Ante Vitaić (born 7 June 1982) is a Croatian coach and former player and current youth coach at

HNK 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 ...

Playing career

Hailing from

Dugi Rat Dugi Rat is a municipality in Croatia in the Split-Dalmatia County. It has a population of 7,092 (2011 census), 98% of whom are Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, cultu ...

Ante, along with his identical twin brother

Frane Frane is a masculine Croatian given name and a variant of Franciscus. Notable people with the name include: *Frane Adam (born 1948), Slovenian sociologist, editor and former dissident political activist *Frane Bitunjac (born 1997), Croatian footba ...

went through the ranks of

before being sent out on loan to

NK Mosor NK Mosor, also known as HBDNK "Mosor – Sveti Jure", is a Croatian football club from Žrnovnica, settlement which is part of the city of Split on the Croatian coast. The club was founded in 1928. It existed until World War II when most of its ...

where they would remain for the following four years. A good start of the 2004/2005 season in the

Druga HNL The Prva nogometna liga ( en, First football league), commonly Prva NL or 1. NL, is the second tier of the football league system in Croatia. The league was formed in 1991 with the breakup of Yugoslavia and the dissolution of the Yugoslav Second ...

side, when he scored 7 goals in 16 matches got him a new contract with Hajduk and he rejoined the first team. Vitaić made his debut in the 1–0 away cup loss against

NK Zagreb Nogometni klub Zagreb (''Zagreb Football Club''), commonly known as NK Zagreb or simply Zagreb (), is a Croatian amateur football club based in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb. It currently competes in the fifth tier league competition of ...

, which would prove to be his only cap for the club. Not wishing to be loaned back to

, the brothers annulled their contracts and joined

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek ( en, Osijek Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Osijek or simply Osijek (), is a Croatian professional football club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav F ...

. Vitaić spent the following three years in

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

, the highlight of his career being his goal from distance in the last, 95th minute of the 1–0 win against his former club in 2006. In 2008 Vitaić joined the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

side

HamKam Hamarkameratene (literally ''the Hamar Comrades''), often abbreviated to HamKam or Ham-Kam, is a Norwegian football club based in the town of Hamar. The club was founded in 1918, originally under the name Freidig. HamKam were most recently pro ...

, but returned to Croatia after the club was relegated. He joined

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 ...

, then in

Treća HNL The Druga nogometna liga ( eng, Second football league), commonly Druga NL or 2. NL) is the third tier of the football league system. The league was established in 1991 following the dissolution of the Yugoslav League. It is operated by the Cro ...

, achieving back to back promotions with them, first to

, and then, in 2010 to

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva H ...

, remaining a fixture in the club in the following seasons as well. He scored Split's second ever goal in European competition against Slovenian side

Domžale Domžale (; german: Domschale)''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 24. is a town and the seat of Municipality of Domžale. The town lies ...

in the 2011–12 Europa League.

Managerial career

Vitaić was manager of Orkan Dugi Rat in the second half of the 2015–16 season and took charge of Zmaj Makarska in summer 2017. He became coach of

Omiš Omiš (, Latin and it, Almissa) is a town and port in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and is a municipality in the Split-Dalmatia County. The town is situated approximately south-east of Croatia's second largest city, Split. Its location is wh ...

in 2019. In August 2020, Vitaić was appointed Head of Youth Academy at

NK Solin NK Solin is a Croatian football club based in the town of Solin, near Split, playing in the 2. HNL, the Croatian second division. History Arguably the team's greatest success was winning the 1980–81 Croatian league, which earned Solin promot ...

. In addition to that, he would also act as the youth academy coach for the U-15 squad. He left the position a year later. In August 2021, he took charge of the Primorac Stobreč U17s. In the summer of 2023, he was appointed U-11 coach at

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 ...

.Nova trenerska struktura Akademije HNK Hajduk
dalmatinskinogomet.hr, 22 June 2023

References

External links

* 1982 births Living people Footballers from Split, Croatia Croatian twins Men's association football midfielders Croatian men's footballers Croatian Football League players Eliteserien players First Football League (Croatia) players Second Football League (Croatia) players HNK Hajduk Split players NK Mosor players NK Osijek players Hamarkameratene players RNK Split players NK Dugopolje players Croatian football managers Croatian expatriate men's footballers Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Norway {{Croatia-footy-midfielder-stub