Riad Bajić (; born 6 May 1994) 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 le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

Giresunspor Giresunspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Giresun. It was founded in 1925 and re-formed in 1967 after the merger of Yeşiltepespor, Akıngençlikspor, and Beşiktaşspor. The football club is playing in the Turkish S ...

. Bajić started his professional career at Željezničar, before joining

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club) is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya. They are better known as Konyaspor. In 1922 Konyaspor were founded with the name Konya Gençlerbirliği and have played at their current home stadium ...

in 2015. Two years later, he signed with

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

, who loaned him to İstanbul Başakşehir in 2018, back to Konyaspor in 2019, to

Ascoli Ascoli may refer to: Places in Italy *Ascoli Satriano, a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region *Province of Ascoli Piceno, a province of the Marche region **Ascoli Piceno, a city which is the seat of the province above ...

in 2020 and to

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. ...

in 2021. The following year, he moved to Giresunspor. A former youth international 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 ...

, Bajić made his senior international debut in 2017, earning 12

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 ...

until 2019.

Club career

Željezničar

Bajić came through youth academy of his hometown club Željezničar, which he joined in 2003. In May 2013, he signed his first professional contract with the team. He made his professional debut against Zvijezda Gradačac on 27 July at the age of 19. On 19 October, he scored his first professional goal in a triumph over Mladost Velika Obarska. Bajić 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 ...

on 27 September 2014. With 15 goals, he finished 2014–15 season as league's top scorer.

Konyaspor

In August 2015, Bajić signed a three-year deal with Turkish outfit

. He made his official debut for the side on 15 August against

Akhisarspor Akhisarspor Kulübü (Akhisar Sports Club), commonly known as Akhisarspor, is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Akhisar.

. On 17 October, he scored his first goal for the team against

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matche ...

. In January 2017, he extended his contract until June 2020. That season, Bajić finished as club's top goalscorer. His 17 goals were most league goals scored by a Konyaspor player in a single campaign, beating the previous mark of 13 set by

Theofanis Gekas Theofanis "Fanis" Gekas ( el, Θεοφάνης "Φάνης" Γκέκας; born 23 May 1980) is a Greek professional football official, coach and a former player, who played as a striker. He is the manager of Turkish fourth-tier TFF Third League ...

. He won his first title with Konyaspor, club's first trophy ever, on 31 May, by beating İstanbul Başakşehir in

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

final.

Udinese

In August, Bajić was transferred to Italian side

for an undisclosed fee. He made his competitive debut for the team 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 ...

game against

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the Va ...

on 12 August. Five 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 ...

. In January 2018, Bajić was sent on a six-month loan to İstanbul Başakşehir. In June, his loan was extended for an additional season. In June 2019, Bajić was loaned to his former team Konyaspor until the end of season. In September 2020, he was sent on a season-long loan to

. In July 2021, he was loaned to

for the remainder of campaign.

Later stage of career

In July 2022, Bajić moved to

International career

Bajić represented

at various youth levels. In March 2015, he received his first senior call-up, for a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier against

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

and a friendly game against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, but had to wait until 25 March 2017 to make his debut in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

Personal life

Bajić married his long-time girlfriend Sanita in September 2019.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Konyaspor *

: 2016–17 Individual *

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 ...

Top Goalscorer: 2014–15

References

External links