Mirko Marić (; born 16 May 1995) is a professional

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

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 ...

for club

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

. Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Marić represented his native country internationally at youth level. He has

Croatian citizenship The Croatian nationality law dates back from June 26, 1991, with amendments on May 8, 1992, October 28, 2011, and January 1, 2020, and an interpretation of the Constitutional Court in 1993. It is based upon the Constitution of Croatia (Chapter II ...

, and represented Croatia internationally at both

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. You ...

and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

level.

Club career

NK Široki Brijeg

Marić started his professional career at

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

Dinamo Zagreb

Marić signed a seven-year contract with Croatian giants

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 ...

on 27 March 2014. He spent the rest of the season at

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

, and then moved to

in the summer.

NK Široki Brijeg

Upon his arrival at Dinamo Zagreb in the summer of 2014, Marić was immediately loaned back to Široki Brijeg. He played six games for Široki Brijeg, including four in the Europa League qualifying phase. He scored two goals for Široki Brijeg in the second leg against Gabala in the first qualifying round. On 13 August 2014, Dinamo Zagreb withdrew their loan agreement with Široki Brijeg.

Lokomotiva

On 18 August 2014, Marić was loaned to

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 ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut against

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 ...

on 24 August 2014. Marić scored 28 goals in 94 games in all competitions.

Osijek

Marić joined

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

in September 2017. In his second season, he became the league's second-best top scorer with 18 goals. By January 2020, in the following league season, Marić scored 14 goals in 19 matches. Good performances attracted various clubs; however, Osijek rejected a €5 million bid from

Dynamo Kiev Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was officia ...

. He finished the season with 20 goals as the league's joint-top goalscorer, and left the club with 53 goals in 113 games in all competitions.

Monza

On 11 August 2020, Marić moved to newly-promoted

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

side

, signing a five-year contract. He scored his first goal on 21 November, in a 1–1 draw to Pordenone in the league.

Loan to Crotone

On 17 August 2021, Marić moved to fellow-Serie B club

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until ...

on a one-year loan, with an option for purchase.

International career

Eligible to play for either

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, Marić had stated that he wished to play for Croatia. He was called up for Croatia for the

2017 China Cup The 2017 Gree China Cup International Football Championship () was the inaugural edition of the China Cup, an international football tournament. It was held from 10 to 15 January 2017 in Nanning, Guangxi, China. The tournament was hosted by t ...

and played in two games.

Personal life

His younger brother,

Mateo Mateo may refer to: People ;Name * Mateo (given name) * Mateo (surname) ;People named Mateo * Mateo (singer) (born 1986), former stage name of American pop/R&B singer-songwriter Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Mateo'' (1937 film), a 1937 Argent ...

, plays 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 Lokomotiva in the 1. HNL.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Široki Brijeg *

Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup The Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kup Bosne i Hercegovine, Куп Босне и Херцеговине) is a knock-out football competition contested annually by clubs from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The winner ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Videoton *

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

: 2017–18

References

External links

*
Profile
at AC Monza * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maric, Mirko 1995 births Living people People from Grude Sportspeople from West Herzegovina Canton Men's association football forwards Bosnia and Herzegovina men's footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina men's youth international footballers Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers NK Široki Brijeg players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players Fehérvár FC players NK Osijek players AC Monza players FC Crotone players Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina players Croatian Football League players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Serie B players Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate men's footballers Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Italy Croatian sportspeople from Bosnia and Herzegovina