Rudolf Belin

Rudi Belin
	Belin and Pelé in September 1969
Personal information
Full name	Rudolf Belin
Date of birth	4 November 1942
Place of birth	Zagreb, Independent State of Croatia
Date of death	3 November 2025 (aged 82)
Place of death	Zagreb, Croatia
Position	Defender
Youth career
1957–1959	Jedinstvo Zagreb
1959–1960	Dinamo Zagreb
Senior career*
Years	Team
1960–1970	Dinamo Zagreb
1970–1972	Beerschot VAV
Total
International career
1963–1969	Yugoslavia
Managerial career
1977–1978	Dinamo Zagreb
1983	Dinamo Zagreb
1989	Dinamo Zagreb
1998	Toronto Croatia
2001–2002	Iraq
Medal record
Men's football
Representing Yugoslavia
	* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Rudolf "Rudi" Belin (4 November 1942 – 3 November 2025) was a Yugoslav and Croatian football manager and player. Belin spent most of his playing career with his hometown club Dinamo Zagreb in the 1960s, with whom he won three Marshal Tito Cups and reached two Inter-Cities Fairs Cup finals. With Yugoslavia he played at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and was part of the squad that won silver at UEFA Euro 1968. His older brother Bruno was also an accomplished footballer.

Club career

Belin started his career at a small local club Jedinstvo Zagreb, and joined Dinamo Zagreb in 1959. His league debut for the club came on 21 May 1961 in an Eternal Derby match against Hajduk Split, under manager Márton Bukovi, which was his only appearance in the 1960–61 season. By the 1962–63 season Belin established himself as part of the starting lineup under coach Milan Antolković as a right back or defensive midfielder. With Dinamo he reached the 1963 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final in June 1963, which they lost to Spanish side Valencia 4–1 on aggregate, only a month after winning the 1962–63 Yugoslav Cup by beating Hajduk Split in the final.

In May 1964 he reached his second cup final with Dinamo, in which they were defeated by Red Star, and later that year he was voted Dinamo Player of the Year, ahead of the club's prolific goalscorer Slaven Zambata.^[1] Belin then helped Dinamo reach the 1964–65 European Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final in March 1965, in which they were knocked out by Torino, and in May that year another Marshal Tito's Cup win followed.

Between March 1966 and the spring of 1967 Belin was away from the team serving his compulsory military service, and returned to join the squad just in time for the 1967 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup quarter-final against Juventus.^[1] Belin scored a free kick at Maksimir in Dinamo's 3–0 win, and was also a decisive player in the semi-final, as he scored an extra time penalty against Eintracht Frankfurt to edge the German side 4–3 on aggregate, in one of the biggest turnarounds in the competition's history.^[1]

He went on to be a key player in the 1967 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final, in which Dinamo triumphed over Leeds United led by Don Revie 2–0 on aggregate. It was the first and only European trophy won by any Yugoslav club until Red Star Belgrade's 1991 European Cup win 24 years later. After that, Belin helped Dinamo to a third national cup in the 1968–69 season.

Belin went on to make 410 appearances across all competitions for Dinamo, and his last league appearance was on 28 June 1970, the last match day of the 1969–70 season, in a home defeat against NK Maribor. He then moved abroad to join Beerschot VAV in Belgium where he spent two more seasons under coach András Béres. During his time with Beerschot, he helped the club win the 1970–71 Belgian Cup, although Belin did not play beyond the quarter-final stage. He finally retired from active football after the 1971–72 season.

In total, he appeared in 46 European matches over the course of his career, including 24 in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and 19 in the Cup Winners' Cup for Dinamo.^[2]

He was voted Croatia's 36th footballer of the century in a 2000 poll by the Večernji List daily.^{[citation needed]}

International career

Belin was capped seven times for Yugoslavia youth teams between 1960 and 1963. His full international debut for Yugoslavia came in October 1963 in a friendly match against Romania in Bucharest, under co-managers Ljubomir Lovrić and Hugo Ruševljanin, where he was named in the starting eleven along with two other Dinamo debutants, Zdenko Kobešćak and Stjepan Lamza.

Belin played in all five of Yugoslavia's matches at the 1964 Olympics football tournament in Japan, where the team reached the quarter-finals. He went on to earn a total of 29 caps, scoring six goals, for Yugoslavia, and was part of the squad at the 1968 European Championship which lost the final to hosts Italy.

His final international appearance was a 1970 World Cup qualifier played in October 1969 against Belgium in Skopje, under manager Rajko Mitić.^[3]

Managerial career

After retirement, Belin studied in physical education at the University of Zagreb and went into coaching. He spent a number of years as a youth coach at Dinamo Zagreb, and had three spells managing the senior team, in the 1977–78 season, in August-September 1983, and in the spring of 1989. In 1998 he also briefly managed Toronto Croatia in the Canadian Professional Soccer League, a club founded by Croatian emigrants in Canada.^[4]

Belin also had a spell coaching the Iraq national team for several matches in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers in late 2001. These notably included a 2–1 defeat against regional arch-rivals Iran managed at the time by another Dinamo Zagreb legend Miroslav Blažević.

Death

Belin died in Zagreb on 3 November 2025, one day before his 83rd birthday.^[1]^[5]

Honours

Dinamo Zagreb

Marshal Tito Cup: 1962–63, 1964–65, 1968–69; runner-up 1963–64
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: 1966–67; runner-up 1962–63
Yugoslav First Federal League runner-up: 1962–63, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69

Beerschot VAV

Belgian Cup: 1970–71

Yugoslavia

Olympics Football Tournament sixth place: 1964
UEFA European Championship runner-up: 1968

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Miličić, Dubravko (3 November 2025). "Tuga u Dinamu: Preminuo je Rudi Belin". Nacional.hr. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
^ "Belin, Rudolf". BD Futbol. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
^ "Player Database". EU-football. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
^ "(VIDEO) LEGENDA NAD LEGENDAMA Rudi Belin, igrač i trener Dinama bio je obožavan" [Legend Among Legends Rudi Belin, Dinamo player and coach, was adored]. Sportska revija (in Croatian). 20 March 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
^ "Preminuo Rudi Belin". Zagrebački nogometni savez. Zagreb Football Association. Retrieved 3 November 2025.