Marijan Vuka (born 10 January 1980) is a Croatian 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 le ...

who played 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 ...

, primarily within the Croatian football leagues with stints abroad in the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

, and

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...

. A product of

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek ( en, Osijek Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Osijek or simply Osijek (), is a Croatian professional football club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav F ...

youth system, Vuka had spells at a number of Croatian sides in the

Croatian First Football League 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 (soccer), football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, i ...

, including

NK Vukovar '91 HNK Vukovar '91 was a Croatian Association football, football club based in the river port of Vukovar. Under the name NK Vukovar '91, club was founded in Zagreb by Vukovar refugees during the Croatian War of Independence. In 1992, newly founded ...

Marsonia Slavonski Brod (), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod was the 7th large ...

HNK Cibalia Hrvatski nogometni klub Cibalia, commonly known as Cibalia Vinkovci or simply Cibalia, is a Croatian football club from the town of Vinkovci in eastern Croatia. Cibalia currently play in the Prva NL, Croatia's second tier league. Their stadium ...

NK Međimurje NK Međimurje is a Croatian football club based in Čakovec. The club is named after Međimurje, the region in northern Croatia where Čakovec is located. The club play their home games at the Stadion SRC Mladost, Čakovec, which has a tota ...

. Throughout his time in the Prva Liga he featured in the

2000–01 UEFA Cup Liverpool won the 2000–01 UEFA Cup with a golden goal in the final against Alavés for their third title in the competition. It completed a cup treble for the club, as they also won the FA Cup and the League Cup that season. The conclusion of ...

, and

2001–02 UEFA Cup The 2001–02 UEFA Cup was won by Feyenoord at their home ground in the final against Borussia Dortmund. It was the second time they won the competition. Liverpool could not defend their title as they automatically qualified for the 2001–02 U ...

for NK Osijek, and played against

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

Rapid Vienna Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...

, and

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...

. In 2004, he went abroad to play in the

with Kuban Krasnodar. After several years in Russia he returned to Croatia to play with

, and later played in the

Croatian Second Football League The Druga nogometna liga ( eng, Second football league), commonly Druga NL or 2. NL) is the third tier of the football league system. The league was established in 1991 following the dissolution of the Yugoslav League. It is operated by the Cro ...

with NK Grafičar Vodovod, and

NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac Nogometni klub Hrvatski dragovoljac ( en, Football Club Hrvatski dragovoljac), commonly referred to as NK Hrvatski dragovoljac or simply Hrvatski dragovoljac, is a Croatian football club based in the Novi Zagreb neighbourhood of the country's ca ...

. He would finish his football career in Croatia in the

Croatian Third Football League The Treća nogometna liga ( eng, Third football league), commonly Treća NL or 3. NL) is the fourth tier of the Croatian football league system, football league system. The league was reestablished in 2022 following the reconstruction of league s ...

with NK Konavljanin, and

NK Višnjevac NK Višnjevac is a Croatian football club based in the village of Višnjevac, near Osijek. The team won the Treća HNL East Division in 2003–04, but did not apply for promotion to the second division. As of 2023, they participate in the MŽNL ...

. In 2014, he went abroad for a second term in the

to play with Burlington SC, where featured in 14 matches, and recorded six goals.

References

External links

Marijan Vuka
at the

Croatian Football Federation The Croatian Football Federation ( hr, Hrvatski nogometni savez, HNS) is the governing body of association football in Croatia. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of Zagreb. The organisation is a member of both FIF ...

website 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Osijek Croatian footballers Croatian expatriate footballers Croatian Football League players NK Osijek players NK Marsonia players FC Kuban Krasnodar players Russian Premier League players HNK Cibalia players NK Grafičar Vodovod players NK Međimurje players NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac players Expatriate footballers in Russia HNK Vukovar '91 players Halton United players First Football League (Croatia) players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players Association football forwards {{Croatia-footy-forward-stub