Fabian Benko (born 5 June 1998) is a 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 ...

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

Bayernliga Süd The Bayernliga (English: Bavarian league) is the highest amateur football league and the second highest football league (under the Regionalliga Bayern) in the state of Bavaria (german: Bayern) and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of ...

club

FC Pipinsried The FC Pipinsried is a German association football club from the town of Pipinsried, Bavaria. The club's greatest success came in 2013 when it qualified for the southern division of the Bayernliga, the fifth tier of the German football league ...

. Born in Germany, Benko has represented both Germany and Croatia internationally at the junior level.

Club career

Bayern Munich

Born in Munich to Croatian parents, Benko joined Bayern Munich in 2005 when he was seven years old. He progressed through the club's academy side and was awarded an apprentice contract on 3 September 2015. The terms of the contract came into effect in June the following year with the effect of tying him to the club until 2018. In January 2016, Benko was one of five academy players invited by

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Pep Guardiola to travel with the senior squad to

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

on their mid-season tour and later featured in a pre-season tour of China. Benko then appeared on the bench for Bayern for the first time in their Champions League match against

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 ...

on 12 December 2015 where he remained an unused substitute. Had he taken to the field he would have become the club's youngest ever player. He returned to and featured predominantly for Bayern's reserve side,

Bayern Munich II FC Bayern Munich II (''FC Bayern Munich Amateure'' until 2005) are the reserve team of German association football club FC Bayern Munich, they currently play in the Regionalliga Bayern. In 2010–11 they played in the 3. Liga, having qualifie ...

, thereafter but his made his senior debut and only first team appearance on 19 August 2016, coming off the bench for

Arturo Vidal Arturo Erasmo Vidal Pardo (; born 22 May 1987) is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Flamengo and the Chile national team. His displays during his time at Juventus led him to be n ...

in Bayern's 5–0

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

win over Carl Zeiss Jena.

LASK

On 5 June 2018, Benko was transferred to Austrian Bundesliga side

LASK Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as Linzer ASK () or simply LASK, is an Austrian professional Football team, football club, from the Upper Austria, Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and pl ...

on a free transfer where he signed a three-year contract. The following month he was one of 100 players nominated for the Golden Boy award. Benko made his professional debut on 29 July 2018, coming on as a substitute in the 78th minute for Peter Michorl in the 3–1 away loss to Red Bull Salzburg.

SSV Ulm

Out-of-contract, Benko signed with

Regionalliga Südwest The Regionalliga Südwest ( en, Regional League Southwest) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. It is one of five leagues at this level, together wit ...

side

SSV Ulm SSV Ulm 1846 is a German football club from Ulm, Baden-Württemberg. The modern-day football department, officially playing as SSV Ulm 1846 Fussball, was formed on 9 March 2009 when the department separated from SSV Ulm 1846. The club's great ...

on 4 August 2021.

International career

Youth national teams

Benko made his debut for the German U17 national team in 2014. He later elected to represent

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 ...

at the 2015

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

. In September 2016, amid discussion surrounding his international future, the Croatian Football Association confirmed that Benko had decided to continue to represent Croatia.

Career statistics

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benko, Fabian 1998 births Footballers from Munich German people of Croatian descent Living people Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers German men's footballers Germany men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Bayern Munich footballers FC Bayern Munich II players FC Juniors OÖ players LASK players SSV Ulm 1846 players SG Sonnenhof Großaspach players FC Pipinsried players Regionalliga players 2. Liga (Austria) players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Oberliga (football) players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Austria German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Austria