Mihael Mikić (; born 6 January 1980) is a Croatian former 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 played as a

right 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 ...

. He is currently working as an assistant manager of the

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

. He most commonly played as a right winger or

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, but was known as a quite effective

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in the beginnings of his career.

Club career

Mikić was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

and started to play football at the club

NK Bistra NK Bistra is a Croatian football club based in Donja Bistra, village part of Bistra municipality, located just north-west of the Croatian capital Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest o ...

when he was seven years old. At the age of 13, he moved to Inker Zaprešić and started his professional career at the club already at the age of 16. He left Inker after his first professional season and went on to sign with

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 ...

, where he became a regular by the time he turned 19. He was still only 18 years old when he went on to make three appearances for Dinamo Zagreb in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

group stage in the autumn of 1998, starting in two matches and becoming notable for scoring the club's first goal in the UEFA Champions League when he opened the scoring in the 7th minute of Dinamo's fourth group match, against

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

at home in Zagreb. Dinamo won the match 3–1 and went on to win 1–0 against

Ajax Amsterdam Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

away and draw 1–1 against

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

at home, but failed to advance to the quarterfinals after finishing second in their group. Mikić appeared in all of Dinamo's three home matches, playing as a striker. He also played with Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Champions League in the following year and made five appearances in six group matches, but was a starting player only once. He scored one goal in Dinamo's final group match, away against

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

, that ended in a 2–2 draw. Dinamo was eliminated from the competition after finishing last out of four teams in their group. Mikić continued to play for Dinamo Zagreb until 2004 and then he left the club after seven seasons for German

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 1. FC Kaiserslautern. In his first season in Germany, he made only six Bundesliga appearances for Kaiserslautern and was not a regular in the first part of the 2005–06 season either, making only four appearances in the league, but then he became a regular after the winter break and collected a total of 20 Bundesliga appearances until the end of the season. He did not manage to score any goals in a total of 29 competitive appearances for Kaiserslautern and left the club in June 2006, shortly after they were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga with a 16th-place finish in the first division. In July 2006, he came back to Croatia by signing with

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 ...

and made his competitive debut for the club on 13 July 2006 in their first-leg first-round

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

qualifier against Cypriot club

Omonia Nicosia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Oμόνοιας Λευκωσίας, ΑΣΟΛ; ''Athlitikos Sillogos Omonias Lefkosias'', ''ASOL''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia (" Harmony"; also tran ...

. Omonia eliminated Rijeka from the competition in the second leg by winning 4–3 on aggregate. Mikić's domestic league debut for Rijeka came on 30 July 2006 in the club's opening match of the 2006–07 season, where they celebrated a 4–3 away victory against

Cibalia Hrvatski nogometni klub Cibalia, commonly known as Cibalia Vinkovci or simply Cibalia, is a Croatian football club from the town of Vinkovci in eastern Croatia. Cibalia currently play in the Prva NL, Croatia's second tier league. Their stadium ...

. In January 2007, Mikić left Rijeka after making only 14 domestic league appearances for the club and returned to his former club Dinamo Zagreb, making his domestic league debut in their 2–1 victory in derby against

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 ...

on 24 February 2007. On 25 December 2008, it was announced that Mikić moved to

J. League The , officially is Japan's professional football league including the first division J1 League, second division J2 League and third division J3 League of the Japanese association football league system. J1 League is one of the most succe ...

side

Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sanfrecce Hiroshima ( ja, サンフレッチェ広島, translit=''Sanfuretche Hiroshima'') is a Japanese professional football club based in Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the coun ...

International career

Mikić could not crack the Croatian national A-team, but he had a fairly successful international career at youth level with the Croatian national under-19 and under-21 teams. He debuted for the Croatian under-19 team on 3 November 1997 against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

in their qualifying campaign for the 1998 European Under-18 Championship and subsequently made another two appearances for the team in the qualifying, scoring once. In July 1998, he was seen by many as the best player of the Croatian team at the European Under-18 Championship finals in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, where he scored three goals in four matches and helped the team to reach the third place after beating

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 ...

penalty shootout 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 ...

. After the tournament, he made another four appearances and scored one goal for the team in their qualifying campaign for the 1999 European Under-18 Championship. Mikić won his last international cap for the Croatian under-19 team on 24 March 1999 and went to make his debut for the country's under-21 team in their opening match of the 1999 World Youth Championship in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, against

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on 4 April 1999. He appeared in all four matches played by the Croatian team at the tournament before they were eliminated by

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the round of 16. Until the end of the year 1999, he made five appearances and scored three goals for the Croatian under-21 team in their qualifying campaign for the 2000 European Under-21 Championship and subsequently also appeared in all three group matches at the final tournament in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, where Croatia was eliminated in the group stage. He continued to play for the Croatian under-21 team until November 2001, making six appearances and scoring three goals in their qualifying campaign for the 2002 European Under-21 Championship.

Career statistics

Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社
"2016J1&J2&J3選手名鑑"
10 February 2016, Japan, (p. 12 out of 289)

Honours

Dinamo Zagreb *

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 ...

: 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08 *

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 ...

: 1997–98, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2006–07, 2007–08 *

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 ...

: 2002, 2003 Sanfrecce Hiroshima *

J. League Division 1 The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian Football Confederation, Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promot ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Japanese Super Cup The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J. League and the Japan Football Association (JFA). This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the r ...

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 ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

References

External links

*
Mihael Mikić
national team appearances at the

Croatian Football Federation The Croatian Football Federation ( hr, Hrvatski nogometni savez, HNS) is the governing body of association football in Croatia. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of Zagreb. The organisation is a member of both FIF ...

official website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mikic, Mihael 1980 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Association football midfielders Croatian footballers Croatia youth international footballers Croatia under-21 international footballers NK Inter Zaprešić players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players HNK Rijeka players Sanfrecce Hiroshima players Shonan Bellmare players Croatian Football League players Bundesliga players J1 League players Croatian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Japan Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Japan GNK Dinamo Zagreb non-playing staff Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia