Ante Vukušić (; born 4 June 1991) is a Croatian professional

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

club

Kolubara The Kolubara ( sr-cyr, Колубара, ) is a long river in western Serbia; it is an eastern, right tributary to the Sava river. General overview Kolubara is formed by the two small rivers Obnica and Jablanica. ''Obnica'' is the river in W ...

Club career

Vukušić started his career playing at youth level for his hometown club Junak Sinj. He joined

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 ...

in 2007, and during his time at their youth academy was regarded as one of the most promising players.

Hajduk Split

In January 2009, he signed a professional -year contract with Hajduk keeping him at the club until summer 2014. He made his debut for the first team in a 5–0 win against

Croatia Sesvete NK Croatia Sesvete was a Croatian football club based in the Sesvete district of the City of Zagreb. Previous club names: NK Sljeme (1957–1988), NK Sesvete (1988–1996), NK Badel Sesvete (1996–1997), NK Sesvete (1997–1998). The club was ...

on 22 April 2009. In the last round of 2008–09 season, he scored his first goal in

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 ...

, a late equalizer against

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

. In the 2009–10 season, Vukušić established himself as the first choice striker at the club. In 22 league appearances, he scored 6 goals and a further 2 goals in 5 cup appearances. His stature at the club at such a young age impressed many of Europe's top clubs and he was set to make a move away from the Croatian club but the management and he mutually chose for him to remain at the club for the following season. In the 2010–11 season, he scored 14 league goals in 29 appearances, finishing the season as the club's top scorer. He also scored four goals in nine

UEFA Europe League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

appearances, the most memorable of which was a last minute winner against

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

. At the start of the 2011–12 season, under new coach

Krasimir Balakov Krasimir Genchev Balakov ( bg, Красимир Генчев Балъков, ; born 29 March 1966) is a Bulgarian professional football manager and former player who last served as the head coach of Bulgarian club CSKA 1948. A former attacking ...

, Vukušić continued as the first choice striker at the club, this time alongside new signing

Ivan Vuković Ivan Vuković (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Иван Вуковић, born 9 February 1987) is a retired Montenegrin football forward who was last played for FK Iskra Danilovgrad. He is best known for his abilities as a striker but can also play as a su ...

as the most preferred front duo. He scored his first goal of the 2011–12 Prva HNL only three minutes into the first match against

Šibenik Šibenik () is a historic city in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is a political, educational, transport, industrial and tourist center of Šibenik-Knin County, and is also the ...

and added his second in a match against

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 ...

. In doing so he injured his toe and was consequentially ruled out for the next four weeks. He ended the season with 12 league goals in 24 appearances and 15 total goals in 29 appearances which made him the top goalscorer at the club for the second year running. The 2012–13 season at Hajduk started with another new coach, but Ante remained the first choice striker and captain at the club, despite his young age. He converted a penalty in Hajduk's 2–0 win over Italian club

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

at the San Siro.

Pescara

In August 2012, Vukušić was transferred to the newly promoted

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

for a reported fee of around €3.8 million. He was initially the first choice striker at the club, but ended up losing his place and managed just one goal in 19 appearances as Pescara were relegated.

Lausanne-Sport (loan)

In February 2014 he moved to Lausanne-Sport on a six-month loan.

Waasland-Beveren (loan)

In August 2014 he moved to

Waasland-Beveren Sportkring Beveren is a professional Belgian association football club located in the municipality of Beveren, East Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division B. History The club was founded in 1936 as Red Star and registered to an amate ...

on a loan.

Greuther Fürth

He moved to Greuther Fürth on 29 January 2016. On 7 May 2016 he extended his contract until June 2018.

Tosno

On 5 June 2017, he signed a 2-year contract with the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

FC Tosno FC Tosno (russian: ФК Тосно) was a professional Russian football club based in Tosno. On 6 May 2017, Tosno won promotion to the 2017–18 Russian Premier League for the first time after securing second place in the Russian National Football ...

. Three weeks later, he underwent a surgery on his lungs, due to years-long medical problems.

Olimpia Grudziądz

On 7 March 2018, he signed with the Polish club

Olimpia Grudziądz Olimpia Grudziądz is a Polish football club from Grudziądz. The club was formed on 30 June 1923. Currently, Olimpia plays in the III liga, following their relegation from the II liga in the 2020–21 season. On 1 March 2022, thanks to defea ...

. In the summer of 2018 he left Olimpia Grudziądz.

Krško

After leaving Grudziądz, he signed with

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga ( sl, Prva slovenska nogometna liga, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Football in Slovenia, Slovenian football league system. ...

club

NK Krško Nogometni klub Krško ( en, Krško Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Krško or simply Krško, is a Slovenian football club from Krško which plays in the Slovenian Second League. The club was founded in 1922. Honours ;First team *Slo ...

, where he scored 4 goals in 27 appearances during the 2018–19 season.

FCSB

On 28 January 2021, it was announced that Vukušić signed with Romanian club

FCSB Fotbal Club FCSB (), commonly known as FCSB, is a Romanian professional Association football, football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the top flight of the Romanian football league system, Romanian league system, t ...

International career

In May 2011, Vukušić was first called up to the Croatian senior team by manager

Slaven Bilić Slaven Bilić (; born 11 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of EFL Championship side Watford. Bilić, who played as a defender, began his career in 1988 with his hometown cl ...

for the

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held ...

match against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, but was later moved to the under-21 squad for their opening match in the

2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification The 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2011 and 2012 to decide the qualifiers for 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, to be held in Israel. The draw fo ...

s, also against Georgia. On 15 August 2012, he made his debut for the senior team under manager

Igor Štimac Igor Štimac (; born 6 September 1967) is a Croatian football coach and former player who played as a centre back. He is the current head coach of the Indian national team. In his playing career, Štimac had three spells with Hajduk Split and ...

as a second-half substitute in a 4–2 defeat against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Hajduk Split *

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup * Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup *Croatian Minute Movie Cup ...

: 2009–10

References

External links