Andrija Balić (; born 11 August 1997) is a Croatian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for the Slovak side MFK Dukla Banská Bystrica in the

Fortuna Liga The Slovak Super Liga is the top level football league in Slovakia, currently known as the Fortuna Liga due to a sponsorship arrangement. It was formed in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The record for most titles is eleven, ...

, on loan from

FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda FC DAC 1904 is a Slovak football team, based in Dunajská Streda. In the 2007 to 2008 season, the team were the west group champions of the Slovak Third League. In the 2008 to 2009 season, after merging with FC Senec, the team entered the Corgo ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enterta ...

but living in nearby

Dugopolje Dugopolje is a municipality in Croatia in the Split-Dalmatia County. The name ''Dugopolje'' literally translates as 'long field'. The town has a population of over 3469, 99.5% which are Croats. Noted in Dugopolje is Vranjača cave. Dugopolje ...

, Balić started to train football at the local

NK Dugopolje NK Dugopolje is a professional Croatian association football, football club based in the town of Dugopolje on the outskirts of Split (city), Split, a city on the Adriatic coast. They were founded in 1952, and they currently play in the Prva nogom ...

, before moving to the

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

academy in 2007. Passing through the ranks, he became a youth international, playing for all

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n selections between U14 and U19. In the 2013–14 season he formed a potent midfield partnership for the Hajduk U17 team with

Nikola Vlašić Nikola Vlašić (; born 4 October 1997) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Serie A club Torino, on loan from Premier League club West Ham United, and the Croatia national team. Born in the Vlašić fa ...

, which resulted in the team finishing the first half of the season in first place, without a single loss. The two then received and signed professional contracts, until 2017 and were moved to the U19 team. Balić made his first team debut in the 1–0 home win against

RNK Split Radnički nogometni klub Split, commonly known as RNK Split, is a Croatian football club based in the city of Split. History The club had a strong fanbase in the Split's shipyard. The club was founded on 16 April 1912 as Anarch, but has had se ...

, coming in the 76th minute of the match for

Temurkhuja Abdukholiqov Temurkhuja "Tima" Abdukholiqov (born 25 September 1991) is an Uzbek professional footballer who plays as a forward for Lokomotiv Tashkent and the Uzbekistan national team. Career Pakhtakor Tashkent Abdukholiqov made his debut for FC Pakhtakor ...

Hajduk Split

He had to wait until December to make his first appearance of the 2014–15 season, but then became a much more prevalent member of the first team. He got his first start for Hajduk on 18 February 2015, in a 3–0 away loss to

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

. He scored his first goal for Hajduk on 1 March 2015 in a 2–2 draw against

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serv ...

, helping his side claw a point after being 2–0 down. His bigger impact on the first team led Balić to be rewarded with a new contract ending in mid-2018.

Udinese

On 1 February 2016, he signed for

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

in a €4 million deal. In his first half-season with Udinese, Balić made the bench on 15 occasions, but failed to make a first team appearance. The next season was much the same for Balić, sitting on the bench 28 times without making an appearance before making his senior team debut on 7 May 2017 in a 1–1 draw with

Atalanta Bergamo Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, commonly referred to as Atalanta, is a professional football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. The club plays in Serie A, having gained promotion from Serie B in 2010–11. Atalanta was founded in 1907 by Lice ...

at the

Stadio Friuli The Stadio Friuli (known for sponsorship reasons as Dacia Arena) is an all-seater football stadium in Udine, Italy, and the home of Serie A club Udinese. The stadium was built in 1976 and has a capacity of 25,144. It is sponsored by Romanian ca ...

, playing the first 60 minutes before being replaced by

Sven Kums Sven Kums (born 26 February 1988) is a Belgian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Gent. Club career Early career Born in Asse, Kums began his career at Dilbeek Sport, before joining Anderlecht in 1996. Anderlecht He played in the yout ...

. He would go on to appear in the three following matches and score his first goal for Udinese in a 5–2 loss to

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

at the

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...

. Balić made just one appearance in the first 11 rounds of the

2017–18 Serie A The 2017–18 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 116th season of top-tier Italian football, the 86th in a round-robin tournament and the 8th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. ...

season, but following the appointment of

Massimo Oddo Massimo Oddo (; born 14 June 1976) is an Italian professional football manager and a former player who played as a full-back. He was most recently in charge as the head coach of Serie C club Padova. Oddo played for several Italian clubs throug ...

, he became more prevalent in the first eleven once more.

Fortuna Sittard (loan)

On 24 January 2019, Balić joined to Dutch club

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger ...

on loan until 30 June 2019.

Perugia (loan)

On 30 August 2019, he joined

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

club

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

on a season-long loan.

DAC Dunajská Streda

Balić continued to be loaned out of Udinese, as his next half-season loan was announced on 14 February 2020, when he was loaned out to DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda, playing in the Slovak

. Balić made his

debut in an

away Away may refer to: Film and television * ''Away'' (2016 film), a 2016 British film * ''Away'' (2019 film), a 2019 animated silent film * ''Away'' (TV series), a 2020 science fiction drama on Netflix Literature * ''Away'' (play), a 1986 play by M ...

fixture against

Ružomberok Ružomberok (; german: Rosenberg; hu, Rózsahegy; pl, Rużomberk) is a town in northern Slovakia, in the historical Liptov region. It has a population of around 27,000 inhabitants (45,000 with nearby villages). Etymology The name of the initia ...

on 22 February 2020. Balić was fielded in the starting line-up but was replaced before the second half by Eric Ramírez. The match concluded in a goal-less tie. Balić scored his first and only league goal for DAC in his first game after the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On 21 June 2020, DAC defeated

Spartak Trnava FC Spartak Trnava () is a Slovak professional football club based in Trnava. Historically, it is one of the most successful clubs in the country, having won the Czechoslovak First League five times and the Czechoslovak Cup on four occasions, and ...

(2:0) at Štadión Antona Malatinského. Balić completed the entire match scored the second goal of the match, following a pass from Marko Divković. Earlier on, on 4 March, Balić scored in a 2:0 win over

Poprad Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the ten ...

in the quarterfinals of the Slovnaft Cup, scoring the second goal of the match. He also appeared in a crucial 0:3 defeat against

in the away tie of the semifinals, ending DAC's campaign in the Cup. Of 12 eligible games in the 2019/20 season, he participated in nine matches, scoring two goals. After the conclusion of the season, he moved to DAC on a permanent transfer, signing a three-season deal.

Career statistics

References

External links

*
Andrija Balić
at hajduk.hr * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balic, Andrija 1997 births Living people Footballers from Split, Croatia Association football midfielders Croatian footballers Croatia youth international footballers Croatia under-21 international footballers HNK Hajduk Split players Udinese Calcio players Fortuna Sittard players A.C. Perugia Calcio players FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda players MFK Dukla Banská Bystrica players Croatian Football League players Serie A players Eredivisie players Slovak Super Liga players Croatian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Slovakia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Croatian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia