Manuel Pamić (born 20 August 1986) is a Croatian

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 plays as a

left 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 ...

and is the current player-manager of Smoljanci Sloboda.

Club career

Early career

Pamić started his career in the youth ranks of local club

NK Žminj NK Žminj is a Croatian football club based in a village of Žminj in the central part of Istria. Honours Treća HNL The Druga nogometna liga ( eng, Second football league), commonly Druga NL or 2. NL) is the third tier of the football ...

, where he stayed until 2004 before moving to

NK Istra 1961 Nogometni klub Istra 1961 ( en, Istra 1961 Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Istra 1961, or simply Istra 1961 or Istra, is a Croatian professional football club from Pula, currently playing in the Croatian First League. It is a common ...

at the age of 18. He impressed at the club and became a regular in the Pula squad. His talent was noticed and in 2006 he made a move in

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 ...

Red Bull Salzburg

He played with

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

one year producing 9 assists and scoring one goal (claimed to be the ''"best goal of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

"'' by the Croatian media) in the match against

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serv ...

before he moved on, due to a direct request of the Salzburg's coach

Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a ...

, to the Austrian Red Bull Salzburg in December 2007 for a fee of €1m. When he moved in the Austrian Club

Niko Kovač Niko Kovač (; born 15 October 1971) is a Croatian professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Bundesliga club VFL Wolfsburg. Kovač was the long-standing captain of the Croatia national team until his retirem ...

, the captain of Red Bull Salzburg and of the

Croatia national football team The Croatia national football team ( hr, Hrvatska nogometna reprezentacija) represents Croatia in international Association football, football matches. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), the governing body for football ...

declared: ''"I can only congratulate my team on making this signing. Manuel ranks as one of the best talents in this position and he is certain to be considered for the Croatia national team sooner or later. Pamic is highly skilled and is really able to create some pressure down the left side".'' With the Austrians he played 6 matches in the first half of the year, and another 4 the second. Concluding his Austrian experience with a total of 11 matches, between League and Cup, producing also 2 assists.

Sparta Praha

In January 2009 he was loaned to

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

, a year later Sparta purchased him. With the Czech club Pamić played very well producing many assists, whilst also scoring some goals with powerful shots from distance. With Sparta he collected a total of 162 caps scoring 6 goals.

Chievo Verona

In the summer transfer window of July 2013 he made a move to the Italian club Chievo. Pamić made his debut for Chievo on 17 August 2013 in an Italian's Cup match against

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

. He made his debut in the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

against

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, on 20 October 2013.

Siena

In the winter transfer window of January 2014, Pamić was loaned by Chievo to

A.C. Siena Associazione Calcio Robur Siena 1904, commonly referred to as Siena, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Siena, Tuscany. The club was re-incorporated in 2020 after the bankruptcy of the previous legal entity Robur Siena, whi ...

International career

He was a very active member of almost all the Croatian youth association football national teams, from Under 16 until the Under 19 youth selection. Pamić has also played with the Croatia national under-21 team, where he made a total of 7 appearances. He has become a regular call up for the Croatia national team, with whom he took part in the

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

. However, he has still not had a debut, under coach

Slaven Bilić Slaven Bilić (; born 11 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of EFL Championship side Watford. Bilić, who played as a defender, began his career in 1988 with his hometown cl ...

due to minor legal issues with his Manager and the Croatian HNS, Bilić has also called him for a starting team place in a match against

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

in his native

Pula Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian language, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot language, Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene language, Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the List of cities and town ...

where Pamić did not debut due to an injury, and time after under

Igor Štimac Igor Štimac (; born 6 September 1967) is a Croatian football coach and former player who played as a centre back. He is the current head coach of the Indian national team. In his playing career, Štimac had three spells with Hajduk Split and ...

, who has called up Pamić for much matches in

, but with Štimac has also can't debut due to still other injuries. Štimac had also call him for a lineup place in a friendly match against the

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 ...

- Selection, but Pamić had to postpone the debut, expressing his desire to stay with his pregnant wife. Manuel Pamić has also received a call up from

Czech national football team The Czech Republic national football team ( cs, Česká fotbalová reprezentace), recognised by FIFA as Czechia, represents the Czech Republic in international football. The team is controlled by the Football Association of the Czech Republic ( ...

, but has refused stating: ''"I'm honored from the Czech call up, and maybe is better for me to play for the Czechs, cause Croatia national team and Coach continues to ignore me, but I must to refuse cause Croatia is my homeland and I love it."''

Coaching career

After spells at amateur clubs in Croatia, Pamić was appointed manager of Smoljanci Sloboda at the end of September 2020. Pamić was also still active on the field, as he functioned as a player-coach.PRVI PORAZ BANJOLA: Ljubičasti iskoristili prilike i učvrstili drugo mjesto
glasistre.hr, 1 April 2021

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Sparta Praha *

Gambrinus Liga The Czech First League, known as the Fortuna liga for sponsorship reasons, is a Czech professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Czech football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Seasons typically ru ...

(1): 2009–10 *

Czech Supercup The Czech Supercup () was an annual football match between the winners of the Czech First League and the Czech Cup, organised by the Czech Football Association. It was last sponsored by Synot Tip and was therefore officially known as the Synot Tip ...

(1):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pamic, Manuel 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Istria County Footballers from Pula Men's association football fullbacks Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers NK Žminj players NK Istra 1961 players HNK Rijeka players FC Red Bull Salzburg players AC Sparta Prague players AC ChievoVerona players ACR Siena 1904 players Frosinone Calcio players NK Rovinj players NK Novigrad players Croatian Football League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Czech First League players Serie A players Serie B players First Football League (Croatia) players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Croatian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Croatian football managers