Armin Bačinović (born 24 October 1989) is a Slovenian retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

who last played for Sambenedettese.

Club career

Early career in Slovenia

Bačinović started his career at Železničar Maribor and was later transferred to

NK Maribor Nogometni klub Maribor () is a Slovenian professional Association football, football club based in Maribor, Slovenia. It competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top tier of the Football in Slovenia#League system, Slovenian football league system ...

youth sides. He signed his first professional contract in 2007. Bačinović made his first team debut on 7 July 2007 as a late substitute in an

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

tie with Hajduk Kula. His first start came later that season in

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga (, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Slovenian football league system. Contested by ten clubs, it operates on a system of prom ...

match, a 1–1 draw with Nafta Lendava. On 14 August 2010 he has made his 100th appearance for Maribor.

Palermo and loans

On 27 August 2010 it was confirmed that Palermo had acquired Bačinović and teammate Josip Iličić from Maribor in a permanent move; the move was finalized the very next day after Palermo had eliminated Maribor from the

2010–11 UEFA Europa League The 2010–11 UEFA Europa League was the second season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 1 July 2010, with ...

in a 5–3 aggregate win, which was also the latest appearance for both players in purple jersey. Despite his young age and lack of experience in Italian football, Bačinović immediately established himself as a key player in the Sicilians' midfield line in a 4–3–2–1 scheme together with Antonio Nocerino and Giulio Migliaccio, and scored his first goal for Palermo on 17 October 2010 against

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. On 20 June 2011, he signed a new five-year contract with Palermo. In July 2012, Palermo loaned Bačinović to

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

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

. He played only a handful games during the season and left Verona by the end of the season to come back at Palermo. After a disappointing first half of season at Palermo, he was deemed surplus to requirements and excluded from the squad list after the club failed to sell him during the 2014 winter transfer window.

Virtus Lanciano

On 21 August 2014 it was confirmed Bačinović had mutually rescinded his contract with Palermo, thus ending a four-year spell with the Sicilians. Later on the same day,

club Virtus Lanciano announced to have signed him as a free transfer on a three-year deal.

Ternana and Sambenedettese

After finding himself without a club following the cancellation of Virtus Lanciano, on 19 August 2016 Bačinović agreed a one-year contract with another Serie B club, Ternana. On 31 January 2017, he left Ternana to accept a permanent deal with

Lega Pro The Lega Italiano Calcio Professionistico (Italian for Professional Football Italian League), commonly known as Lega Pro (Pro League), is the governing body that runs the third tier of professional football competitions in Italy, the Serie C. I ...

club Sambenedettese Sambenedettese terminated his contract in May 2018 after a dispute with the player.

International career

Bačinović made 10 appearances for Slovenia U21 and scored one goal. On 12 August 2009, he made his full international debut for Slovenia at Ljudski vrt,

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

in a

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

match against

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

, coming on as a 74th-minute substitute for Aleksandar Radosavljević, and earned a total of 13 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a February 2013

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

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 ...

Career statistics

References

External links

Player profile
at NZS * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bacinovic, Armin 1989 births Living people Slovenian people of Bosniak descent Slovenian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Footballers from Maribor Men's association football midfielders Slovenian men's footballers 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Slovenia men's youth international footballers Slovenia men's under-21 international footballers Slovenia men's international footballers NK Maribor players Palermo FC players Hellas Verona FC players SS Virtus Lanciano 1924 players Ternana Calcio players US Sambenedettese players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Slovenian expatriate men's footballers Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy