The Legend Kept Its Promise: Dinamo’s Greatest Secret Went to the Grave

Dinamo Zagreb’s greatest trophy mystery ended where its keeper said it would: in the grave. Marijan Čerček, a member of the 1967 team, knew who had taken the club’s Inter-Cities Fairs Cup replica, but he died without revealing the name.

On September 6, 1967, Dinamo held Leeds to a 0-0 draw in England and preserved the 2-0 advantage it had built in the first leg in Zagreb on August 30. Čerček and Krasnodar Rora scored in that match, played before 32,000 fans at Maksimir. The victorious team returned to Zagreb with the trophy the next day.

The original cup was later returned to FIFA so it could go to the next winner. FIFA sent Dinamo a smaller replica, also given to the players who appeared in the final. The replica stood in Dinamo’s trophy room for roughly a decade before disappearing overnight. A photograph replaced it in the Blue Salon until the summer of 1987, when the club publicly appealed through Večernji list for its return.

On July 25, 1987, an anonymous courier brought the missing trophy back to Dinamo. The circumstances remained unresolved. Only a small number of people knew who had taken it, including Čerček, whose name had already surfaced in the story because he worked for Dinamo at the time.

When asked about the case, Čerček refused to identify the culprit: “Yes, I know who had the trophy, but I swore to myself and to that person that the secret would go with me to the grave.” He died on December 31, 2025, keeping that promise.

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Yes, I know who had the trophy, but I swore to myself and to that person that the secret would go with me to the grave.