Former Croatia player Nikola Pokrivac dies in car crash

Former Croatia midfielder Nikola Pokrivac has died in a car accident at the age of 39, the country's football federation has announced.

Pokrivac, who played for Dinamo Zagreb, Monaco and RB Salzburg during his career, represented Croatia at Euro 2008.

He was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2015 which forced him to retire from professional football, although he joined lower league side NK Vojnic last summer.

Local media reports said Pokrivac was killed when a vehicle he was travelling in with three Vojnic team-mates was involved in a four-vehicle collision in the Croatian city of Karlovac on Friday evening.

It has been reported a 42-year-old person in another car was also killed, while Pokrivac’s colleagues were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Croatian Football Federation president Marijan Kustic posted on X: "Nikola was a great football player, who lived football until his last moment in this world, and who showed great courage in life by overcoming a terrible disease.

"This is a great loss for our football community and especially painful for the family.

"It is impossible to find words of comfort in such a shocking and unimaginably sad moment when we have lost a young life."

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