Ivan Santini (; born 21 May 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer 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 ...
Ivan Santini, born in Zadar, played for his hometown side's youth team, until the summer of 2006, when he moved to
Inter Zaprešić
Inter may refer to:
Association football clubs
* Inter Milan, an Italian club
* SC Internacional, a Brazilian club
* Inter Miami CF, an American club
* FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club
* FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club
* FK Inter Bratislava, a forme ...
where he signed his first professional contract and made four first team appearances, scoring his first professional goal in the process. The next season, he moved to Red Bull Salzburg where he spent the duration of the year as a youth player.
He made his debut on the professional league level in the
2. Bundesliga
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
for Ingolstadt on 8 March 2009, when he came on as a substitute in the 72nd minute in a game against TSV 1860 München and scored his first goal. From 2009 to 2012, he played for Zadar. On 31 January 2012, Santini joined SC Freiburg on a six-month loan move with a clause in which Freiburg could buy out his contract.
In June 2013, he signed a contract to join Kortrijk.
On 18 June 2015, Santini moved to Standard Liège on a four-year contract, for a fee of €2 million. In the final of the Belgian Cup in 2016, Santini scored a goal in the 88th minute of the match to secure a dramatic 2–1 win over
Club Brugge
(), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.
.
On 3 August 2016, Santini moved to
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Dado Pršo to score at least ten goals in
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
.
Anderlecht
On 3 July 2018, he moved to
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 ...
on a three-year contract for €3 million fee.
He debuted on 13 July 2018 in a friendly match against Ajax and scored two goals.
In his official debut, on 28 July 2018, he scored a hat-trick against his former club Kortrijk.
On 5 August 2018, he scored his second hat-trick of the season against Oostende.
On 12 August 2018, he scored the second goal in a 2–1 win against
Charleroi
Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.
. He finished the 2018–19 season as the club's top scorer with 16 league goals.
Jiangsu Suning
On 29 July 2019, Santini joined Chinese Super League club Jiangsu Suning, becoming their fifth and final allotted foreign born player for the season. On 24 October 2020, Santini's ninth minute strike against Chongqing Lifan secured Jiangsu Suning a place in the semi-finals of the
2020 Chinese Super League
The 2020 Chinese Super League, officially known as the 2020 Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League () for sponsorship reasons, was the 17th season since the establishment of the Chinese Super League. The league title sponsor is Ping An ...
play-offs against 2018 title winners Shanghai SIPG. Santini was a substitute in the second-leg of the CSL final against Guangzhou Evergrande on 12 November, coming on in the 80th minute for goalscorer Éder. The club held on to a 2–1 win which confirmed Jiangsu Suning as league champions for the first time in their history.
NK Osijek
On 13 February 2021, Santini returned to Croatia to sign with
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 ...
side NK Osijek. He scored the winning goal on his debut for the club against Varaždin on 26 February.
Al-Fateh
On 10 August 2021, Santini joined Saudi Arabian club Al-Fateh.
Santini made his debut for Croatia in a May 2017 friendly match against Mexico and earned a total of 5 caps, scoring no goals. In May 2018, he was shortlisted on Croatia's preliminary 32-man
squad
In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...
for the
2018 World Cup
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...
in Russia, but did not make the final 23.
His final international was an October 2018 friendly against Jordan.
Career statistics
Club
Personal life
His brother Krševan plays as a goalkeeper. Their father is the late singer Romeo Santini.
Honours
Inter Zaprešić
*
Druga HNL
The Prva nogometna liga ( en, First football league), commonly Prva NL or 1. NL, is the second tier of the football league system in Croatia. The league was formed in 1991 with the breakup of Yugoslavia and the dissolution of the Yugoslav Second ...
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...