Stefan Marinković ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Маринковић, born 20 February 1994) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

professional footballer who last played as a

left 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 Rotkreuz.

Career

FC Luzern

Born in

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

, Switzerland, Stefan Marinković began his career in the youth ranks of local

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 ...

side

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 ...

. During his tenure in the various youth ranks at Lucerne, Stefan Marinković had several trial periods with both

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 ...

and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, before the young

opted to sign with Ajax instead. Moving to the Netherlands, and joining the clubs famed Youth Academy.

AFC Ajax

On 2 February 2011 it was announced that Ajax Amsterdam had acquired the young left back from the Swiss club on a 3-year contract lasting until 1 July 2014. Already a member of the Switzerland U-17 national team at age 16, Ajax won the young player over ahead of

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

, Nancy and

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

, all who were in running for the young defender. Joining the Ajax B1 squad at first, Stefan worked his way up the youth ranks even playing in the

Beloften Eredivisie The Beloften Eredivisie (; ''"Promised Honor Division"'') was the highest football league in for reserve teams in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB). The league was founded in 1992 as ''Reserve Teams Eredivisi ...

for the reserves team

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax () (''English: Young Ajax''), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2 is a Dutch association football team, the reserve team of Ajax. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. History Jong Ajax (''formerly more ...

during the 2011–2012 season. On 28 January 2012, in a match against

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation f ...

reserves that Stefan Marinković suffered a severe injury. Sidelined for an entire season, it wasn't until the 2013–2014 season, that he made his professional debut on 30 August 2013 playing for the reserves team Jong Ajax against

Jong Twente Jong FC Twente (English: Young FC Twente) are the reserve team of FC Twente, a team from Enschede which played in the Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It ...

in the Dutch

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

, the 2nd tier of professional football in the Netherlands. The match ended in a 2–1 win for Jong Ajax, with Marinković coming on in the 77' minute for

Derwin Martina Derwin Martina (born 19 July 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a right-back. Club career Ajax Martina was born in Amsterdam, joining the Ajax Academy in 2008. He began his career in the youth teams of Ajax as a forward, but was mo ...

Inter Turku

On 13 February 2014 it was announced that Stefan Marinković had signed with Finnish Veikkausliiga side Inter Turku.

Dukla

During 2015 he played in Slovakia with FK Dukla Banská Bystrica and FO ŽP Šport Podbrezová.Stefan Marinković
at Woorldfotball

Bačka and Kozara

In the winter-break of the 2015–16 season he left Slovakia and moved to Serbia where he signed with

Serbian First League The Serbian First League ( sr, Прва лига Србије / Prva liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet First League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Прва лига / Mozzart Bet Prva liga) for sponsorship reasons, is the name for the second ...

side

OFK Bačka OFK Bačka (Serbian Cyrillic: ОФК Бачка) is a football club based in Bačka Palanka, Serbia. In 2016, the club achieved promotion to the Serbian SuperLiga. It is known as one of the most successful football clubs in Serbia at the all ti ...

who finished the first half of the season in second place with good perspectives of getting promotion to the Serbian SuperLiga at the end of the season. However, despite achieving promotion, Marinković left Bačka that summer, 2016, and he moved to neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina, more precisely to

Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Feder ...

, and joined FK Kozara Gradiška playing in the First League of the Republika Srpska, one of the two second-level leagues in Bosnia.

Return to Switzerland

In the winter-break of the 2016–17 season, Marinković weighted the offers and decided to return to Switzerland after 6 years playing abroad, and signed with

SC Kriens SC Kriens is a football club based in Kriens, Switzerland, who currently play in the Swiss Challenge League. They currently play at the Stadion Kleinfeld and form a local rivalry with FC Lucerne. SC Kriens women's team plays in the Nationall ...

playing in the

Swiss Promotion League The Promotion League, named the YAPEAL Promotion League for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Swiss football league system. Eighteen clubs compete in the league, playing each other twice over the course of the season. The champions are ...

. Ahead of the 2019/20 season, Marinković joined FC Rotkreuz after having spent six months with FC Kickers Luzern.

International career

Stefan Marinković has Dual citizenship and holds both Swiss and Serbian passports, and was eligible to represent either team internationally. He received his first call-ups for the Switzerland national under-16 team in a friendly match against Germany U-16 which ended in a 4–2 loss for the Swiss. Stefan Marinković has since received a total of three call-ups by Serbian youth coach Milovan Đorić for friendly matches, but sat on the bench for the duration of the fixtures having never been fully capped by the Serbia national team.

Career statistics

Club performance

¹ Includes

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 ...

and

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

matches. ² Includes

Johan Cruijff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

and Play-off matches. ;Reserves performance

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marinkovic, Stefan 1994 births Living people Swiss people of Serbian descent Swiss men's footballers AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players FC Inter Turku players Eerste Divisie players Veikkausliiga players Swiss expatriate men's footballers Swiss expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Finland Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia FK Dukla Banská Bystrica players FK Železiarne Podbrezová players Slovak First Football League players Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia OFK Bačka players FK Kozara Gradiška players SC Kriens players Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Men's association football fullbacks Footballers from Lucerne