Andrija Balić (; born 11 August 1997) is a Croatian

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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Italian

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

club

Chieti Chieti (, ; , , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Southern Italy, east of Rome. It is the capital of the province of Chieti, in the Abruzzo, Abruzzo region. In Italian, the adjectival form is ''teatino'' and inhabitants of Chieti ar ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

but living in nearby

Dugopolje Dugopolje is a village and a municipality in Croatia in the Split-Dalmatia County. Name The name ''Dugopolje'' literally translates as 'long field'. Demographics In the 2011 census, the total population of the municipality was 3,469, in the ...

, Balić started to train football at the local

NK Dugopolje NK Dugopolje is a Croatian professional football club based in the town of Dugopolje on the outskirts of Split, a city on the Adriatic coast. They were founded in 1952, and they currently play in the Prva nogometna liga (English: First footbal ...

, before moving to the

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

academy in 2007. Passing through the ranks, he became a youth international, playing for all

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n selections between U14 and U19. In the 2013–14 season he formed a potent midfield partnership for the Hajduk U17 team with

Nikola Vlašić Nikola Vlašić (; born 4 October 1997) is a Croatian professional Association football, footballer who plays as an Midfielder (association football)#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder for Italian Serie A club Torino FC, Torino and the C ...

, which resulted in the team finishing the first half of the season in first place, without a single loss. The two then received and signed professional contracts, until 2017 and were moved to the U19 team. Balić made his first team debut in the 1–0 home win against

RNK Split Radnički nogometni klub Split ("Workers' Football Club of Split") commonly known as RNK Split, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city of Split. History The club had a strong fanbase in the Split's shipyard. The club was fo ...

, coming in the 76th minute of the match for Temurkhuja Abdukholiqov.

Hajduk Split

He had to wait until December to make his first appearance of the 2014–15 season, but then became a much more prevalent member of the first team. He got his first start for Hajduk on 18 February 2015, in a 3–0 away loss to

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

. He scored his first goal for Hajduk on 1 March 2015 in a 2–2 draw against

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

, helping his side claw a point after being 2–0 down. His bigger impact on the first team led Balić to be rewarded with a new contract ending in mid-2018.

Udinese

On 1 February 2016, he signed for

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

in a €4 million deal. In his first half-season with Udinese, Balić made the bench on 15 occasions, but failed to make a first team appearance. The next season was much the same for Balić, sitting on the bench 28 times without making an appearance before making his senior team debut on 7 May 2017 in a 1–1 draw with Atalanta Bergamo at the

Stadio Friuli The Stadio Friuli (currently known as Bluenergy Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is an all-seater football stadium in Udine, Italy, and the home of Serie A club Udinese. The stadium was built in 1976 and has a capacity of 25,144. Structure The ...

, playing the first 60 minutes before being replaced by Sven Kums. He would go on to appear in the three following matches and score his first goal for Udinese in a 5–2 loss to

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

at the

San Siro San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

. Balić made just one appearance in the first 11 rounds of the

2017–18 Serie A The 2017–18 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 116th season of top-tier Italian football, the 86th in a round-robin tournament and the 8th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. ...

season, but following the appointment of

Massimo Oddo Massimo Oddo (; born 14 June 1976) is an Italian professional football manager and a former player who is the current head coach of Milan Futuro, AC Milan's reserve team. As a player, he played as a right-back. Oddo played for several Italian ...

, he became more prevalent in the first eleven once more.

Fortuna Sittard (loan)

On 24 January 2019, Balić joined to Dutch club

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; ) is a professional football club from the municipality of Sittard-Geleen, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was establi ...

on loan until 30 June 2019.

Perugia (loan)

On 30 August 2019, he joined

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

club

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

on a season-long loan.

DAC Dunajská Streda

Balić continued to be loaned out of Udinese, as his next half-season loan was announced on 14 February 2020, when he was loaned out to DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda, playing in the Slovak Fortuna Liga. Balić made his Fortuna Liga debut in an

away Away may refer to: Film and television * ''Away'' (2016 film), a British film directed by David Blair * ''Away'' (2019 film), a Latvian animated silent film by Gints Zilbalodis * Away (2025 film), a drama film by Gerard Oms * ''Away'' (TV series ...

fixture against

Ružomberok Ružomberok (; ; ; ) is a town in northern Slovakia, in the historical Liptov region. It has a population of approximately 27,000. Etymology The name of the initial settlement located on today's Makovický street was ''Revúca'' ( Slovak "roaring ...

on 22 February 2020. Balić was fielded in the starting line-up but was replaced before the second half by Eric Ramírez. The match concluded in a goal-less tie. Balić scored his first and only league goal for DAC in his first game after the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 21 June 2020, DAC defeated

Spartak Trnava FC Spartak Trnava () is a professional football club based in Trnava, Slovakia. The club competes in Slovak First Football League, the top flight in the Slovak league system, having participated in more seasons than any other club. Founded in ...

(2:0) at Štadión Antona Malatinského. Balić completed the entire match scored the second goal of the match, following a pass from

Marko Divković Marko Divković (born 11 June 1999) is a Croatian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football)#Wing-back, left wing-back or Midfielder#Winger, left winger for Danish Superliga club Brøndby IF, Brø ...

. Earlier on, on 4 March, Balić scored in a 2:0 win over

Poprad Poprad (; ; ) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatras, High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. The largest town of the Spiš region and the largest of all towns in the vic ...

in the quarterfinals of the Slovnaft Cup, scoring the second goal of the match. He also appeared in a crucial 0:3 defeat against

in the away tie of the semifinals, ending DAC's campaign in the Cup. Of 12 eligible games in the 2019/20 season, he participated in nine matches, scoring two goals. After the conclusion of the season, he moved to DAC on a permanent transfer, signing a three-season deal.

Zrinjski Mostar

In September 2021, Balić joined

Bosnian Premier League The Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina (; ; sr-Cyrl, Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), officially known as the Wwin League of Bosnia and Herzegovina for sponsorship purposes, is the top tier football leagu ...

club Zrinjski Mostar. He signed two-year deal with Zrinjski.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Slovak Super Liga The Slovak First Football League (), officially known as Niké liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Slovakia and the highest level of the Football in Slovakia, Slovak football league system. It was formed ...

Goal of the Month: October 2020, April 2021

References

External links

*
Andrija Balić
at hajduk.hr * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balic, Andrija 1997 births Footballers from Split, Croatia Living people Men's association football midfielders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers HNK Hajduk Split players Udinese Calcio players Fortuna Sittard players AC Perugia Calcio players FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda players FK Dukla Banská Bystrica players HŠK Zrinjski Mostar players FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce players SSD Chieti FC 1922 players Croatian Football League players Serie A players Serie B players Serie D players Eredivisie players Slovak First Football League players Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Croatian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Bosnia and Herzegovina 21st-century Croatian sportsmen