Manuel Pamić (born 20 August 1986) is a Croatian

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

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

and is the current player-manager of Smoljanci Sloboda.

Club career

Early career

Pamić started his career in the youth ranks of local club NK Žminj, where he stayed until 2004 before moving to

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 ...

at the age of 18. He impressed at the club and became a regular in the Pula squad. His talent was noticed and in 2006 he made a move in

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 ...

Red Bull Salzburg

He played with

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 ...

one year producing 9 assists and scoring one goal (claimed to be the ''"best goal of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

"'' by the Croatian media) in the match against

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

before he moved on, due to a direct request of the Salzburg's coach Trapattoni, to the Austrian Red Bull Salzburg in December 2007 for a fee of €1m. When he moved in the Austrian Club Niko Kovač, the captain of Red Bull Salzburg and of 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 ...

declared: ''"I can only congratulate my team on making this signing. Manuel ranks as one of the best talents in this position and he is certain to be considered for the Croatia national team sooner or later. Pamic is highly skilled and is really able to create some pressure down the left side".'' With the Austrians he played 6 matches in the first half of the year, and another 4 the second. Concluding his Austrian experience with a total of 11 matches, between League and Cup, producing also 2 assists.

Sparta Praha

In January 2009 he was loaned to

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

, a year later Sparta purchased him. With the Czech club Pamić played very well producing many assists, whilst also scoring some goals with powerful shots from distance. With Sparta he collected a total of 162 caps scoring 6 goals.

Chievo Verona

In the summer transfer window of July 2013 he made a move to the Italian club Chievo. Pamić made his debut for Chievo on 17 August 2013 in an Italian's Cup match against

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

. He made his debut in the League against

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, on 20 October 2013.

Siena

In the winter transfer window of January 2014, Pamić was loaned by Chievo to A.C. Siena.

International career

He was a very active member of almost all the Croatian youth association football national teams, from Under 16 until the Under 19 youth selection. Pamić has also played with the Croatia national under-21 team, where he made a total of 7 appearances. He has become a regular call up for the Croatia national team, with whom he took part in the

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

. However, he has still not had a debut, under coach

Slaven Bilić Slaven Bilić (; born 11 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. Bilić, who played as a defender, began his career in 1988 with his hometown club Hajduk Split, later having successful spells with Karls ...

due to minor legal issues with his Manager and the Croatian HNS, Bilić has also called him for a starting team place in a match against

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

in his native

Pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...

where Pamić did not debut due to an injury, and time after under

Igor Štimac Igor Štimac (; born 6 September 1967) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. In his playing career, Štimac had three spells with Hajduk Split and also played for Cádiz in Spain, and for Derby County and West Ham Un ...

, who has called up Pamić for much matches in

, but with Štimac has also can't debut due to still other injuries. Štimac had also call him for a lineup place in a friendly match against the

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 ...

- Selection, but Pamić had to postpone the debut, expressing his desire to stay with his pregnant wife. Manuel Pamić has also received a call up from

Czech national football team The Czech Republic national football team (), recognised by FIFA as Czechia, represents the Czech Republic in men's international football. The team is controlled by the Football Association of the Czech Republic (FAČR). Historically, the team ...

, but has refused stating: ''"I'm honored from the Czech call up, and maybe is better for me to play for the Czechs, cause Croatia national team and Coach continues to ignore me, but I must to refuse cause Croatia is my homeland and I love it."''

Coaching career

After spells at amateur clubs in Croatia, Pamić was appointed manager of Smoljanci Sloboda at the end of September 2020. Pamić was also still active on the field, as he functioned as a player-coach.PRVI PORAZ BANJOLA: Ljubičasti iskoristili prilike i učvrstili drugo mjesto
glasistre.hr, 1 April 2021

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Sparta Praha *

Gambrinus Liga The Czech First League () also known as the Chance Liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Czech Republic and the highest level of the Czech Republic football league system. Seasons typically run from ...

(1): 2009–10 *

Czech Supercup The Czech Supercup () was an annual football match between the winners of the Czech First League and the Czech Cup, organised by the Czech Football Association. It was last sponsored by Synot Tip and was therefore officially known as the Synot ...

(1):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pamic, Manuel 1986 births Living people Footballers from Istria County Footballers from Pula 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 NK Žminj players NK Istra 1961 players HNK Rijeka players FC Red Bull Salzburg players AC Sparta Prague players AC ChievoVerona players Siena FC SSD players Frosinone Calcio players NK Rovinj players NK Novigrad players Croatian Football League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Czech First League players Serie A players Serie B players First Football League (Croatia) players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Croatian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Croatian football managers