Goran Marić Govorcin (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, t ...

: Горан Mapић; born 23 March 1984) is a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

n former

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 played as a striker. He spent most of his professional career in Spain, almost exclusively in the lower leagues with

Celta de Vigo B Real Club Celta de Vigo, S.A.D. "B" is a Spanish football team based in Vigo, Pontevedra, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1927, it is the reserve team of Celta Vigo and competes in the Primera Federación – Group 1. They pl ...

Football career

Early years / Celta

Born in

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

, Marić moved to Spain in his teens, going on to play for three clubs as a youth, including

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

and RC Celta de Vigo. He made his senior debut with the latter's reserves and scored regularly for the Segunda División B side, notably netting 21 goals in 32 games in the 2007–08 season (best in his group, second overall); however, he only appeared once for the main squad in Segunda División, his output consisting of 30 minutes in a 1–2 home loss against

CD Castellón Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at '' N ...

on 2 February 2008. In 2008–09, Marić was loaned to another team in the third level,

FC Barcelona B FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

. In June 2009, he was released by the

Galicians Galicians ( gl, galegos, es, gallegos, link=no) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group from Spain that is closely related to the Portuguese people and has its historic homeland is Galicia, in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. Two Romance la ...

Norwich City

Marić joined

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

on trial in the summer of 2009, touring with the club during its pre-season in Scotland and scoring twice in three matches, against Airdrie United and St Johnstone. Afterwards, manager

Bryan Gunn Bryan James Gunn (born 22 December 1963) is a Scottish former professional goalkeeper and football manager. After learning his trade with Aberdeen in the early 1980s, he spent most of his playing career at Norwich City, the club with which h ...

confirmed he had been impressed well enough to offer the player a contract, with the one-year deal being signed on 30 July. Marić made his official debut for the Canaries against

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

, for the campaign's Football League Cup, appearing as a substitute. His first start came in the 2009–10 Football League Trophy against Brentford (1–0 win) but he was almost always fifth-choice during his spell, behind the habitual

Grant Holt Grant Holt (born 12 April 1981) is an English former professional footballer who is currently a scout at West Ham United. During his football career, Holt played for a number of non-league and professional clubs, making nearly 100 league appeara ...

and

Chris Martin Christopher Anthony John Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist, pianist, rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Born in Exeter, Devon, he went to Uni ...

but also Jamie Cureton and Cody McDonald; subsequently, he left the side after his link was terminated by mutual consent, on 3 December 2009.

Return to Spain / Hungary

For the second part of 2009–10, Marić returned to Spain and its division two, signing with

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RFE ...

. He appeared rarely during the season (less than one half of the league matches), also suffering team relegation. Marić spent the better part of the following years in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, in representation of Lombard-Pápa TFC.

Personal life

Marić's father, Zoran, was also a footballer and a striker. He too spent many years working in Spain, mainly with Celta.

References

External links

*
Celta de Vigo biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maric, Goran 1984 births Living people Footballers from Novi Sad Serbian footballers Association football forwards Segunda División players Segunda División B players Celta de Vigo B players UD Las Palmas players RC Celta de Vigo players FC Barcelona Atlètic players Real Unión footballers Norwich City F.C. players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Lombard-Pápa TFC footballers Kazakhstan Premier League players FC Zhetysu players Serbian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Hungary Expatriate footballers in Kazakhstan Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Serbian expatriate sportspeople in England Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan