Josip Tadić (born 22 August 1987) is a

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 who plays as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

Club career

Osijek and Bayer Leverkusen

Tadić started his professional career with NK Osijek in the 2004–05 Croatian First League season. After scoring 7 goals in 20 league appearances for the club, he moved to German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

side Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2005. At Leverkusen, he mostly played for the reserve squad in the

Regionalliga The Regionalliga () is the fourth tier in the German football league system. Until 1974, it was the second tier in Germany. In 1994, it was introduced as the third tier. Upon the creation of the new nationwide 3. Liga in 2008, it became the four ...

, the third tier of German football at the time, where he scored 6 goals in 25 appearances. His only Bundesliga appearance came on 17 December 2005 in a goalless draw at home to

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

, where he came on as a substitute for

Tranquillo Barnetta Tranquillo Barnetta (; born 22 May 1985) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was usually deployed out wide as a left winger but could also play in the centre as an attacking midfielder, or even in a more wit ...

in the 85th minute.

Dinamo Zagreb

In the winter break of the 2006–07 Croatian First League season, Tadić signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with

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 ...

, the league's defending champions at the time. He scored five goals in 13 league appearances for the club until the end of the season, helping them to defend the title. In his second season with Dinamo Zagreb, he scored 11 goals in 27 league appearances and helped the club to their third consecutive league title. He also featured regularly for the club in the European competition, making three appearances in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

qualifying and five in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. On 24 July 2007, he scored the final goal in a 3–1 extra-time win at home to

FK Khazar Lankaran Khazar Lankaran FK ( tly, Xəzər Lankon Futboli Klub, script=Latn, az, Xəzər Lənkəran Futbol Klubu) is an Azerbaijani football club based in Lankaran that last played in the Azerbaijan Premier League during the 2015–16 season. Since the ...

in the Champions League qualifying, which was his only goal in the European competition that season. On 10 May 2008, he scored a hat-trick in his side's 6–1 win at home to

NK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top division, HT Prva lig ...

, their final league match of the season. His third season with the club saw him scoring just four goals in 22 league appearances, with all of the four goals coming before the winter break. The club nevertheless won their fourth consecutive league title at the end of the season. He also made 7 appearances in the European competition that season, scoring his only goal in a 3–0 away win at

NK Domžale Nogometni klub Domžale ( en, Domžale Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Domžale or simply Domžale, is a Slovenian football club that plays in the town of Domžale. They have won both the Slovenian League and the Slovenian Cup twice. ...

in the Champions League qualifying on 30 July 2008.

Grenoble

On 4 July 2009, Tadić signed a four-year contract with French

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 ...

side Grenoble Foot 38. He made his league debut in the club's opening match of the season, a 2–0 defeat at home to

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

on 8 August 2009. On 11 September 2009, it was announced that Tadić would be sidelined in order to undergo surgery for an ankle injury received during a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against Servette the previous week. He made his league comeback on 16 January 2010 in a 2–1 defeat at home to

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), commonly known as A.S.S.E. () or simply Saint-Étienne, is a professional football club based in Saint-Étienne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. The club was founded in 1933 and competes in ...

. He made a total of 14 league appearances in his first season with Grenoble, without scoring a goal. Tadić stayed at the club following their relegation to the

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

at the end of the 2009–10 season. However, after making just five appearances in the league, again without scoring a goal, he was allowed to leave the club on a free transfer in the winter break of the 2010–11 season.

Arminia Bielefeld

On 30 December 2010, German

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 ...

side

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

announced Tadić as their latest signing. The striker signed a six-month contract, would will be automatically extended for another season if the team avoids relegation. He made his league debut for the club on 16 January 2011 in a 1–1 draw at home to

FSV Frankfurt Fußballsportverein Frankfurt 1899 e.V., commonly known as simply FSV Frankfurt, is a German association football club based in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main, Hesse and founded in 1899. FSV Frankfurt also fielded a rather successfu ...

. On 30 January 2011, he scored his first goal for Arminia Bielefeld in the club's 3–1 defeat at home to

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

AC Omonia

On 14 July 2011, Tadić completed his transfer to the Cypriot club AC Omonia, on a free transfer. At the transfer deadline (31 August) of the same summer his contract was released because he wasn't good enough for the team and the coach.

Lechia Gdańsk

In August 2011, he joined

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football club based in Gdańsk. The club was founded in 1945 by people expelled from Lwów, who were supporters of Poland's oldest football team Lechia Lwów, founded in 1903. The club's name comes from Lechia, a ...

on a two-year contract.

Melbourne Heart

On 14 July 2012 it was announced he had signed with Australian

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

club Melbourne Heart.

Rijeka

On 4 June 2013, Tadić had signed a two-year contract with Croatia's top tier outfit, Rijeka.

Kitchee

On 12 July 2018, Tadić was presented as a player for Hong Kong Premier League side

Kitchee Kitchee Sports Club (; ; ) is a Hong Kong professional Association football, football club based in Kowloon. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. The club has won championships in Hong Kong 11 times, in ...

. In June 2019 he left the club.

International career

From 2002 and 2008, Tadić won 49 caps and scored 9 goals as a Croatian youth international, representing the country from under-15 to under-21. He debuted for the Croatian national under-21 team on 9 February 2005 in a friendly against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and went on to make 22 appearances and score 5 goals at that level, with his last appearance coming in a friendly against

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

on 26 March 2008, where he scored a goal. He has yet to feature for the

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 ...

Honours

Club

;Kitchee *

Hong Kong Senior Shield The Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield (), known commonly as the Senior Shield, is the football knockout inter-club competition held in Hong Kong and the fourth oldest football tournament in Asia. Traditionally, only the teams in the Hong Kong Pr ...

: 2018–19 *

Hong Kong FA Cup Hong Kong FA Cup () is a knockout cup competition in Hong Kong football, run by and named after The Hong Kong Football Association. The first edition of the competition was held in 1975, before then the cup was known as the Golden Jubilee Cup. Th ...

: 2018–19 ;Sūduva * A Lyga: 2019 * Lithuanian Football Cup: 2019

References

External links