. Next destination : FC Sevilla, a traditional club in Spain. Ivica delivered some excellent prestations in the preparation, but a string of bad results and a crise caused another painful relegation for Moka... Meanwhile troubles of payment arised, and Ivica had no longer the intention to stay with the Andalusian club. Unfortunately Sevilla worked against at the moment that several (German and Turkish) clubs declared their interest. The asking price was too high and Mornar had no other solution then signing for CD Orense, a modal side in the "Segunda Division" . Ivica had a good time with the Galician club (temporary second placed in the ranking, best foreign player of the championship...), but prefered a move to a more ambitious club... Compatriot Tomislav Ivic held out a helping hand on behalf of Standard, and Mornar signed a four-year contract. "La Ville Ardente" would soon close the Croat into his arms and Moka would become one of the favourites of the fanatic fans of Standard. The Belgian football world knew Mornar as a harworking, energetic and skillful marathon man, who had also a good scoring account. On the other hand was his rudimentary playing style often a subject of controversy. Low point was Ivica's sending-off in the cup match vs Bergen. Frustrated by the continuous fouls and insults on his adress, he completely lost his self-control. Result : a 1 month suspension and the interest of clubs like Marseille and Tottenham who ebbed away... In his last year at the borders of the "Maas", Ivica was without doubt a real key player in the team who finished third in the Belgian League. But ... a new intersection announced himself : staying in Li�ge or a lucrative international transfer (Marseille, Sporting Lissabon...) ? It became nothing of that all : Moka (who lost 2 cup finals and gained a European ticket with Standard) prefered a swoop to rivals Anderlecht ! This unexcepted turn was not accepted by the Standard fans (like Ivica would experience during the encounter Standard-RSCA), and also the Brussels crowd was quit unaccustomed about their club's newest signing. But the tie turned : it didn't took much time before Ivica proved his worth for the (struggling) team. Moka became even one of the most popular players of the critical and spoiled Anderlecht clan ! But Ivica's main target still stays the same : be included in the squad of "Hrvatska" for the World Cup 2002 finals. Because of a dispute with former national coach Miroslav Blazevic, Mornar missed already England ' 96 AND France ' 98 ! Hopefully it will be another story this summer.... |
| For the more "recent" developments in Moka's carreer, see the evaluations and the interviews... |