for the final tournament. He briefly returned to the Croatian national team for their friendly match against France on 28 May 2000 in Zagreb to make the final appearance of his career, symbolically appearing in the opening ten minutes of the match. As this was his 59th match for the Croatian national team, he played it with an otherwise unusual shirt number 59. At age 37 and five months, he became the oldest player in the history of Croatia. Managerial career When Otto Barić took the charge of the Croatia national team in 2002, Ladić was appointed goalkeeping coach in his coaching staff. He left the post following the UEFA Euro 2004 finals in Portugal, along with the rest of the staff, as their contracts expired after the tournament and were not renewed following Croatia's failure to reach the quarter-finals. On 9 August 2006, Ladić was appointed the head coach of the Croatia national under-21 team, replacing Slaven Bilić, who was appointed the head coach of the country's senior national team at the time. Car wreck and sacking In the early morning of 5 September 2010, hours after an under-21 international between Serbia and Croatia, Ladić was involved in a car wreck when the Mercedes-Benz E-Class he was driving, collided with a Renault Clio at a Zagreb road intersection. Both cars were damaged beyond repair and three passengers in the Renault sustained serious injuries. Ladić escaped the wreck unhurt. Some eyewitnesses of the wreck accused Ladić of a red light violation, which he denied. He was removed from his position in January 2011, when the Croatian Football Federation accused him of falsifying insurance documents following the car wreck. However, within the federation there were, and still are, others who have been charged of felonies and have not been removed from their positions, sparking corruption claims within the media. Return to Croatia In March 2018, Ladić joined Croatia's coaching staff under the manager Zlatko Dalić, as his assistant coach. Honours Club Iskra Bugojno Yugoslav Second League – West (1): 1983–84 Mitropa Cup (1): 1985 Dinamo Zagreb Prva HNL (6): 1992–93, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00 Croatian Cup (4): 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998 International FIFA World Cup runner-up (1): 2018 FIFA World Cup third place (1): 1998 Individual Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport - 1998 Orders Order of Danica Hrvatska with face of Franjo Bučar – 1995 Order of the Croatian