Sandi Lovrić (born 28 March 1998) 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 ...

who plays as a

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

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

club

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a ...

and the Slovenia national team. After playing for Austria at all youth levels, he decided to represent Slovenia at senior level.

Club career

Lovrić joined

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian f ...

in 2012 from SV Rapid Lienz. He made his

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

debut on 17 August 2014 in a 1–1 home draw against Austria Wien by coming on as a substitute for

Marko Stanković Marko Stanković (; born 17 February 1986) is an Austrian former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He also represented the Austria national team on one occasion in 2008. Club career Born in Krems, Austria, Marko Sta ...

. On 9 May 2018, he won the Austrian Cup with Sturm after defeating Red Bull Salzburg 1–0 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 ...

. On 3 July 2019, Lovrić signed a three-year deal with Swiss side

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

after he decided to not extend his contract with Sturm Graz. On 28 March 2022, he signed a five-year contract with

side

International career

Eligible to represent

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

internationally, Lovrić has represented Austria at all youth selections from under-16 to under-21, making over 50 appearances between 2013 and 2019. He stated that he was never approached by anyone from the Croatian Football Federation. In September 2020, he decided to represent Slovenia at senior level after being approached by their coach

Matjaž Kek Matjaž Kek (born 9 September 1961) is a Slovenian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Slovenia national team. Playing career Kek started his career at his home club NK Maribor, before moving to another Mar ...

. He debuted for Slovenia on 7 October 2020 in a

friendly game Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States ...

against

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

, playing for 59 minutes before being substituted by

Benjamin Verbič Benjamin Verbič (born 27 November 1993) is a Slovenian professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Super League Greece club Panathinaikos and the Slovenia national team. Verbič began his senior career with his hometown club Celj ...

. On 14 October 2020, Lovrić scored his first goal in a 4–0

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 ...

victory over

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

. On 24 March 2021, he scored his second goal, the only goal in the 1–0 World Cup qualifying victory over his fatherland Croatia. The upset victory was notably Slovenia's first victory over Croatia in history.

Personal life

Lovrić's parents are of Croatian descent. His father hails from

Slavonski Brod Slavonski Brod (), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod was the 7th large ...

and his mother is a Bosnian Croat from

Modriča Modriča ( sr-cyrl, Модрича) is a town and municipality located in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013 census, the town has a population of 10,137 inhabitants, while the municipality has a population of 25,72 ...

. They moved to

Piran Piran (; it, Pirano ) is a town in southwestern Slovenia on the Gulf of Piran on the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the three major towns of Slovenian Istria. The town is known for its medieval architecture, with narrow streets and compact houses. P ...

, Slovenia as migrant workers, and later to Austria, where Lovrić was born. Alongside German, Lovrić also fluently speaks Croatian and Italian. As a youngster, Lovrić often spent summer vacations in Slovenia, and cited his connection to the country as the main reason to represent the Slovenia national team. Lovrić named

Luka Modrić Luka Modrić (; born 9 September 1985) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and captains the Croatia national team. He plays mainly as a central midfielder, but can also play as an a ...

as his football idol.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Sturm Graz * Austrian Cup: 2017–18 Lugano * Swiss Cup: 2021–22

References

External links

Sandi Lovrić
at

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territories, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovric, Sandi 1998 births Living people People from Lienz Footballers from Tyrol (state) Slovenian footballers Slovenia international footballers Austrian footballers Austria youth international footballers Austria under-21 international footballers Association football midfielders Austrian expatriate footballers Slovenian expatriate footballers SK Sturm Graz players FC Lugano players Udinese Calcio players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Swiss Super League players Serie A players Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Austrian people of Croatian descent Slovenian people of Croatian descent Austrian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Slovenian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent