Sandro Kulenović (; born 4 December 1999) 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 striker for

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 ...

Club career

Kulenović 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 ...

in 1999. His father Almin, who hails from

Bihać Bihać ( cyrl, Бихаћ) is a city and the administrative centre of Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of river Una in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina ...

, is a former Bosnian international who has seven

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

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 ...

. Kulenović joined the

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

in 2008. During the 2015–16 season, he played 27 times for the reserves, scoring 22 goals and adding 11 assists. On 7 June 2016, he moved abroad and joined the academy of Polish club

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

on a three-year contract. On 22 July 2017, he was loaned out to the

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

of Italian club

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

, but returned to his parent club in the following June. On 10 July 2018, Kulenović made his first team debut, playing the last nine minutes of a 1–0 victory over Irish club

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city' ...

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 ...

. On 22 August, he signed a three-year contract extension with the club. On 27 October, he scored his first goal for the club in a 1–1 league draw against

Jagiellonia Białystok Jagiellonia Białystok () is a Polish football club based in Białystok that plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of Polish football. The club was founded in 1920 by soldiers in the Reserve Battalion in Białystok. Jagiellonia play their home g ...

. On 2 September 2019, Kulenović returned to Dinamo Zagreb, signing a long-term deal. He debuted on 21 September against

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. However, after an unsuccessful

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

where he failed to scored a single goal, he was loaned out to

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 ...

on 21 September 2020. On 24 September, in a Europa League third qualifying round against Kolos Kovalivka, he made his debut for Rijeka. The match went into

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, while the score was 1–0, Kulenović notably had an opportunity to set the score to 2–0; however, the ball stopped in a puddle of mud on the goal line as the pitch was soaking wet due to heavy rain. It was then netted in by teammate

Franko Andrijašević Franko Andrijašević (; born 22 June 1991) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Zhejiang in the Chinese Super League. Club career A product of the Hajduk Split academy, Andrijašević made his professional debut ...

. He scored his first goal for Rijeka on 4 October, a penalty kick in a 2–0 victory 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 ...

. In the second half of the season, Kulenović fell out of favour with coach Simon Rožman, who left him out of the squad during the training ahead of the

derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

with

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 27 February 2021.

International career

Kulenović has been capped at the youth international level and also captained the Croatia under-16 team. He was part of

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 ...

's 23-man squads for UEFA Under-21 Euros 2019 and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Style of play

Kulenović plays as a typical number 9. Croatian journalists have often hailed him as "the new Mandžukić", whom he named his idol alongside

Fernando Torres Fernando José Torres Sanz (; born 20 March 1984) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the current manager of Atlético Madrid Juvenil A. Due to his consistent goalscoring rate as a young player, ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kulenovic, Sandro 1999 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Croatian people of Bosniak descent Croatian men's footballers Croatian expatriate men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Legia Warsaw players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players HNK Rijeka players NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players Ekstraklasa players Croatian Football League players Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Poland