Marko Bedenikovic (born June 18, 1984) is a Canadian former

soccer player 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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and defender.

Playing career

Early career

Bedenikovic played at the youth level with Dixie Soccer Club. He received a scholarship in 2001 from the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

in order to play at the college level for the

San Francisco Dons The San Francisco Dons is the nickname of the athletic teams at the University of San Francisco (USF). The Dons compete in NCAA Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the West Coast Conference (WCC), of ...

. He played with San Francisco for two seasons. In 2002, he played in the Canadian Professional Soccer League with the

Mississauga Olympians Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

. He continued playing in the CPSL when he signed with

Toronto Croatia Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

for the 2004 season. The Croats would go on to claim the CPSL Championship by defeating

Vaughan Shooters Vaughan () (2021 population 323,103) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increas ...

. He also had several trials throughout Europe with clubs such as Lombard Pápa,

Budapest Honvéd Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population of ...

, and

TuS Koblenz TuS Koblenz is a German association football club, located in Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Fussball Club Deutschland Neuendorf, which was formed in 1911, is viewed as the foundation of the modern club. History Nazi era (1933–1945) The or ...

but ultimately wasn't offered a contract. In 2005, he signed with the expansion franchise Oakville Blue Devils. In early September he received another tryout match in France but wasn't offered a contract. He returned for the remainder of the season and assisted in securing a postseason berth for Oakville. In the second round of the playoffs, he contributed the winning goal against

Hamilton Thunder The Hamilton Thunder were a soccer team located in Hamilton, Ontario, playing in the Western Conference of the Canadian Professional Soccer League. The team played its home fixtures at Brian Timmis Stadium until a rent dispute with the city cau ...

that advanced Oakville to the finals. He featured in the championship final and assisted Oakville in securing the title against Vaughan.

Toronto Lynx

The following season he signed a contract with the

Toronto Lynx Toronto Lynx was a Canadian soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1997, the team last played in the 2014 season of the Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Great Lakes D ...

of the

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system ...

. The signing reunited him with former head coach

Duncan Wilde Duncan Wilde is an English soccer manager who is currently the manager of Blue Devils FC in League1 Ontario. Managerial career On May 15, 2003 at the Canadian Professional Soccer League press conference the Hamilton Thunder announced Wilde as th ...

. He made his debut on April 22, against

Virginia Beach Mariners The Virginia Beach Mariners were an American soccer club, who formerly played in the USL First Division of the United Soccer Leagues, the second division in the US Soccer hierarchy behind Major League Soccer. On March 30, 2007 the team folded due ...

. He helped Toronto reach the final of the

Open Canada Cup The Open Canada Cup was an annual knock-out cup competition in Canadian Soccer. The competition was first held during the 1998 season as the CPSL League Cup. It was organized by the Canadian Soccer League (formerly the Canadian Professional So ...

but was defeated by

Ottawa St. Anthony Italia The Ottawa St. Anthony Italia is an amateur soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club was founded in 1952 as the St. Anthony men's soccer team and played in a local league. In 1959, the team consolidated with another local team known as ...

. In his debut season with the Lynx, he appeared in 27 matches and recorded one goal.

Europe

In 2008, he also played in a match with the reserve team of

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

. He returned to his former team Toronto Croatia and assisted the Croats in winning the 2007

Croatian World Club Championship The Croatian World Club Championship is a FIFA sanctioned international Association football, football tournament for Croatian diaspora football clubs. Founded in 2007, the tournament is organised by the Croatian Football Federation on behalf of t ...

. He contributed a goal against

Canberra Croatia FC Canberra Croatia Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of Deakin in the south of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Founded in 1958 the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Ca ...

which helped Croatia to claim the title. In 2009, he played abroad in Hungary's

Nemzeti Bajnokság II NB II, currently known as the Merkantil Bank Liga for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of Hungarian football. At the end of the 2004–05 season, the tournament format was changed from one division of 14 teams to two divisions: ''Keleti' ...

with Integrál-DAC, where he appeared in seven matches and scored a single goal. Unfortunately, the club ceased operations in late 2009, which resulted in the termination of his contract.

Canada

After a stint in Europe, he returned to Canada for the 2010 CSL season to sign with

Portugal FC SC Toronto was a Canadian soccer team, founded in 1994. The team was a member of the Canadian Soccer League, and played its final home games at Lamport Stadium in the city of Toronto, Ontario. The club found success early on since its incep ...

. He assisted Portugal in securing a postseason berth and recorded a goal in the playoffs in the second round against Milltown F.C. The following season Portugal FC was renamed SC Toronto and he assisted the club in securing the First Division title. Bedenikovic would later play in the

Ontario Soccer League The Ontario Soccer League (OSL) is a competitive amateur soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The OSL is affiliated with and governed by the Ontario Soccer Association The Ontario Soccer Association, founded in 1901, is one of the oldest and larg ...

with HNNK Zagreb in 2012. In 2018, he returned to the Canadian Soccer League to play with CSC Mississauga.

Indoor career

After the relegation of Toronto to the Premier Development League, he played at the indoor level with

Baltimore Blast The Baltimore Blast is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The team is a part of the Major Arena Soccer League. The team has won 10 championships since it was founded in 1980. Beginning with ...

in the Major Indoor Soccer League. He played in nine matches and recorded two goals for Baltimore. On December 6, 2018, Bedenikovic and six other players were signed by the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

Florida Tropics SC Florida Tropics SC is a professional soccer club based in Lakeland, Florida. They are owned by Central Florida Sports Ventures, LLC, led by Dr. Panos Iakovidis, and former USL commissioner and Rochester Rhinos owner Chris Economides. The org ...

. The high volume of signings was necessitated by issues with Canadian immigration laws, as the Tropics were due to play the

Mississauga MetroStars Mississauga MetroStars (briefly known as MetroStars Canada in 2019) were a professional indoor soccer team which played its home games at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The team joined the Major Arena Soccer Leag ...

on December 8. For the remainder of the indoor season, he played in the Mississauga-centered Arena Premier League with Portugal AC.

International career

Bedenikovic was called to the

Canada men's national under-17 soccer team The Canada U-17 men's national soccer team (also known as Canada Under-17s or Canada U-17s ) represents Canada in international soccer at this age level. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in Cana ...

camp in 2001.

Honors

Toronto Croatia

* CPSL Championship: 2004 *

: 2007

Oakville Blue Devils

* CPSL Championship: 2005

References

External links

Marko Bedenikovic USL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedenikovic, Marko 1984 births Living people Baltimore Blast (2001–2008 MISL) players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian expatriate soccer players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players Canadian soccer players Canadian people of Croatian descent Expatriate soccer players in the United States Men's association football defenders Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2008) players Brampton City United FC players Soccer players from Mississauga Toronto Croatia players Toronto Lynx players Durham Storm players University of San Francisco alumni USL First Division players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary San Francisco Dons men's soccer players Canada men's youth international soccer players SC Toronto players Integrál-DAC footballers Nemzeti Bajnokság II players Florida Tropics SC players Major Arena Soccer League players Expatriate footballers in Hungary