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SARAJEVO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Croatian Miroslav Blazevic has turned down an offer to coach Bosnia after months of talks because of local opposition, a Bosnian FA official said on Monday.

"He has given up because of all the pressure," said Bajro Bacic, a member of the association's executive board that had been pushing strongly to appoint Blazevic.

Blazevic, was born in Bosnia but took Croatian citizenship in 1991 when Zagreb declared independence from former Yugoslavia.

He quit coaching Iran in November after they failed to qualify for this year's World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan.

The maverick 66-year old, who led Croatia to a surprising third place at the 1998 World Cup, has since been on the lookout for a new job and on Friday he said that the deal with Bosnia was almost done.

But media in both countries reported on Monday that he decided to pull out because of strong disagreement from some of Bosnia's best-known coaches, including Vahid Halilhodzic of Lille and Faruk Hadzibegic of Betis.

Many in Bosnia also thought Blazevic was unsuitable because of his close links to the former ruling nationalists of late Croatian president Franjo Tudjman who supported Bosnian Croat separatists during Bosnia's 1992-5 war.

Blazevic told Croatia's Vjesnik daily on Monday that some "other structures" were against his appointment as well. "That is why I gave up," he said.

Bacic told Bosnian radio that the successor to Miso Smajlovic should be named before Friday's draw for the Euro 2004 championships.

Bosnian media have tipped current assistant coach Blaz Sliskovic as the likely replacement.