Mateo Hrvatsko Poljak (; born 10 September 1989) 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 last played as a

Defensive 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 ...

for Mt Druitt Town Rangers.

Club career

Croatia

After going through the youth ranks of

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 ...

, Poljak was moved to their feeder team Lokomotiva Zagreb, then playing in the

Druga HNL The Prva nogometna liga ( en, First football league), commonly Prva NL or 1. NL, is the second tier of the football league system in Croatia. The league was formed in 1991 with the breakup of Yugoslavia and the dissolution of the Yugoslav Second ...

. After a season there he signed a 7-year contract with the club, which was taken over by Dinamo at the beginning of 2010. He spent the next two and a half seasons on loan at

NK Lokomotiva Nogometni klub Lokomotiva Zagreb ( en, Lokomotiva Zagreb Football Club), commonly known as Lokomotiva Zagreb or simply Lokomotiva, is a Croatian professional association football, football club based in Zagreb. It competes in the Croatian First ...

, however, before his contract was terminated in the summer of 2012.

Western Sydney Wanderers

On 13 August 2012 it was announced that Poljak had signed with the newly formed

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

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

. He signed an initial two-year contract, set to expire in July 2014. In his first season with Western Sydney, he made 25 appearances, a mainstay of the side's midfield, scoring one goal and helping the Wanderers win the A-League premiership in the club's first season. On 5 September 2013, Poljak signed a two-year extension with the club, the new contract ending mid 2016. Poljak again in his second season with Western Sydney was a constant starter throughout with his side finishing the league in second position. He was also a part of the side that won the

2014 AFC Champions League The 2014 AFC Champions League was the 33rd edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 12th under the current AFC Champions League title. Guangzhou Evergrande were the defe ...

, later going on to compete in the

2014 FIFA Club World Cup The 2014 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Morocco 2014 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was the 11th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament between ...

Newcastle Jets

In 2015, Poljak was not retained by the Wanderers and joined

Newcastle United Jets FC Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

Personal life

Poljak is married to Katarina, and has a daughter, Mia.

Career statistics

¹ – includes

final series statistics
² –

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

statistics are included in season ending during group stages (i.e. ACL 2014 and A-League season 2013–2014 etc.)

Honours

;Western Sydney Wanderers *

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

References

External links

Western Sydney Wanderers profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Poljak, Mateo 1989 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Association football midfielders Croatian footballers Croatia youth international footballers NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Newcastle Jets FC players FC Astra Giurgiu players Marconi Stallions FC players Sutherland Sharks FC players Croatian Football League players A-League Men players Liga I players Croatian expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in Australia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate footballers in Romania Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Romania