Former Monaco and Croatia national football team player Pokrivac died in an accident at the age of 39.

Former midfielder of the French Monaco and the Croatian national team Nikola Pokrivac died in an accident at the age of 40. This was announced on April 18 on the official website of the Croatian Football Union (HNS).

"Nikola was a great football player who lived football until the last moment in this world and showed great courage in life, overcoming a terrible illness," said HNS President Marijan Kustic.

According to the portal vecernji.hr The accident occurred on Friday in Karlovac at 20:15 local time as a result of a collision of four cars. Two people, including a football player, were killed, and three more were hospitalized. The athlete was returning from training with his club "Voynich" from the lower Croatian division.

Pokrivac played in 14 matches for the Croatian national team, where he competed at the 2008 European Championship. He played at the club level for Croatian Vartex, Dynamo, Inter, Rijeka, Slaven Belupo, Monaco, as well as Austrian Salzburg and Kazakh Shakhtar. In 2015, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, two years later he ended his professional career, but returned to football in 2021.