Goran Zakarić (; born 7 November 1992) is a Bosnian 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 winger for Croatian side

HNK Zadar Hrvatski nogometni klub Zadar ( en, Croatian Football Club Zadar), commonly referred to as HNK Zadar or simply Zadar, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city of Zadar. It currently plays in the Third Football League. History ...

. Zakarić started his professional career at Kozara Gradiška, before joining

Široki Brijeg , , nickname = , motto = , image_map = BiH municipality location Široki Brijeg.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location o ...

in 2010. The following year, he moved to

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 ...

. His spell with the club was marked by many loans, until he eventually settled at Željezničar in 2017. A year later, he switched to

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

. One year after, he signed with Universitatea Craiova. The following year, he joined Borac Banja Luka. After parting ways with Borac Banja Luka, Zakarić has, in a surprise move, decided to join HNK Zadar, a club that competes in the fourth tier of the Croatian football pyramid. A former youth international for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zakarić made his senior international debut in 2014, earning 11

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since.

Club career

Early career

Zakarić started playing football at his hometown club Kozara Gradiška, whose youth setup he joined in 2001. He made his professional debut in 2009 at the age of 16. In June 2010, he joined

Široki Brijeg , , nickname = , motto = , image_map = BiH municipality location Široki Brijeg.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location o ...

. On 31 July, he scored his first professional goal against Borac Banja Luka. On 16 May 2011, he signed a seven-year contract with Croatian club

. However, his spell with the team was marked by many loans, and he never got first-team opportunity.

Željezničar

In January 2017, Zakarić moved to Željezničar on a two-year deal. On 26 February, he debuted for the side in an away win over Krupa. He scored his first goal with Željezničar against Radnik Bijeljina on 18 March. On 18 April 2018, he scored his first career

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against Sloboda Tuzla. Zakarić won his first trophy with the club on 9 May, by triumphing over Krupa in

Bosnian Cup The Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kup Bosne i Hercegovine, Куп Босне и Херцеговине) is a knock-out football competition contested annually by clubs from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The winner ...

final. Later that month, Zakarić was voted as best player in the league for the past season.

Partizan

After lengthy negotiations, Zakarić was transferred to Serbian side

for a fee of €150,000 in August 2018. He scored on his competitive debut for the team, in UEFA Europa League qualifier against

Nordsjælland North Zealand, also North Sealand ( da, Nordsjælland), refers to the northern part of the Danish island of Zealand which is not clearly defined but generally covers the area north of Copenhagen. The Danish tourist authorities have recently in ...

. On 12 August, he made his league debut in a victory over

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; hu, Zimony) is a municipality in the city of Belgrade. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown Belgrade. The developme ...

. In a game against

Voždovac Voždovac ( sr-cyr, Вождовац, ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. According to the 2011 census results, the municipality has a population of 158,213 inhabitants. The municipality is located in the south-central part of the urban ...

on 5 October, he scored a brace, which were his first league goals for Partizan. Zakarić won his first trophy with the club on 23 May 2019, by beating city rivals

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup (Serbian: Куп Србије, Kup Srbije) is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. From 2006 to 2010, the competition was known as the Lav Cup f ...

final. On 6 September 2019, Zakarić and Partizan agreed to rescind his contract.

Later career stage

On 8 October 2019, Zakarić signed a four-year deal with Romanian outfit Universitatea Craiova. In February 2020, he joined Borac Banja Luka on a one-year contract. On 6 August 2020, Zakarić extended his contract with Borac. He won his first trophy with Borac on 23 May 2021, getting crowned

Bosnian Premier League The m:tel Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( bs, m:tel Premijer liga Bosne i Hercegovine / м:тел Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), also known as Liga 12, is the top tier football league in Bosnia and He ...

champions one game before the end of the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season. On 27 January 2022, Zakarić joined Saudi Arabian club Ohod.

International career

Zakarić represented

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 ...

on various youth levels. In August 2014, he received his first senior call-up, for games against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarch ...

and

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

. Zakarić debuted in convincing friendly triumph over former on 4 September.

Personal life

Zakarić married his long-time girlfriend Tanja in July 2016. They have two daughters, Amber and Lana.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Zrinjski Mostar *

: 2015–16 Željezničar *

: 2017–18 Partizan *

: 2018–19 Borac Banja Luka *

Individual

Awards *

Player of the Season: 2017–18

References

External links