Marko Zelenika (born April 24, 1987) 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

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 ...

Club career

Early career

Zelenika began playing 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 Slavonija Požega for the 2005-06 season. He played 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 ...

during the 2005/06 season with

Kamen Ingrad NK Kamen Ingrad was a Croatian football club from Velika, a small town near Požega in the northeast of Croatia. The club was dissolved in July 2008 after serious financial problems. History The club was formed as NK Velika in 1929. After Worl ...

. During his time with Kamen Ingrad, he had an unsuccessful trial session with Swedish-side

Umeå FC Umeå FC is a Swedish professional football club located in Umeå, Sweden. The club, formed in 1987, is currently playing in the third tier of the Swedish league, Ettan Fotboll. The club is affiliated to the Västerbottens Fotbollförbund. Seaso ...

in the summer of 2007.

Bosnia

In 2007, he played abroad in the

Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina The m:tel Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( bs, m:tel Premijer liga Bosne i Hercegovine / м:тел Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), also known as Liga 12, is the top tier football league in Bosnia and Herz ...

with

Široki Brijeg , , nickname = , motto = , image_map = BiH municipality location Široki Brijeg.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location o ...

. During his tenure with Široki Brijeg he featured in the

2007–08 UEFA Cup The 2007–08 UEFA Cup was the 37th edition of the UEFA Cup, UEFA's second-tier club football tournament. The final was played at the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England on 14 May 2008 between Rangers of Scotland and Zenit Saint Pet ...

against

Koper Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...

, and

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv ( he, הפועל תל אביב) is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, suc ...

He made his second continental appearance in the

2008–09 UEFA Cup The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Cup football tournament. The final was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe, in Istanbul on 20 May 2009. This season was the final one to use the UEFA Cup for ...

against

Partizani Tirana Futboll Klub Partizani, or FK Partizani for short, is an Albanian professional football club based in Tirana, that competes in the Kategoria Superiore. Founded in 1946, the club was historically affiliated to the Albanian army. Partizani's curren ...

, and

Beşiktaş J.K. Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü (), also known simply as Beşiktaş (), is a Turkish sports club founded in 1903 that is based in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. The club's football team is one of the Big Three in Turkey and one of the most ...

Croatia

In 2009, he returned to the Croatian circuit to play with

HNK Suhopolje NK Suhopolje Virovitica is a Croatian football club based in a village Suhopolje, in the region of Slavonia Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taki ...

. In 2011, he returned to the Croatian second division with

Imotski Imotski (; it, Imoschi; lat, Emotha, later ''Imota'') is a small town on the northern side of the Biokovo massif in the Dalmatian Hinterland of southern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Imotski, like the surrounding inland D ...

, and had a loan spell with

NK Rudeš Nogometni Klub Rudeš ( en, Football Club Rudeš), commonly referred to as NK Rudeš or simply Rudeš, is a Croatian football club founded in 1957 in Zagreb's neighbourhood of Rudeš. The club competes in Croatia's second division. History Be ...

. He later played in the

Treća HNL 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 BŠK Zmaj, and

NK Oriolik NK Oriolik is a Croatian professional football club based in Oriovac Oriovac is a village and municipality in Brod-Posavina County, Croatia. There are a total 5,824 inhabitants in the municipality (2011). Geography The municipality compris ...

Europe

In 2015, he had another run abroad this time in the regional Switzerland circuit with NK Pajde Möhlin. Zelenika would feature in the 2015 Basel Cup final against FC Pratteln, where he contributed a goal. He also participated in the 2015 Croatian World Club Championship, where he was named best player in the tournament. Pajde Möhlin would end up defeating Vojvodina Croats in the tournament finals. Following his stint in Switzerland, he transferred over to SG HWW Niederroßbach in the German

Bezirksliga The Bezirksliga ( en, County League) is commonly a medium set of amateur divisions set at steps 7, 8 or 9 in the German football league system. Structure Depending on the structural organisation within each of the 21 state football associations ...

in 2016. He would re-sign with Niederroßbach for the 2017 season. The 2018 season would mark his third and final with Niederroßbach.

Canada

In the summer of 2019, he played in the

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 ...

with

Hamilton City SC Hamilton City 1 Soccer Club was a Canadian soccer team founded in 2016 that played in the Canadian Soccer League, and played their home games at Cardinal Newman Secondary School multi-sport athletic field in the community of Stoney Creek, Hamil ...

. Throughout the 2019 campaign, he helped the club in securing a playoff berth by finishing sixth in the league's first division. Hamilton would be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by

Ukraine United The Political Party "Ukraine United" ( uk, Політична партія «Україна соборна»; Politychna Partiya "Ukrayina Soborna") is a political party in Ukraine registered in 2005.Croatia national under-19 football team The Croatia national under-19 football team represents Croatia in international football at this age level and is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Croatia. Competition history Prior to 1990 Croat ...

on February 13, 2006 in a friendly match 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 ...

. He represented Croatia in the 2006 Elite Round U-19 Championship against Macedonia, and

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 ...

. He also played with the

Croatia national under-20 football team The Croatia national under-20 football team is the national under-20 football team of Croatia and is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Croatia. History The U20 team is the de facto under-19 ...

making his debut on September 26, 2006 in a friendly match against Slovenia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zelenika, Marko 1987 births Living people People from Požega, Croatia Men's association football midfielders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers NK Kamen Ingrad players NK Široki Brijeg players HNK Suhopolje players NK Imotski players NK Rudeš players Hamilton City SC players Croatian Football League players First Football League (Croatia) players Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Bosnia and Herzegovina Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany