Antonio Franja (born 8 June 1978) is a retired

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 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 played as a

left winger 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 ...

Club career

Franja been through football school NK Dinamo Zagreb. As a junior he signed with NK Croatia Zagreb (Dinamo ). He later went on a loan to NK Croatia Sesvete and as a 20 year old player he won the best second division player trophy. He then moved to NK Hrv. Dragovoljac for only one season. Then he signed with NK Zagreb and in 2001/2002 season they won the championship. In the 2002/2003 season he was signed to Turkish club Bursaspor. Franja moved to Portugal in the summer of 2005 to

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

, where he remained for one season before returning to Croatia to play for

HNK Šibenik Hrvatski nogometni klub Šibenik ( en, Croatian Football Club Šibenik), better known as HNK Šibenik or simply Šibenik (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Šibenik. It competes in the Croatian Football League, and plays their ...

. Franja's only first team goal came on 6 January 2006, in a

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

game against

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, Portug ...

. Franja was part of the Vitória de Setúbal side who played in the

2005 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The 2005 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira was the twenty seventh edition of the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, the annual Portuguese football season-opening match contested by the winners of the previous season's top league and cup competitions (o ...

, and reached the final of the

2005–06 Taça de Portugal The 2005–06 Taça de Portugal was the 66th edition of the Portuguese football knockout tournament, organized by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). The 2005–06 Taça de Portugal began on 4 September 2005. The final was played on 14 May 20 ...

. For the 2007/2008 season he signed with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in South Korea and after one year he returned to Croatia where he stopped playing professional football and started playing Futsal first division for MNK Uspinjaca. He finished his career in

MNK Futsal Dinamo MNK may refer to: * m,n,k-game, an abstract board game * Marine Nationale Khmère (Khmer National Navy, the navy of the Khmer Republic) * Mandinka language, a Mandé language spoken in western Africa * MAPK-interacting kinase, a signalling protei ...

where he continued to work in the club.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Franja, Antonio 1978 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Association football wingers Croatian footballers NK Samobor players NK Croatia Sesvete players NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac players NK Zagreb players Bursaspor footballers NK Inter Zaprešić players Vitória F.C. players HNK Šibenik players Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors players Croatian Football League players Süper Lig players Primeira Liga players K League 1 players Croatian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Turkey Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Portugal Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in South Korea Croatian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea