Deni Jurić (born 3 September 1997) is an Australian professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Slovenian club

Koper Koper (; ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, fifth-largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Slovenian Istria, Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, Koper is the main urban center of the Slovene coast. Port of Koper i ...

. He is the younger brother of Australian international

Tomi Jurić Tomi Juric ( ; , ; born 22 July 1991) is an Australian professional association football, soccer player who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker for Slovenian club FC Koper, Koper. Club career Adelaide United On 10 Februar ...

Club career

Although born in Australia, Deni grew up playing his early career in Croatia, partly due to his Croatian origin, which began with the Sesvete club. He later joined the youth team of Hajduk Split for a season as well as playing in Slovenia for Triglav Kranj. He later wandered through Croatian clubs in the second division,

Solin Solin is a town and a suburb of Split, in Split-Dalmatia county, Croatia. It is situated right northeast of Split, on the Adriatic Sea and the river Jadro. Solin developed on the location of ancient city of ''Salona'', which was the capital o ...

and Rudeš before moving to top-flight once more, joining for

Šibenik Šibenik (), historically known as Sebenico (), is a historic town in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka (Croatia), Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is one of the oldest Croatia, Croatian self-governing cities ...

where he played alongside another fellow Croatian Australian Doni Grdić.

Dinamo Zagreb

In 2021, he was signed by

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 ...

, making him the first-ever Australian soccer player since

Mark Viduka Mark Antony Viduka ( ; born 9 October 1975) is an Australian former Association football, football player who played as a centre forward. Viduka captained the Australia men's national soccer team, Australia national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup ...

, also another famous Croatian Australian, to play for the club. He was also loaned to his former club

, representing the team in only four matches.

International career

Deni had played for both Croatian and Australian youth levels, as he carries the nationalities of both countries. In 2021, he has expressed interest in representing

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 ...

, although he remains open to the potential opportunity to represent

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

; he is also available to represent

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 ...

due to his parents are

Bosnian Croats 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 ...

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

External links

Deni Jurić
at the official

Croatian Football Federation The Croatian Football Federation (, HNS) is the national governing body of football in Croatia. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of Zagreb. The organisation is a member of both FIFA and UEFA, and is responsible f ...

Semafor site

References

1997 births Soccer players from Sydney Living people Australian people of Croatian descent Australian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Men's association football forwards Australian men's soccer players Australia men's youth international soccer players Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers NK Croatia Sesvete players NK Sesvete players HNK Hajduk Split II players NK Solin players NK Triglav Kranj players NK Rudeš players HNK Šibenik players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players HNK Gorica players HNK Rijeka players FC Koper players First Football League (Croatia) players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Croatian Football League players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia 21st-century Australian sportsmen {{Croatia-footy-forward-stub