was a member of the Croatian team that finished third at the 1998 World Cup, captaining the squad at that tournament, as he had at the 1996 European Football Championship. A mistake he made in the semi-final allowed France to equalize immediately after Croatia had fought hard to earn a one-goal lead. To make matters worse, Boban was injured and wanted to come off at half time but stayed on until the 65th minute, when he was replaced by Silvio Maric. France won the match 2–1 and eventually won the tournament. Croatia went on to defeat the Netherlands, with Boban providing the pass to Davor Šuker to score the winner, allowing Croatia to attain third place and receive the bronze medal. Style of play Nicknamed Zorro, Boban was a talented and creative yet tenacious and hard-working player, known for his use of feints to beat opponents. He was gifted with excellent vision, passing range, dribbling skills, technical ability, and an eye for the final ball; he mixed these attributes with a unique tactical versatility and intelligence, which enabled him to be deployed in several midfield and offensive positions throughout his career. In addition to his preferred playmaking role behind the forwards as an attacking midfielder, he was also capable of playing on the wing, as a central midfielder, or even as a supporting striker, due to his powerful and accurate bending shots from distance; he was also effective from set-pieces. Throughout his career, he also became known for his vocal presence, determination and aggression on the pitch, as well as his strong character. Post-playing career Boban officially retired from football in 2002 after receiving little pitch time at Celta Vigo. On 7 October 2002, Boban organised and played in a farewell testimonial, with Croatia's 1998 World Cup team supported by tennis star Goran Ivanišević matching up against a World XI featuring such stars as Rivaldo, Marco van Basten and Lothar Matthäus. Since retiring from football, Boban, always known to be a literary man, completed his history degree at the University of Zagreb. He graduated from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb in 2004, with a thesis named "Christianity in the Roman Empire". He also started a career in sports journalism, being the administration president for the Croatian daily sports newspaper Sportske novosti, a co-commentator during live broadcasts of the Croatian national team's away matches on the