Haris Vučkić (born 21 August 1992) is a Slovenian 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 forward or

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Domžale Domžale (; )''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 24. is a town and the seat of the Municipality of Domžale in Slovenia. The town lies ne ...

. Vučkić represented Slovenia internationally at youth level, before making his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

debut against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

on 29 February 2012. Overall, he earned a total of 12 senior caps, scoring 5 goals.

Club career

Domžale

Born in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, Slovenia, Vučkić played football at

NK Domžale Nogometni klub Domžale (), commonly referred to as NK Domžale or simply Domžale, is a Slovenian professional Association football, football club based in the town of Domžale that competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top tier of Slovenian ...

from

, a small town in central Slovenia, during his youth. A few months short of his 16th birthday, he made a debut for the club against

Celje Celje (, , ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, third-largest city in Slovenia. It is a regional center of the traditional Slovenian region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria and the administrative seat of the City Municipality of Celje. Th ...

in a

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 on 24 May 2008, coming on as a late substitute. As he was too young to play according to the

Football Association of Slovenia The Football Association of Slovenia ( or NZS) is the governing body of football in Slovenia. It organizes the Slovenian PrvaLiga, first division (1. SNL), Slovenian Second League, second division (2. SNL), Slovenian Third League, third division ...

rules, his club was fined. After turning 16 in August 2008 he was finally promoted to the club's first squad where he would go on to play another four league games, before signing for English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

Newcastle United

On 16 January 2009, it was confirmed that Vučkić would sign for Premier League side Newcastle United for a substantial fee and signed a three-and-a-half-year deal at

St James' Park St James' Park is a Association football, football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Newcastle United F.C., Newcastle United. With a seating capacity of 52,305, it is the List of football stadiums in England, 8th la ...

. At the time, he was regarded as one of Europe's brightest talents and reports suggested he underwent a trial at

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

. Vučkić made his first appearance for Newcastle's reserve team on 16 February 2009 when he came off the bench to score the winning goal against Blackburn reserves, curling a left-footed shot into the bottom corner from 20 yards. He scored his first goal for the U18 team in his league debut in a 4–2 away win at Derby. He has scored three goals altogether for the reserves, two league goals for the U18s and five more in 2009–10 pre-season friendlies. Vučkić made his Newcastle debut on 26 August 2009 as a late substitute in a League Cup tie with

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

, where he played on the left wing. Five days later, Vučkić came off the bench to replace striker Nile Ranger in a 1–0 victory over

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. This was to be his first league appearance for the club. Vučkić scored his first senior goal for Newcastle against

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

in a friendly on 17 July 2010 with a curled effort into the bottom left hand corner. In the 2010–2011 campaign, Newcastle manager

Chris Hughton Christopher William Gerard Hughton (born 11 December 1958) is a professional football manager and former player. Born in England, he represented the Republic of Ireland national team. He was most recently head coach of the Ghana national te ...

gave many of the youngsters a chance in the Football League Cup, Vučkić played in the second round tie against

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...

in central midfield alongside fellow youngster Ryan Donaldson. After Newcastle progressed with a 3–2 victory, he played in the third round away game to Chelsea, where Newcastle overcame expectations to win 4–3 in a thrilling encounter. He continued his impressive display against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the League Cup fourth round getting the Man of the Match award despite Newcastle losing 4–0. In January 2011, Vučkić signed a new five-and-a-half-year contract with Newcastle. On 26 July 2011, Vučkić went on to score again for Newcastle, scoring the final goal in a 3–0 win over

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

side

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

. In Newcastle's next pre-season friendly against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

, Vučkić went on to score Newcastle's second goal and provided an impressive display since coming on despite Newcastle losing the game 3–2. He made his

debut on 28 August 2011 against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

as a 78th-minute substitute, but was himself substituted seven minutes later with a suspected dislocated finger. He made his comeback for the team as a substitute four months later in a 0–0 draw with

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

. He went on to make his first Premiership start for Newcastle against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

on 21 December and won plaudits for his performance, which included hitting the woodwork from 30 yards and forcing a fine save from the opposition goalkeeper. On 30 August, Vučkić made his continental debut for Newcastle, coming on as a substitute for an injured Ryan Taylor against Greek side Atromitos, scoring the winning goal in the process, sending Newcastle through to the

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 ...

group stages.

