Borna Barišić (; born 10 November 1992) is a Croatian 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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for club

Leganés Leganés () is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most popu ...

, on loan from

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

club

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional sports club located in the city of Trabzon, located in Black Sea region, northeastern Turkey. Established in 1967 through the merger of several local clubs, Trabzonspor is one of the most prominent A ...

, and the Croatia national team. Barišić previously played for

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

, and

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

in the

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establish ...

Club career

Barišić was born in

in eastern Croatian region of

Slavonia Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...

Bosnian Croat The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina (), often referred to as Bosnian Croats () or Herzegovinian Croats (), are native to Bosnia and Herzegovina and constitute the third most populous ethnic group, after Bosniaks and Serbs. They are also one of ...

parents. His father Stipe "Moljac" Barišić hails from

Galečić Galečić is a village in the Municipality of Tomislavgrad in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The village is located on the hill in the upper part of Šujica Valley. In close proximity ...

, while his mother Verica () hails from Stražbenica. He joined the youth academy of

in 2003, spending eight years with the side. After failing to break into the first team, Barišić moved to nearby BSK Bijelo Brdo.

Osijek

After a single season with Bijelo Brdo, Barišić returned to Osijek. In his first season with the first team, Barišić managed 23

appearances, debuting on 12 July 2013 in a 3–1 loss to

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

. Barišić first goal for Osijek came on 4 April 2014 in the form on an 88th minute winner against Lokomotiva. Osijek finished in 8th place in the 2013–14 season. The following season, Barišić played in 28 games, managing one goal and two assists from left back as Osijek narrowly avoided relegation.

Dinamo Zagreb and Lokomotiva

Despite his club's struggles, Barišić's performance for Osijek in the 2014–15 season saw him earn a move to league champions Dinamo, signing a five-year contract. Barišić's made his debut for his new club against his former club Osijek on 19 July 2015. In late August, however, Barišić was loaned out to Dinamo's

feeder club In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

Lokomotiva. At Lokomotiva, Barišić made 19 league appearances, managing two assists.

Return to Osijek

Osijek were purchased in February 2016 by Hungarian oligarch

Lőrinc Mészáros Lőrinc Mészáros (born 24 February 1966) is a Hungarian businessman and former politician who served as mayor of the Hungarian village Felcsút between 2011 and 2018. With an estimated wealth of 1.241 trillion forints ($3.2 billion) as of D ...

and Croatian

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

Ivan Meštrović Ivan Meštrović (; 15 August 1883 – 16 January 1962) was a Croatian and Yugoslav sculptor, architect, and writer. He was the most prominent modern Croatian sculptor and a leading artistic personality in contemporary Zagreb. He studied at Pa ...

, the first time the club had gone into

private ownership Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental Capacity (law), legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which is owned by a state entity, and from Collective ownership ...

. The new ownership identified Barišić as the type of player they want representing the club; young, talented and produced by the youth academy. Barišić subsequently agreed to the transfer and was appointed captain of his junior club. Barišić made his returning debut for Osijek on 23 July 2016, captaining the club to a 2–0 win over Inter Zaprešić. Barišić made 32 league appearances, scoring once and assisting seven times as Osijek finished 4th, its highest league finish in nearly 10 years. In summer 2017, Barišić drew attention from Ukrainian club

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society ...

, and he agreed personal terms with the club. However, at the last minute, Dynamo opted for Dinamo Zagreb's

Josip Pivarić Josip Pivarić (; born 30 January 1989) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a left-back. Club career Dinamo Zagreb Pivarić joined the Dinamo Zagreb youth academy at a young age. He was promoted to the first team during ...

. In an interview with ''

Sportske novosti ''Sportske novosti'' () is a Croatian daily sports newspaper based in Zagreb. The newspaper was established on 9 August 1945 as ''Ilustrirane fiskulturne novine'' weekly newspaper. Several months later, on 10 December 1945, its name was change ...

'' on 11 August, Barišić publicly called out Dinamo for sabotaging the transfer. On 22 August, Dinamo Zagreb executive

Zdravko Mamić Zdravko Mamić (born 16 July 1959) is a Croatian-Bosnian former football administrator and sports agent. From 2003 to 2016, he was the executive director of Croatian football club GNK Dinamo Zagreb. Mamić also worked as an advisor at NK Lokomot ...

was shot in his native village of Zidine, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The shooting was believed to be an assassination attempt organized by the

Čepin Čepin (; ; sr-Cyrl, Чепин) is a village and a municipality in Osijek-Baranja County, Croatia. It is located in northeast Slavonia, 10 kilometers southwest of Osijek. Čepin, with its 11,599 inhabitants at the 2011 census, is now included in ...

Mafia clan, of which Barišić's father Stipe is a member. In the

2017–18 UEFA Europa League The 2017–18 UEFA Europa League was the 47th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 9th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Parc Olymp ...

qualifying Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

, Barišić scored a penalty in a 1–0 away win for Osijek over

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

. Osijek would go on to win the home leg 1–0, knocking out PSV from the competition. Barišić made 22 appearances in the league, scoring once and assisting four times as the club again finished in fourth place.

Rangers

On 7 August 2018, Barišić signed a four-year deal with Scottish side

for a reported £2.2 million. He joined the club after having just played against Rangers in the

2018–19 UEFA Europa League The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Olympic Sta ...

qualifying phase. After an injury hit first season, on 29 December 2019, Barišić assisted both goals and was named

Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

in a 2–1 victory over

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

, the first win at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...

for Rangers since 2010. On 30 January 2020, he signed a new contract that sees him stay at the club until 2024. On 18 February 2021, in his hundredth appearance for the club, Barišić scored a brace from the penalty spot in a 4–3 away win over

Royal Antwerp Royal Antwerp Football Club (commonly referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp) is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Antwerp. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Founded in 1 ...

in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

Round of 32 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

Trabzonspor

On 25 June 2024, Turkish side

announced that Barišić would join the club on a free transfer, signing a three-year deal.

Loan to Leganés

On 4 February 2025, Barišić was announced at

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

on loan for the remainder of the season.

International career

On 11 January 2017, Barišić made his Croatia national team debut in a friendly match against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. In May 2018, he was named in Croatia's preliminary 32-man squad for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

in Russia but did not make the final 23. On 21 March 2019, Barišić scored his debut international goal in a

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, intended to be playe ...

against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

, which ended in a 2–1 victory for Croatia. By the end of

, he solidified his spot in the national team's starting XI.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Croatia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Barišić goal.''

Honours

Dinamo Zagreb *

: 2015–16 Rangers *

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 ...

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2021–22 *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

: 2023–24; runner-up: 2019–20,

2022–23 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 ...

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

runner-up: 2021–22 Croatia *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

third place:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

runner-up:

Individual * Croatian First Football League Team of the Year: 2016–17 *

PFA Scotland Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland Team of the Year (often called the PFA Scotland Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 44 footballers in the four national tiers of the Scottish foo ...

2020–21 Scottish Premiership The 2020–21 Scottish Premiership was the eighth season of the Scottish Premiership, the 124th edition of the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 6 July 2020, with the season beginning on 1 August, following ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barisic, Borna 1992 births Living people Footballers from Osijek Men's association football fullbacks Croatian men's footballers 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Croatia men's international footballers NK BSK Bijelo Brdo players NK Osijek players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players Rangers F.C. players Trabzonspor footballers CD Leganés players Second Football League (Croatia) players Croatian Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Süper Lig players UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Spain