Arjan Malić (; born 28 August 2005) is a 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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

club

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian professional association football club, based in Graz, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austr ...

. Born in Slovenia, he plays for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Malić started his professional career at Ried, playing first in its

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

, before joining Sturm Graz in 2024. Malić represented

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

and Bosnia and Herzegovina at youth levels, but decided to represent the latter at the senior level. He made his senior international debut in 2025.

Club career

Early career

Malić came through Ried's youth setup, which he joined in 2014. He made his professional debut against FAC on 30 July 2023 at the age of 17. On 1 March 2024, he scored his first professional goal in a triumph over Stripfing.

Sturm Graz

In June, Malić was transferred to

for an undisclosed fee. He made his official debut for the team against Red Bull Salzburg on 6 October. Malić debuted in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

away at

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

on 11 December. Six weeks later, he scored his first goal in the competition against

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig or informally as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company ...

, which was his first goal for Sturm Graz. He won his first trophy with the club on 24 May, when they were crowned league champions.

International career

Despite representing

at the under-19 level, Malić decided to play for

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

at the senior level. He was first part of the Bosnia and Herzegovina under-21 team. In March 2025, he received his first senior call up, for 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. He debuted against the former on 21 March.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Sturm Graz *

: 2024–25

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malic, Arjan 2005 births Living people Sportspeople from Jesenice, Jesenice Slovenian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Slovenian men's footballers Slovenia men's youth international footballers Slovenian expatriate men's footballers 21st-century Bosnia and Herzegovina sportsmen Bosnia and Herzegovina men's footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina men's under-21 international footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina men's international footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate men's footballers Men's association football central defenders SV Ried players SK Sturm Graz players Austrian Regionalliga players 2. Liga (Austria) players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Austria