Ivan was our guest at the Friendship World Cup in Ulcinj, but when I look back today, I can freely say that he was much more than a guest. The first World Cup was dedicated to him - Ivan's Ulcinj game - and somehow everything that came later started with Ivan. From one meeting, one friendship and one beautiful idea, a story was born that today brings people together from all over the former Yugoslavia, said Pavle Pepđonović on the occasion of the death of the legend of Hajduk, Yugoslav and Croatian football, Ivan Gudelj.
It all started in Ulcinj in 2023 with Ivan...
"Ivan's connection to the Friendship World Cup goes much deeper than the fact that his autobiography was the reason for our first gathering. Ivan, in a way, was the spark that ignited this whole story. I remember how it all started. I didn't have any big plans. I couldn't even imagine where it would all take us. I had one, perhaps boyish idea - to bring Ivan Gudelj to Ulcinj," says Pavle, the creator of the Ulcinj Friendship World Cup.
"For me, Ivan was not just a great football player. He was the hero of my childhood. He was one of those names that is remembered for a lifetime. A player from the time when we waited for games for days, when we knew the names of football players by heart and when Hajduk was much more than a football club."
And he remembers the first contact...
"With my friend Ruždo Rudi Kashodža, I returned from Split after the Hajduk-Villarreal match. Somewhere along the way, the idea for Ivan and his book was born. We contacted him, arranged for him to come and set off. Without much fanfare and without the awareness that we were creating something that would one day become what it is today," says Pavle.
"And then what often happens when people do something sincerely, out of pure enthusiasm, happened. People started joining in. Dalmatia started coming to Ulcinj. Hotels, restaurants, caterers, Hajduk fans, athletes, ordinary people... everyone wanted to be part of that story. Ulcinj then, figuratively speaking, stood up on its feet."
The first World Cup was held on November 11, 2022, under the title "Ivan's Ulcinj Game", with the promotion of Ivan's book "Ivan Gudelj - Hajdučka prica" and the documentary film "Ivan's Game".
"When about a hundred football legends from the former state arrived in Ulcinj, it became clear to me that something much bigger than the promotion of a book had happened. Ivan became the godfather of an idea. Not a formal godfather. But the man whose name was at the beginning of everything."
And so it began.
"A year later, what started as a meeting dedicated to one football player turned into a large regional gathering of sports greats. People who hadn't seen each other in decades started coming. Footballers, basketball players, handball players, water polo players, athletes... people who once together created one of the greatest sports stories in Europe," says Pavle.
"Without politics, without divisions, without anything but memories, respect and friendship. That, in my opinion, is the greatest value of the World Cup."
Ivan Gudalje, however, was the man who started it all.
"Ivan's career was one of the greatest sports stories, but also one of the greatest sports tragedies I remember. He was a football gem, one of the best players of his generation. A man for whom the doors of the biggest European clubs were opening. And then illness ended his career when he was at his peak. Ivan came to Hajduk when he was only 15 years old. From Runovići to Poljud, a boy went on to grow into one of the greatest there. Already in 1979, he was a member of the Yugoslav junior national team that won the European Championship title, and Ivan was declared the best young player in Europe. Later, he became one of Hajduk's most important players, a national team player and, at one point, the youngest captain of the Yugoslav national team."
Gudelj played 362 games for Hajduk and scored 93 goals. He won the Yugoslav championship and two cups.
"He was a captain, a leader, a player who could play almost everything - midfielder, libero, fullback. A man who could cover the entire pitch. His game was a combination of strength, speed, character and football intelligence."
And then came Spain in 1982.
"Ivan was one of the best Yugoslav footballers at the World Cup, and the reputable French L'Equipe included him among the best 11 players of the World Cup. Then in 1986 he was the captain of Hajduk and the national team, one of the most sought-after players in the country at the time. Real Madrid was close, Bordeaux too. Everything seemed like a logical continuation of a great career, and then everything collapsed."
During the match between Hajduk and Red Star Belgrade at Poljud, Ivan felt weak and had to leave the field. It was his last match - it was soon discovered that he was suffering from hepatitis B.
At only 26 years old, he had to end his career.
"I will never forget that line of his - in one second I lost everything. And when you hear that from a man who had everything ahead of him, you realize how cruel life can be sometimes," says Pavle.
"Years later he told me, as he told others, how broken he was then. He wanted to escape from everything. He thought about Tibet, about Indian tribes, about going somewhere where no one would find him."
Ivan, however, learned to live with the illness.
"And here, in my opinion, begins Ivan's second career. Perhaps his even greater one - his career as a man. The fight against the disease turned him into a man who knew how to talk to people who are suffering. He became an ambassador and promoter of the fight against hepatitis, spoke about the stigmatization of those affected, gave lectures and helped others with his own story. For years, he worked with young football players as an instructor for the Croatian Football Federation."
At the age of 35, Ivan enrolled in the Faculty of Kinesiology, and graduated at 42.
"What used to be a football victory was now a passed exam, a diploma, a new goal. He used to say: 'Every exam I passed was a special joy for me.' That was Ivan, a man who knew how to fall, but didn't know how to stay on the ground."
"We talked about it many times. He said that what saved him was his faith, his family, his friends and his decision that he had to find a new meaning."
"I met Ivan as a great footballer, but I loved him as a person. And that's why it's hard for me to find the right words today. The news that came to us froze us. Ivan, our Ivan, our godfather, our friend, has died. The man for whom we first gathered in Ulcinj, and then continued to build something that became much bigger than all of us. Even today, when I look at the Friendship World Cup, I see him - his energy, his smile, his story."
Pavle Pepđonović says at the end:
"Thank you, Ivan, thank you for coming to Ulcinj. Thank you for helping to create a story that brought people together with your name. Thank you for all the hugs, conversations, smiles and memories. Thank you for being a part of our lives. You were a great footballer. But for me and for all of us who knew you - you were an even greater man. Rest in peace, Hajduk legend. Your Ulcinj will not forget you. Never."
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
