Dario Knežević (born 20 April 1982) is a former

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 ...

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 played as a defender. His fifteen-year career includes a six-year spell with Italian club

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

and two separate spells with hometown club

NK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as HNK Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka competes in Croatia's top division, Supersport HNL, of which they have been members ...

. Knežević also represented the

Croatia national football team The Croatia national football team () represents Croatia in men's international Association football, football matches. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), the governing body for football in Croatia. It is a member of UEF ...

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, Knežević started his professional career with the city's First League side

in 2002 and subsequently made 115 appearances in the league before moving to

on a three-year deal in late August 2006. He made his

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

debut on 25 October 2006 in Livorno's 4–1 defeat to

Internazionale 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 football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

and scored his first goal in the league against

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

on 18 April 2007 to secure his team a 2–1 victory. On 30 June 2008,

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

signed Knežević on a season-long loan deal worth €750,000, with the option to acquire half of the contractual rights at €1.6 million following Livorno's relegation 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 ...

. On 5 October, Knežević made his first league appearance for the team. It was a 2–1 home loss to

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

. He made just four appearances all season, three in the league and one 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 ...

in a 2–2 draw with

FC BATE Borisov FC BATE Borisov (, ''FK BATE Borisov'' ; , ''BATE Barysaw,'' ), commonly referred to as BATE or BATE Borisov, is a Belarusian professional football team from the city of Barysaw. The club competes in the Belarusian Premier League, of which th ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. On 15 June 2009, Knežević made his return to

. He immediately became a mainstay in the side, but the team was relegated from the

2009–10 Serie A The 2009–10 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 108th season of top-tier Italian football, the 78th in a round-robin tournament. There were three promoted teams from the Serie B, replacing the three teams that w ...

. The following season, Knežević made 31 appearances as Livorno finished ninth in the

2010–11 Serie B The 2010–11 Serie B (known as the Serie bwin for sponsorship reasons) is the seventy-ninth season since its establishment in 1929, and the first one under the rule of the new Lega Serie B. A total of 22 teams contest the league, 15 of which retu ...

. In the

2011–12 Serie B The 2011–12 Serie B (known as the Serie bwin for sponsorship reasons) was the eightieth season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams contested the league: 15 of these were returning from the 2010–11 season, four had been pro ...

season, Knežević again made 31 appearances in all competitions as the side narrowly avoided relegation. Knežević then decided to leave Livorno. He made 140 appearances for the Italian side in his two spells with the club. Knežević return to his first professional club

in June 2012. He assumed the captaincy and led the club to a third-place finish in 2012–13, missing just two games all season. The following season, Knežević led Rijeka to the group stages of the

2013–14 UEFA Europa League The 2013–14 UEFA Europa League was the 43rd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the fifth season under its current title. The final was played between Sevilla and Benfica at the Juventus Stadium in Tu ...

, where they managed four points with four draws in the group stage but were still eliminated. He made 38 appearances in all competitions, a career high. In the 2014–15 season, Knežević made just two appearances, both towards the end of the season. Seeing he had little left to contribute at Rijeka, Knežević left the club in September 2015, terminating his contract by mutual consent. Knežević said he would rest until the winter and then make a decision about his future. He eventually retired from professional football.

International career

Knežević has won 13 caps and scored one goal for the Croatia national team, making his debut as well as scoring his first international goal in a friendly match against

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

on 1 February 2006. He was not called up for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was a regular part of Croatian team in qualifying matches for 2008 European Championship. Knežević came on as a substitute in two tournament matches, but in the third match which he started, he played 25 minutes before he had to be replaced because of an injury. His final international was a November 2009

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

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honours

;Rijeka * Croatian Cup (3):

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

References

External links

*
Dario Knežević
profile, detailed club and national team statistics, honours (palmares) and timeline
Become A Croatia Fan Website – Dario Knežević Player ProfilePrva HNL statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knezevic, Dario 1982 births Living people Footballers from Rijeka Men's association football defenders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2008 players HNK Orijent players HNK Rijeka players US Livorno 1915 players Juventus FC players HNK Rijeka II players First Football League (Croatia) players Croatian Football League players Serie A players Serie B players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy 21st-century Croatian sportsmen