Senad Lulić (; born 18 January 1986) is a Bosnian former 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 played 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 ...

. Lulić started his professional career at Chur 97, before joining

Bellinzona Bellinzona ( , , Ticinese ; french: Bellinzone ; german: Bellenz ; rm, Blizuna )is a municipality, a historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebell ...

in 2006. Two years later, he switched to

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshop ...

. In 2010, he was transferred to Young Boys. The following year, he moved to

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. Lulić made his senior international debut 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 ...

in 2008, earning over 50

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until 2017. He represented the nation at their first major championship, the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He is one of very few professional footballers in history from the mountainous region Grisons which is more well-known for its hockey players and ski racers.

Club career

Early career

Lulić started playing football as a kid at his hometown club Chur 97 and made his debut in adult amateur football with the 1st team at the age of 18 in the Swiss 3rd Division on 25th April 2004 in a 5:2 defeat to GC Biaschesi. After successfully completing his apprenticeship as a car mechanic, Lulic received in 2006 by Bosnian-Swiss coach Vladimir Petkovic (former player of Chur 97) an opportunity at

in the Swiss 2nd Division. Aged 20, Lulic made his professional debut in a 0:3 defeat against Neuchatel Xamax on 28. July 2006. On 6. April 2008 Lulic played his first Swiss Cup final against FC Basel, losing 1:4. Six weeks later, Bellinzona was promoted to Super League after winning both play-off games against FC St. Gallen and Senad Lulic scoring in both. The next two years, Senad Lulic played at

before rejoining his former coach Petkovic for a season at Young Boys.

Lazio

In Summer 2011, Lulic transferred to

for an undisclosed fee where Vladimir Petkovic rejoined him for a third time one year later. He made his competitive debut for the team in UEFA Europa League play-offs against Rabotnički on 18 August. Three weeks later, he made his league debut against

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. On 23 October, he scored his first goal for Lazio in a triumph over

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. He won his first trophy with the club on 26 May 2013, by beating city rivals Roma in

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

final. Lulić scored the only goal of the game in 71st minute. He played his 100th match for the side against Legia Warsaw on 28 November. In January 2016, he extended his contract until June 2021. On 16 October 2016, he appeared in his 200th game for the team. In July 2017, Lulić was named club captain. He won his first title as captain on 13 August, by triumphing over Juventus in 2017 Supercoppa Italiana. Lulić entered Lazio's top 10 appearance record holders on 29 November 2018, as he played his 294th game for the club against Apollon Limassol. He played his 300th game for the side and managed to score a goal on 26 December. On 7 December 2019, he played his 343rd match for Lazio and overtook

Aldo Puccinelli Aldo Puccinelli (25 December 1920 – 11 March 1994) was an Italian association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet ...

as club's 5th all-time appearance maker. Lulić debuted in

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 competi ...

against Bayern Munich on 23 February 2021. He announced his retirement from football on 1 June 2022.

International career

In May 2008, Lulić received his first senior call-up to

, for a friendly game against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

, and debuted in that game on 1 June. On 7 June 2013, in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Latvia, he scored his first senior international goal. In June 2014, Lulić was named in Bosnia and Herzegovina's squad for 2014 FIFA World Cup, country's first major competition. He made his tournament debut in the opening group match against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

on 15 June. With six assists, he was the best assist provider in

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

, along with

Arkadiusz Milik Arkadiusz Krystian Milik (; born 28 February 1994) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Juventus, on loan from Ligue 1 club Marseille, and the Poland national team. Milik began his career as a footballe ...

and Vladimír Weiss. He retired from international football on 29 December 2017.

Style of play

During his career, Lulić has been deployed as a

left winger 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 ...

and as a left wing-back. He was noted for his great pace and stamina.

Personal life

Because of the outbreak of Bosnian War, Lulić's family fled from his native Bosnia and Herzegovina and moved to Switzerland. Lulić married his long-time girlfriend Sandra in May 2005. Together they have three children, a daughter named Lea and two sons named Lian and Luca.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Bosnia and Herzegovina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lulić goal.''

Honours

Lazio *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2018–19 * Supercoppa Italiana:

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2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links