Loan to Cardiff City

On 9 February 2012, Vučkić joined

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

on a one-month loan. He made his debut in the 2–1 loss to Leicester City on 11 February, but only managed to stay on half the game before being substituted. He scored his first professional goal the following game against

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

. He returned to Newcastle on 12 March, due to injuries at the club and both player and Cardiff wanted him to return to the club however this didn't materialise due to consistent injuries at Newcastle.

Loan to Rotherham United

On 28 November 2013, Vučkić joined League One side

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

on loan until 2 January 2014. He scored his first goal for the club in a 1–0 win over

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

on 26 December 2013. By the end of January 2014, Rotherham extended Vučkić's loan deal to the end of the season, during which time he helped them defeat

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

in the play-off final at Wembley to win promotion to the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

Loan to Rangers

On 2 February 2015, Vučkić was one of five Newcastle players who signed for then

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

side

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 ...

on loan until the end of the 2014–15 season. Vučkić had spoken with Newcastle manager John Carver before deciding to move to Scotland; "I wasn't in his plans at the moment and he advised me to go and play football." He scored on his debut for Rangers, a 2–1 defeat against Raith Rovers in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

on a season-long loan in September 2015.

Loan to Bradford City

On the last day of the summer transfer window 2016, Vučkić was reunited with former Rangers boss

Stuart McCall Andrew Stuart Murray McCall (born 10 June 1964) is a professional football coach and former player. He is currently assistant manager of Preston North End. McCall played in a total of 763 league games and in 40 full international matche ...

at Bradford City on a six-month loan deal. He scored his first goal for Bradford in an

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

tie against Bury on 4 October 2016. The loan ended on 3 January 2017.

Twente

On 23 June 2017, Vučkić signed for Dutch side

Twente Twente ( , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Germanic people ...

on a free transfer.

Real Zaragoza

On 19 August 2020, Vučkić signed a three-year contract with Spanish side

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

International career

In September 2008, Vučkić played for the Slovenia under-17 team in the

2009 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the eighth edition of UEFA's European Under-17 Football Championship since it was renamed from the original under-16 event, in 2001. Germany hosted the championship, during 6 to 18 May 2009, in thi ...

qualifiers, where he scored three goals in three games against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. Despite being only 16 years old, Vučkić played for the Slovenia under-19 team during the finals of the

2009 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship 2009 Final Tournament was held in Ukraine in the cities of Donetsk and Mariupol. Players born after 1 January 1990 were eligible to participate in this competition. Qualification Qualification for the final ...

, held in Ukraine in July 2009. On 10 August 2010, Vučkić made his first appearance for the Slovenia under-21 team. On 1 October 2010, he was summoned into a 23-man squad of the Slovenia senior team for the

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held across Europe between 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 7 Febru ...

matches against

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

and

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

, scheduled for 8 and 12 October 2010. Vučkić did not feature in the match against Faroe Islands and did not travel to Estonia as he had returned to the under-21 team before that. Vučkić made his debut for the senior national team on 29 February 2012, replacing Valter Birsa in the 61st minute in a

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

. On 7 October 2020, he scored his first goal in a 4–0 victory over

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 ...

Personal life

Vučkić is the younger brother of Alen, who is also a footballer. Vučkić was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia. As his father is of Bosnian descent, it was reported that

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 ...

wanted him on their team. However, Vučkić has rejected the claims of Bosnian media that he is about to switch national allegiances to Bosnia and stated that he is a Slovenian national team player and will be the same in the future. He has also made public statements saying that he will always be available for the Slovenia national team selections if called upon. After continuous pressure from both the media and the fans – primarily from Bosnia – upon the then 18-year-old, he made an open statement about the matter:

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Wigan Athletic *

Football League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

: 2015–16 Twente *

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

: 2018–19 Buriram United *

Thai League 1 The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

: 2022–23 *

Thai FA Cup The Thai FA Cup (), known officially as The Football Association of Thailand Cup, is a football cup competition in Thailand. Thai FA Cup is an annual knockout association football competition in men's domestic football. It was held between 1974 a ...

: 2022–23 *

Thai League Cup The League Cup () is a association football, football cup competition in Thailand. It is also known as Hilux Revo Cup for sponsorship reasons. History Thai League Cup was started by Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor (Thailand) in the name of ...

: 2022–23

References

External links

Haris Vučkić
at the