Željko Matuš 1935 – 2026

Biography

Željko Matuš (August 9, 1935 – November 2026) was a Yugoslav and Croatian footballer who won Olympic gold with Yugoslavia at the 1960 Rome Games. Born in Donja Stubica, he spent a decade with Dinamo Zagreb from 1955 to 1965, winning the Yugoslav championship and three national cups, and later played in Switzerland with Young Fellows Zürich and FC Zürich. A defender and forward, he earned 13 caps for Yugoslavia, scoring five goals, played in the 1960 European Nations’ Cup final, and appeared at the 1962 World Cup in Chile. After retiring he became a dentist and lived in Switzerland. Following the death of Viktor Ponedelnik in 2020, Matuš was the last living participant of the 1960 European final. He died in Zurich in November 2026, at the age of 91.