Stefan Tone Marinovic ( hr, Stefan Tone Marinović, ) is a New Zealand 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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

for the New Zealand national team.

Club career

Marinovic attended Auckland private school, Kings College. In 2005, he won the New Zealand Nike Cup. In 2008, Marinovic was selected for the New Zealand under-19 schoolboys national team for its tour of Austria. He received trials from clubs such as Everton FC,

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 ...

and

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

, but they all failed, and so he joined Waitakere United. He reached the national final with United, but they lost 6–0 to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

. In mid-2009, he graduated from the Wynton Rufer Soccer School of Excellence, created to help talented players earn trials overseas. Marinovic was spotted by German club,

SV Wehen Wiesbaden SV Wehen Wiesbaden is a German association football club based in Wiesbaden, Hesse. Since the beginning of the 2007–08 season the club no longer plays its home games in Taunusstein, where they were originally located. In the summer of 2007 ''W ...

, in the 3. Liga at that time, and he signed a professional contract with them. He was the third choice goalkeeper during the 2010–11 season, and played with the U23 team. He made his professional debut for Wiesbaden on 27 April 2010 in an away game to league leaders

Erzgebirge Aue Fußball Club Erzgebirge Aue e.V., commonly known as simply FC Erzgebirge Aue or Erzgebirge Aue (), is a German football club based in Aue-Bad Schlema, Saxony. The former East German side was a founding member of the 3. Liga in 2008–09, ...

when Marc Birkenbach was injured after 30 minutes. The game finished 2–2. When Michael Gurski was signed, he again became the third choice keeper, only being used for the U23 team. In 2013, Marinovic left Wiesbaden and joined

FC Ismaning FC Ismaning is a German association football club based in Ismaning by Munich, Bavaria. History The 700 member club was founded in March 1921 and played in lower-tier competition until the mid-90s when the footballers advanced for the first ti ...

and then 1860 Munich reserves, making one appearance at each club. In 2014, Marinovic signed with German

Regionalliga The Regionalliga () is the fourth tier in the German football league system. Until 1974, it was the second tier in Germany. In 1994, it was introduced as the third tier. Upon the creation of the new nationwide 3. Liga in 2008, it became the fourt ...

club

SpVgg Unterhaching Spielvereinigung Unterhaching () is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich. The club is widely known for playing in the first-division association football league B ...

, playing an important role in their promotion to the 3. Liga in his final season. On 21 July 2017, Marinovic signed with MLS side

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

after impressing with the national team. He was released by Vancouver at the end of their 2018 season. On 7 March 2019, Marinovic signed for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

side Bristol City until the end of the 2018–19 season, covering for injured goalkeepers

Frank Fielding Francis David Fielding (born 4 April 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Stoke City. He began his career at Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League. He spent time on loan at Wycombe Wanderers, Northampton ...

and

Niki Mäenpää Niki Emil Antonio Mäenpää (; born 23 January 1985) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Veikkausliiga club HJK. He began his senior club career playing for Lens Reserves, before signing with Den Bosch at age ...

. He was released by Bristol City at the end of the 2018–19 season. On 6 June 2019, Marinovic signed a two-year contract with

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competit ...

club

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

International career

In 2011, Marinovic made two appearances for the New Zealand U20 national team at the FIFA U20 World Cup in Colombia. On 8 March 2015, Marinovic was called into the senior New Zealand national team to play a friendly against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

by coach Anthony Hudson. He made his debut in the match in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

on 31 March, playing the full 90 minutes, and has since established himself as the No.1 stopper for New Zealand. On his debut, he conceded a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

, but saved it, eventually conceding the only goal of the game by Lee Jae-sung in the 86th minute.

Career statistics

Honours

SpVgg Unterhaching *

Regionalliga Bayern The Regionalliga Bayern, ( en, Regional league Bavaria), is the highest association football league in the state of Bavaria (german: Bayern) and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of five Regionalligas in German football, the fourth ti ...

: 2016–17 New Zealand U20 * OFC U-20 Championship: 2011 OFC U-20 Championship New Zealand *

OFC Nations Cup The OFC Nations Cup is an international association football tournament held among the Oceania Football Confederation, OFC member nations. It was held every two years from 1996 to 2004; before 1996 there were two other tournaments held at irre ...

: 2016 Individual *

Golden Glove: 2016 * IFFHS OFC Men's Team of the Decade 2011–2020 *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for s ...

Oceania Men's Team of All Time: 2021

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marinovic, Stefan 1991 births Living people New Zealand people of Croatian descent New Zealand association footballers Association footballers from Auckland Association football goalkeepers SpVgg Unterhaching players SV Wehen Wiesbaden players TSV 1860 Munich II players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Bristol City F.C. players Wellington Phoenix FC players Hapoel Nof HaGalil F.C. players Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. players Regionalliga players 3. Liga players Major League Soccer players English Football League players A-League Men players Israeli Premier League players 2016 OFC Nations Cup players 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players New Zealand international footballers New Zealand expatriate association footballers New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate soccer players in Canada New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Israel Expatriate footballers in Israel New Zealand under-20 international footballers