Boris Živković (; born 15 November 1975) is a Croatian former 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 full-back and

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Živković began his professional career with

Marsonia Slavonski Brod (), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod was the 7th large ...

and

Hrvatski Dragovoljac Nogometni klub Hrvatski dragovoljac ( en, Football Club Hrvatski dragovoljac), commonly referred to as NK Hrvatski dragovoljac or simply Hrvatski dragovoljac, is a Croatian football club based in the Novi Zagreb neighbourhood of the country's c ...

in his native country before spending six seasons with Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen. Following shorter stints at Portsmouth, VfB Stuttgart, and

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspi ...

, he returned to Croatia to play for

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 ...

. At international level, Živković represented the Croatia national team making 39 appearances, 18 of which as the captain of the team.

Club career

Early career

Živković started his career at Sarajevo as a youth player, before being signed by

(from Slavonski Brod). He gained a good reputation at Marsonia, first appearing in the 1994–95 season, during which he made 13 appearances. The next season, he played a further 31 games before transferring to

(from Siget, Zagreb). He only spent one season at his new club however, before impressive performances persuaded German club Bayer Leverkusen to sign him.

Bayer Leverkusen

Živković went on to play six seasons for the German club, playing over 150 times, including the

2002 UEFA Champions League Final The 2002 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League, Europe's primary club football competition. The show-piece event was contested between Bayer Leverkusen of Germany and Real Madrid of Spain at Hamp ...

. Following his contract expiring in the summer of 2003, Živković stated his desire to play in the Premier League, and was signed later that summer by Portsmouth.

Portsmouth and Stuttgart

Živković started his Pompey career well, instantly claiming a regular starting place. However, in December, a public fall-out with manager

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

led to him being released, having played only 18 times for the club. VfB Stuttgart stepped in to bring Živković back to Germany, and the Croatian joined them in January.

Hajduk Split

In August 2006 he moved to

International career

Živković was a regular for the Croatia national team, making 39 appearances and scoring twice. He was part of the squad at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, but in his first game against Mexico, he caused a penalty in the 59th minute after which he was sent off and the Mexicans went on to score from the penalty mark and win the game by 1-0. He was no longer in the team for the remaining two games Croatia played on the tournament before being eliminated — Italy and Mexico progressed from the group to the playoffs instead. He also played two games at Euro 2004. Boris was out of favour for the Zlatko Kranjčar's

World Cup 2006 The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won ...

campaign but many defender injuries forced Slaven Bilić to give him a call for the Euro 2008 spring qualifying games. His final international was a February 2007 friendly match against Norway.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Croatia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Živković goal.''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zivkovic, Boris 1975 births Living people People from Živinice Footballers from Tuzla Canton Men's association football defenders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2004 players FK Sarajevo players NK Marsonia players NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Portsmouth F.C. players VfB Stuttgart players 1. FC Köln players HNK Hajduk Split players Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina players Croatian Football League players Bundesliga players Premier League players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Bosnia and Herzegovina Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in England Croatian expatriate sportspeople in England