Nikola Katić (; born 10 October 1996) is a Croatian 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

centre-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 ...

for

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 ...

Club career

Early career

Katić started his football career in 2001 at

HNK Stolac HNK may refer to: * Croatian National Corpus (Croatian: ') * Croatian National Theatre (disambiguation) (Croatian: ') * Honokiol Honokiol is a lignan isolated from the bark, seed cones, and leaves of trees belonging to the genus ''Magnolia''. It ...

in his native

Stolac Stolac is an ancient city located in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in the region of Herzegovina. Stolac is one of the oldest cities in Bosnia and Herzego ...

, before moving on to NK Neretvanac in

Opuzen Opuzen ( it, Forte Opus) is a small town in Dubrovnik-Neretva County in Croatia. The town is located upstream from the mouth of the river Neretva, in southern Dalmatia. This settlement is known as a major center of tangerine production in Croatia ...

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 ...

. He was soon moved to the club's senior team and started featuring in Treća HNL Jug. A year later, he went on a trial with

HNK 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 ...

's reserve team, but did not sign. A year later, however, he moved to top-tier

NK 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 ...

. Initially mostly featuring for the youth team, Katić broke into the club's first squad in the 2016–17 season.

Rangers

In June 2018, Katić left Slaven to join

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

on a four-year deal, for an undisclosed transfer fee. On 29 December 2019, Katić scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory in the

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, the first win at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

for Rangers since 2010.

FC Zürich

On 31 August 2022, Katić joined

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

club

for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract.

International career

Katić represented

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 ...

at under-21 level, playing against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

in 2017. Katić was called up to the senior

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 ...

team in May 2017, and he made his full international debut as a late substitute for

Ivan Santini Ivan Santini (; born 21 May 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Swiss club Zürich. Club career Ivan Santini, born in Zadar, played for his hometown side's youth team, until the summer of 2006, when he moved ...

in a 2–1 win against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. He was named in Croatia's squad for UEFA Under-21 Euro 2019 and was featured in all three group stage matches as Croatia finished last in the

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

following losses to

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and

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 ...

and a draw with

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Hajduk Split *

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 ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Katic, Nikola 1996 births Living people People from Ljubuški Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina Association football central defenders Croatian footballers Croatia under-21 international footballers Croatia international footballers NK Slaven Belupo players Rangers F.C. players HNK Hajduk Split players FC Zürich players Second Football League (Croatia) players Croatian Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Croatian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Scotland Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland