Ivan Tomečak (; born 7 December 1989) 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 ...

. He is usually deployed as a right full-back, but is often used as a right winger or left full-back.

Club career

Dinamo Zagreb

Loan to Lokomotiva

On 14 August 2007, Tomečak joined Croatian third-tier club Lokomotiva on an 18-month loan spell. He played in almost every match of 2007–08 season and helped Lokomotiva win the promotion to

Druga HNL The Prva nogometna liga (), commonly Prva NL or 1. NL, is the second tier of the football league system in Croatia. The league was formed in 1991 with the breakup of Yugoslavia and the dissolution of the Yugoslav Second League. The 1. NL is ope ...

. In 2008–09 season he featured in all 15 of Lokomotiva's league matches before his loan finished.

Return to Dinamo Zagreb

Tomečak returned from loan on 1 January 2009 and has played an important part in Dinamo's 2008–09 championship title. His debut came on 1 March 2009 in a home match against Slaven Belupo, which Dinamo won 1–0. On 5 April 2009, he scored his first ever goal for Dinamo Zagreb, entering the match in 74th minute against Cibalia and scoring two crucial goals in Dinamo's 4–3 away win. He also played in both legs of 2009 Croatian Cup finals which Dinamo won third time consecutively, defeating

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

4–3 after penalty shootout. With Dinamo Zagreb, Tomečak has won two consecutive domestic league titles, making a total of 30 league appearances for the club during the two seasons following his return. He also made his debut in the European competitions on 21 July 2009 in a

2009–10 UEFA Champions League The 2009–10 UEFA Champions League was the 55th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 18th under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played on 22 May 2010 at the Santiago Bernabéu St ...

match against Pyunik Yerevan which Dinamo Zagreb won 3–0. At the start of the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season, Tomečak won his fourth honour with Dinamo Zagreb, as the club won the 2010 Croatian Supercup. On 22 November 2011, Tomečak scored Dinamo's second goal in the

2011–12 UEFA Champions League The 2011–12 UEFA Champions League was the 57th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 20th season in its current Champions League format. As part of a trial that started in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa Lea ...

, netting a header in Dinamo's 6-2 away loss to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Rijeka

On 7 June 2013, Tomečak signed a three-year contract with

HNK 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, Croatian First Football League, Supersport HNL, o ...

. He scored on his official debut for the club on 12 July 2013, opening the score in the 16th minute of a league match against

NK Istra 1961 Nogometni klub Istra 1961 (), commonly referred to as Istra 1961, is a Croatian professional football club based in Pula, that competes in the Croatian First League. It is a common opinion amongst many people that ''Istra 1961'' was founded i ...

. He immediately established himself as a regular starter both in

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 ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. On 7 May 2014, Tomečak scored the winning goal in Rijeka's away win at

GNK Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional association football, football Football team, club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They ...

in the first leg of the 2014 Croatian Football Cup Final.

Later years

On 31 August 2015, Tomečak signed a two-year contract with Ukrainian club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, for a fee of €1 million. However, his contract was terminated in July 2016 after the club faced financial difficulties. Subsequently, Tomečak switched clubs and countries and signed for Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr which was managed by fellow Croatian and former

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 ...

manager

Zoran Mamić Zoran Mamić (; born 30 September 1971) is a Croatian former professional football manager and player. He is most known for his successful time as a player and later manager of Dinamo Zagreb. Mamić represented the Croatia national team 6 tim ...

. In his only season with the Saudi club he scored three goals and gave five assists. In August 2017, he moved to Belgian club

KV Mechelen Yellow Red Koninklijke Voetbalclub Mechelen (), often called KV Mechelen (, KVM) or simply by their former French name Malinois /ˌmalɪˈnwɑː/, is a Belgian professional association football, football club based in Mechelen in the Antwerp (pr ...

and penned a two-year contract. In January 2018, Tomečak moved to Mechelen's league rivals

Club Brugge KV (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional Association football, football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capac ...

signing a -year contract. The transfer fee was reported as €1 to 1.5 million

Return to Rijeka

On 5 February 2019 Tomečak signed for

as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

International career

Tomečak started his international career for Croatia with the friendly match for the under-18 team in a match against Poland under-18. He made three more friendly match appearances for the under-18 team before he debuted for the under-19 team on 18 September 2007 in a friendly match against Slovenia under-19. He made a total of seven appearances for the under-19 selection before debuting for the under-20 and under-21 teams. He made two appearances in friendly matches for the under-20 team throughout the 2009 and 2010. On 7 June 2009, Tomečak debuted for the under-21 team in a qualifying match against Cyprus under-21. He made his senior debut on 12 November 2014 in a friendly match against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, coming as a 71st-minute substitute for Hrvoje Milić.

Career statistics

Honours

;Lokomotiva * Croatian Third League Promotion: 2007-08 ;Dinamo Zagreb *

Croatian First League 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 ...

: 2008–09, 2009–10,

, 2011–12, 2012–13 * Croatian Cup: 2008–09,

, 2011–12 * Croatian Super Cup: 2010 ;Rijeka * Croatian Cup: 2013–14, 2018–19, 2019–20 * Croatian Super Cup:

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 ...

;Club Brugge *

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

: 2017-18 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tomecak, Ivan 1989 births Footballers from Zagreb Living people Men's association football fullbacks Croatian men's footballers 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players HNK Rijeka players FC Dnipro players Al-Nassr FC players K.V. Mechelen players Club Brugge KV players Pafos FC players HNK Gorica players NK Rudeš players Second Football League (Croatia) players First Football League (Croatia) players Croatian Football League players Ukrainian Premier League players Saudi Pro League players Belgian Pro League players Cypriot First Division players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus