Mario Gavranović (; born 24 November 1989) is a Swiss 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

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits. The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fini ...

and the Switzerland national team.

Club career

Early career

Gavranović began his career with AS Vezia, before he was scouted by Team Ticino U18, the youth academy of

FC Lugano FC Lugano is a Swiss football club based in Lugano. The club was refounded as AC Lugano in 2004 as a result of relegation and the financial situation of FC Lugano, which was founded in 1908. In 2008, the club reverted to its original name, FC Lu ...

. In the 2006–07 season, he played his first professional games in the

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, while the ...

for FC Lugano. In his second season he scored eight goals in 21 games. In the summer of 2008 he signed for Yverdon-Sport and scored another eight goals in only 20 games. For the 2008–09 season, he moved to

Neuchâtel Xamax , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France ...

Schalke

After a successful start at

having scored eight goals in 17 games, Gavranović left his team to sign for

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

on 1 February 2010. He scored a vital goal for Schalke 04 in the Round of 16 in the Champions League against

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, which led his team to a 4–2 victory and a place in the quarter-finals. Gavranović joined fellow

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

side

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

on a season-long loan deal on 31 August 2011. Mainz reportedly paid €200,000 to secure his services and the loan included a deal for a permanent transfer worth €1.5 million.

FC Zürich

After only making five appearances during his loan spell, Gavranović returned to Schalke at which point he agreed to cancel his contract in May 2012 and moved on a free transfer to

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

in the summer. He made his debut for Zürich on 15 July 2012, and scored his first goal from the penalty spot in the same match, a 1–1 draw with

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (german: Luzern). It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Super League, the top tier of the Swiss football league syste ...

. Gavranović scored Zürich's winning goal against reigning champions

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

on 11 August 2013 in the fifth round of the Swiss Super League. He scored Zürich's first goal as the club twice came from behind to defeat FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy 3-2 in the second round of the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

on 15 September. On 24 November, Gavranović netted twice in the second half of Zürich's

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

clash with

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

, inspiring his side to a 4–1 victory. In the

Zürich Derby The Zurich derby is a football match between rivals FC Zürich and Grasshopper Club Zürich. The two teams were founded in Zürich, Switzerland. Grasshopper in 1886 and FC Zürich in 1896. Grasshoppers are historically known as the club of the ...

match against

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshop ...

on 1 March 2014, Gavranović scored a goal in either half to give Zürich a 3-1 win. On 21 April 2014, Gavranović scored twice in extra-time to lead Zürich to a 2–0 victory over Basel in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the Swiss Cup. After suffering a knee injury in training at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, Gavranović was sidelined for the rest of 2014.

Rijeka

On 18 January 2016, Gavranović moved to

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 ...

in Croatia. He signed a -year contract with the club and joined their pre-season training camp in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

. Gavranović scored on his official club début on 12 February 2016, converting a cross by

Roman Bezjak Roman Bezjak (born 21 February 1989) is a Slovenian footballer who plays as a forward for Austrian side USV Wies. He made his debut for the Slovenian national team in 2013. Club career Celje Bezjak made his debut for Celje on 9 April 2008 ...

in the 25th minute to double Rijeka's lead against Lokomotiva. In two years with the club Gavranović scored 40 goals in 80 appearances.

Dinamo Zagreb

On 5 January 2018, Gavranović joined

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 ...

as part of player exchange deal involving

Domagoj Pavičić Domagoj Pavičić (born 9 March 1994) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Konyaspor in the Turkish Süper Lig. Club career Pavičić joined Lokomotiva on two loans from Dinamo Zagreb in order to get first team ch ...

and Luka Capan. He signed a three-year contract with the club and selected the number 11 jersey. With a move to the new club and a successful spring season, Gavranović was determined to secure a place in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

's squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia. During his official presentation in Zagreb Gavranović revealed that all of his family members are Dinamo supporters and since the early age he was also encouraged to support the club. He scored his first goal for the club in a 1–0 win over

Slaven Belupo Nogometni klub Slaven Belupo ( en, Slaven Belupo Football Club), often referred to as NK Slaven Belupo, Slaven Belupo or simply Slaven, and known internationally as NK Slaven Koprivnica, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city ...

on 4 March. On 7 March, he scored against his former club

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 ...

, but Dinamo would go on to lose the match 4–1. He scored again in a 2–0 win over Rudeš on 17 March and then scored against Istra 1961 in a 4–0 away win on 8 April. Gavranović scored twice in a 2–1 away win over rivals

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

, which moved Dinamo closer to securing a 19th league title. He was released from Dinamo at the end of his contract on 30 July 2020. However, he returned to the club just three weeks later due to injury of club's first striker

Bruno Petković Bruno Petković (; born 16 September 1994) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Dinamo Zagreb and the Croatia national team. Early career Petković was born in Metković, Croatia. His father Jakov Petković hails fr ...

. On 17 October, he scored his first hat-trick for Dinamo as they defeated Gorica 3–2.

International career

Gavranović represented Switzerland on U-21 level in 14 games and scored three goals. On 26 March 2011, he made senior team debut in the 0–0 draw with

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

in a

Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...

. His first goals arrived in a brace scored in a 4–2 friendly win over

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 ...

on 15 August 2012. Gavranović was named in the final 23-man squad for the

in Brazil on 13 May 2014. On 29 June, he sustained a serious knee injury in training, ruling him out for the rest of the World Cup and until early 2015. Gavranović was named in manager

Vladimir Petković Vladimir Petković (; born 15 August 1963) is a Bosnian-born Swiss professional football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of French side Bordeaux, having previously managed the Switzerland national team, a string o ...

's 23-man Swiss squad for the

in Russia. He played his first ever World Cup match in the second

Group E Group E may refer to: * E-Group: E-Groups are unique architectural complexes found among a number of ancient Maya settlements * Group E (vase painting) Group E (or E Group) was a group of Attic vase painters of the black-figure style. They were a ...

match versus

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

, entering at the start of the second half and giving an injury time assist which was finished by

Xherdan Shaqiri Xherdan Shaqiri (; born 10 October 1991) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Chicago Fire and the Switzerland national team. Shaqiri began his career at FC Basel, winning honours including t ...

for a 2–1 comeback win. Gavranović was named in Petković's 26-man squad for the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

. On 28 June 2021, he was substituted for Shaqiri in the 73rd minute of the

Round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

match against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He scored Switzerland's third goal, tying the score at 3–3. After

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

and a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

, Switzerland won 5–4 (with Gavranović successfully converting his

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

) and qualified for the

quarter-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. That was the first time in history that Switzerland progressed to the European Championship quarter-finals, and the first time since the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerla ...

that they progressed to quarter-finals of a major tournament. On 15 September 2022, Gavranović announced his retirement from the Swiss national team, after eleven years and 41 appearances in the senior team. His last appearance was thus on 5 June 2022, in a 0-4 defeat to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

Personal life

Gavranović is of

Bosnian Croat The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina (), often referred to as Bosnian Croats () or Herzegovinian Croats () are the third most populous ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ethnic group in the country after Bosniaks and Serbs of Bosnia and H ...

descent, hailing from

Gradačac Gradačac ( sr-cyrl, Градачац, ) is a city located in the Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the northeastern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, roughly south of ...

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 ...

. As of 2016, Gavranović is married to Anita, a Bosnian Croat from

Derventa Derventa ( sr-cyrl, Дервента) is a city located in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the Posavina region, northwest of the city of Doboj. As of 2013, the town has a total of 11,631 inhabitants, while ...

. In May 2019, Anita gave birth to a baby girl whom they named Leonie. Gavranović is a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingualism, monolingual speakers in the World population, world's pop ...

; he speaks Croatian, Italian, French, German and English.

Career statistics

Club

International

: :''Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gavranović goal''.

Honours

Schalke 04 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

2010–11 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 ...

Zürich *

: 2013–14, 2015–16 Rijeka *

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 ...

: 2016–17 *

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup * Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup *Croatian Minute Movie Cup ...

: 2016–17 Dinamo Zagreb *Prva HNL: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

*Croatian Cup: 2017–18,

Croatian Super Cup The Croatian Football Super Cup is a football match between the winners of the Croatian national top league and football cup. The Super Cup is always held at the beginning of a new football season, and is only held when different clubs win the t ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Switzerland U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

runner-up:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Individual *

top scorer: 2016–17 *

Football Oscar The Football Oscar ( hr, Nogometni Oscar) is an annual football award given by the Croatian Association Football Union and Sportske novosti since 2013. In the 2017 edition the award was renamed as Trophy Footballer ( hr, Trofej Nogometaš). It is aw ...

– Prva HNL Team of the Year:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gavranovic, Mario 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Lugano Association football forwards Swiss footballers Swiss people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Swiss people of Croatian descent Switzerland youth international footballers Switzerland under-21 international footballers Switzerland international footballers FC Lugano players Yverdon-Sport FC players Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players FC Schalke 04 players FC Schalke 04 II players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players FC Zürich players HNK Rijeka players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Kayserispor footballers Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Croatian Football League players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players Swiss expatriate footballers Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate footballers in Croatia