Mamić was born in Bjelovar, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia on 16 July 1959 to father Josip and mother Lucija Mamić. His parents are originally from Zidine, Bosnia and Herzegovina. They moved to Croatia in 1956 in search of work. Mamić has two siblings: older brother Stojko and younger brother Zoran.
Early beginnings
In the 1970s, Zdravko with his two brothers moved from Bjelovar to the Zagreb suburb of Sesvete while their father was off working in West Germany as part of the gastarbeiter programme. Mamić's first direct contact with GNK Dinamo Zagreb was through the Bad Blue Boys, Dinamo's ultrassupporters group. Maybe the most important year in Mamić's life is 1980, when Dinamo's new manager became Miroslav Blažević, whom Mamić soon befriended and made his way into Dinamo. In February 2016, he resigned as executive director, but returned as an advisor.
Controversy
Mamić has become well known for his hostile behaviour towards journalists, threatening with violence and/or making vulgar comments about them and their profession. In December 2011, a small group of Bad Blue Boys entered a press conference, confronting Mamić with his 'mismanagement of Dinamo Zagreb'. While in function as the chairman of Dinamo, Mamić has been detained by police. During his thirteen year reign at Dinamo Zagreb from 2003 to 2016, he appointed 15 different managers. On 15 March 2013, he was arrested after a verbal attack on Croatian Minister of Sports, Science and EducationŽeljko Jovanović on a radio show. During the Croatian War of Independence, Mamić participated in the privatisation of Česma Wood Industry from Bjelovar. In 2000 it was determined that the suspicious operations in the company caused 14 million HRK damage to the State budget, while the number of workers was halved. On 22 August 2017, Mamić was wounded in the leg in an assassination attempt by two masked perpetrators who ambushed him while he was exiting his vehicle during his annual visit to the village of Zidine near Tomislavgrad in Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the anniversary of his father Josip's death.
Trial
In 2009, Mamić was sued by Eduardo da Silva for unfavorable contract according to which had to pay 50% of salary for the entirety of the career to Mamić's family. Silva won the case in 2014. On 18 November 2015, Mamić along with five other people was arrested over transfer irregularities in Dinamo Zagreb. He was suspected of tax evasion and bribery. On 6 June 2018, Mamić was sentenced on first instance to six and a half years prison for transfer fraud relating to Luka Modrić and Dejan Lovren's transfer to Tottenham Hotspur and Olympique Lyonnais respectively. Mamić, his brother Zoran, former Dinamo director Damir Vrbanović and tax official Milan Pernar, were all found guilty of siphoning over €15m from Dinamo and defrauding the state budget over €1.2m in unpaid taxes. Mamić, who had crossed the border into Bosnia and Herzegovina one day earlier, did not attend the sentencing and stated that he would not be returning to Croatia. The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina refused to extradite Mamić since he also has the citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
