Jurica Carić

Personal life

Jurica Carić origins are from island of Hvar, located in sunny Dalmatia region, from the family that for generations is dedicated to production of high quality wine. Jurica finished the high school in Split, and then he moved to Zagreb where he graduated at the Faculty of Law.

In the first phase of his career Jurica worked as a judge at the court in Zagreb, with short political engagement as an elected member in the Zagreb city council.

In business world Jurica had a lot of success, always on top managerial positions; the most prestigious was the CEO position in the large paper manufacturer. As well, in one mandate he was elected as a president of the important Association of paper producers and traders.

During the 1990’s Jurica actively participated in the establishment of the democratic system in Croatia, in the creation of the market economy and in the defence of the country during the war period. He is still active and respected member of the major political party.

Once in the market economy, Jurica has founded his own company that is successfully operating today with 30 employees, still with its founder at the helm of all decisions. Jurica is married for over 50 years, has a grownup daughter and now is lecturing his two grandsons to take over the family business.

Bridge career

Jurica plays bridge from his student days in Zagreb. His first appearance for the national team was in 1966 in Zagreb, in hotel Esplanade, versus the strong Italian national team.

As a reminder to new generations and to prove that career in bridge is quite long, at the same place Jurica has organised the rematch named “50 years later” – with participation of Dano De Falco and Esad Kulovic, members of the original teams.

Jurica has continuous stream of appearances at the European or world championships, either in teams or in pairs competitions.

His first exit on the stage was the WBF event at Deauville in 1968, while first EBL championship was in Athens in 1971.

Jurica frequently succeeds to qualify as a member of the national team in the category “open”, which is impressive considering his age. At Madeira (EBL championship 2022) he was the eldest competitor in the open teams, and he will repeat the experience this year in Denmark, celebrating 58 years of long career as the player of the national team.

Dedication to bridge and pro bono work

Jurica has great merits that Croatian Bridge Federation is the member of the Croatian Olympic Committee, being among founders in 1992.

In the last 35 years Jurica has continuously worked to improve visibility of bridge in the media and to enlarge the group of players, in the process bringing a group of sponsors.

At his personal initiative, and with the help of family Tedeschi as a sponsor, once a year there is an invitational tournament in the prestigious hotel Esplanade in Zagreb, reminding us “how the bridge was played once”; this year will be the 14th edition.

Thanks to his energy and organisation capabilities, Croatia is largely recognised as a country where championships are frequently organised. Under his command, we could count the following events:

  • for open teams, 1 European championship
  • for juniors, 3 World championships and 3 European championships
  • for students, 3 University games
  • for teams, 3 EBL Champions’ Cup and 1 Small Fed Cup
  • for EBL officers, 1 EBL officers’ conference and 1 TD conference

It is worth mentioning that Jurica was:

  • member of the EBL Executive Committee in one mandate
  • president of the Small Federations section in one mandate
  • president of the EBL Disciplinary Committee in three mandates
  • president of the WBF Disciplinary Committee in three mandates (still active)

As well, Jurica has received the EBL Gold Medal for the life merits in bridge. In Croatia, Jurica has recently received the highest recognition from Croatian Olympic Committee – special award “Matija Ljubek” for the extraordinary contribution in sport during his lifetime.

If we should summarize Jurica’s engagement in one sentence, it would be: “All his life, the first priority was bridge and he sincerely enjoyed in every moment”.