György Garics (; Croatian: Đorđe Garić; born 8 March 1984) is a former 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 played as a full-back. Born in Hungary, he made 41 appearances for the Austria national team scoring twice. After turning professional at

Rapid Vienna Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English language, English, is an Football in Austria, Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian cham ...

in Austria, Garics spent the rest of his football career in Italy, apart from a season with

Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German professional association football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was bri ...

in Germany.

Football career

György Garics was born in

Szombathely } Szombathely (; ; also see #Etymology, names) is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas County in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by the streams ''Perint'' and '' ...

, Hungary, to

ethnic Croat The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They also f ...

parents, Garics moved to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

when he was 14 years old and started his football career in Austria with prominent side

in 2002; during his first season as a teenager he made two appearances. By the 2004–05 season the young attacking wingback has become more of a prominent member in the first team and Rapid Vienna won the

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 ...

. Around this time he also became captain of the Austria under-21 national team. Having made 81 appearances for Rapid Vienna and scored one goal, he was bought by Italian side

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

for €500,000, making his debut against

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to US Triestina or just Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, in the northern Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Originally established in 1918, Triestina was one of the fo ...

on 23 September 2006. Soon after, he achieved a call up on 6 October 2006 for the Austria national team 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 ...

and scored on his international debut. He was also called up to the

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 football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

squad and started Austria's third match against Germany in Vienna. The case of Garics divided Hungarian public sentiment, as it is the first high-profile case of a player choosing a national team other than Hungary, and is also considered a failure on the part of the Hungarian Football Federation to consider to select him in time for the national team. Garics signed for

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

from

in a co-ownership deal in early July 2008, for €1.5 million.S.S.C. Napoli S.p.A. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2009 (in Italian)
PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
/ref> Atalanta bought full ownership of the player for €1 million on 26 June 2009. After Atalanta were relegated from Serie A, Garics was sold outright to

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 9 August 2010, for €3 million. Garics was seriously injured in 2011, and had to miss most of the spring season at Bologna. On 14 August 2015, Garics joined newly promoted

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

SV Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German professional association football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was bri ...

on a two-year deal. He left the club on 30 August 2016.György Garics verlässt den SV Darmstadt
diepresse.com, 30 August 2016

Honours

Rapid Vienna *

: 2004–05

References

External links

*
Rapid stats
– Rapid archiv

– Euro 2008 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garics, Gyorgy 1984 births Living people Naturalised citizens of Austria Hungarian emigrants to Austria Austrian people of Croatian descent Hungarian people of Croatian descent Burgenland Croats Footballers from Szombathely Austrian men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Austria men's under-21 international footballers Austria men's international footballers Hungarian men's footballers UEFA Euro 2008 players UEFA Euro 2016 players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Serie A players Serie B players Serie D players Bundesliga players SK Rapid Wien players SSC Napoli players Atalanta BC players Bologna FC 1909 players SV Darmstadt 98 players Imolese Calcio 1919 players Austrian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Hungarian expatriate men's footballers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Austria 21st-century Hungarian sportsmen