Mladen Romić (23 May 1962 – 19 January 2006) was a

Croat The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, Ge ...

ian football player.

Club career

As a player, he spent much of his career, nine seasons in total, with

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football, football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top ...

. While playing for

NK Pomorac NK Pomorac 1921 is a Croatian football club based in Kostrena, a suburb of Rijeka which currently plays in Croatian third tier 3. HNL West. Kostrena is known for its maritime tradition, which is reflected in the club's name, as the word " pomora ...

in 2002, at the age of 39, he became the oldest player to have played in

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 ...

. Since then, he has been overtaken by

Davor Vugrinec Davor Vugrinec (born 24 March 1975) is a Croatian former professional footballer. He primarily played as a striker, but also operated as an attacking midfielder or a second striker. He is all-time top scorer of the Croatian First Football Leagu ...

and

Jakov Surać Jakov Surać (born 12 February 1975) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up ...

International career

He made his debut for

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 ...

in a July 1992

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

away against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and earned a total of 3 caps, scoring no goals, all during the tour of Australia. His final international was a week later against the same opposition.

Post-playing career

Between 2003 and his premature death due to illness in 2006, he was sporting director of

. Rijeka's fans,

Armada Rijeka Armada are a football ultras group that support HNK Rijeka. They also support Rijeka's other sports clubs, such as RK Zamet ( handball), Primorje EB (waterpolo) and KK Kvarner 2010 (basketball). The name Armada was given in 1987 at a bar i ...

, created a mural near

Stadion Kantrida Kantrida Stadium ( hr, Stadion Kantrida) is a football stadium in the Croatian city of Rijeka. It is named after the Kantrida neighbourhood in which it is located, in the western part of the city. It has served as the home of the HNK Rijeka foo ...

in his honour to commemorate his contribution to the club.Lazzarich, Marinko (2008) (in Croatian). Kantrida bijelih snova. Rijeka: Adamić. , pp. 370-1.

Honours

;Bremerhaven *

Verbandsliga Bremen The Bremen-Liga, sometimes also referred to as ''Oberliga Bremen'', is a fifth tier of the German football league system and the highest league in the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. It is one of fourteen Oberligas in German football ...

: 1993-94 ;NK Zadar * Prva B HNL promotion: 1995-96 ;NK Pomorac *

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 ...

promotion: 2000-01 * 3. HNL - West: 1998-99 ;Individual *

NK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top division, HT Prva lig ...

player of the season: 1991-92

Statistics

Player

References

External links

*
Profile leksikon
1962 births 2006 deaths Footballers from Livno Men's association football defenders Yugoslav men's footballers Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers NK Troglav 1918 Livno players NK Dubrava players NK Zagreb players HNK Rijeka players FC Bremerhaven players NK Zadar players NK Pomorac 1921 players Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav Second League players Croatian Football League players Regionalliga players First Football League (Croatia) players Second Football League (Croatia) players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany HNK Rijeka non-playing staff {{Croatia-footy-defender-stub