Mario Maloča (born 4 May 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 ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for Gorica.

Club career

Maloča spent most of his youth career at

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 ...

and had spells with youth teams at

NK Zagreb Nogometni klub Zagreb (''Zagreb Football Club''), commonly known as NK Zagreb or simply Zagreb (), is a Croatian football club based in the capital city of Zagreb. It currently competes in the fifth tier league competition of Croatian footbal ...

Inter Zaprešić Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * Inter Playa del Carmen, a Mexican club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Fi ...

and Kamen Ingrad. In 2007, Maloča signed for

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 ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut with Hajduk at the age of 18 against

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 ...

in the 2007–08 season and soon became a first team regular, playing alongside renowned defenders such as

Igor Tudor Igor Tudor (born 16 April 1978) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who currently manages Serie A club Juventus. Capable of playing either as a defender or defensive midfielder, Tudor spent most of his playing career a ...

Goran Sablić Goran Sablić (born 4 August 1979) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Bosnian Premier League club Velež Mostar. He spent most of his career in Croatia, playing for Hajduk Split and has also play ...

and

Boris Živković Boris Živković (; born 15 November 1975) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a full-back and centre-back. Živković began his professional career with Marsonia and Hrvatski Dragovoljac in his native country before s ...

. After the season ended he signed a five-year contract with Hajduk, binding him to

Poljud Gradski stadion u Poljudu (), better known as Stadion Poljud () or simply Poljud, is a multi-use stadium in Split, Croatia, which has been the home ground of Hajduk Split football club since 1979. The stadium is located in the neighbourhood of P ...

until 2013. In April 2015, he was dropped to B team for a short time, and in July 2015 he left Hajduk. In July 2017, Maloča joined 2. Bundesliga side

SpVgg Greuther Fürth Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth (), commonly known as Greuther Fürth (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Fürth, Bavaria. They play in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of the German football league system, following r ...

on loan for the 2017–18 season. In May 2019 it was confirmed, that he had joined

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Gdańsk. As of the 2025–26 Ekstraklasa, 2025–26 season, they compete in the Ekstraklasa. The club was founded in 1945 by people Polish population transfers (1944–1946 ...

on a 3-year contract.

International career

Maloča also earned 13 caps for Croatia's U-19 and U-21 teams and took part in Croatia's 2008 Under-19 European Championship campaign where he scored a goal against Albania. In August 2012, he was called to 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 ...

by Croatian manager

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 ...

. He debuted in a friendly match against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, where he started and was substituted by

Ante Vukušić Ante Vukušić (; born 4 June 1991) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Croatian Football League club Croatia Zmijavci. Club career Vukušić started his career playing at youth level for his hometown club Junak S ...

at the start of the second half.

Career statistics

Personal life

Despite being born in Zagreb and part of

youth team in his early years, Maloča opted to play for

. Maloča married his childhood sweetheart Ivana in June 2012. The couple had their first child, Tea, on 21 March 2013.

Honours

Hajduk Split *

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup *Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup The Croatian Water Polo C ...

: 2009–10,

2012–13 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 ...

Lechia Gdańsk *

Polish Super Cup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2024, the Polish Super Cup has been ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

References

External links

* *
Mario Maloča
at Sportnet.hr * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maloca, Mario 1989 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Men's association football central defenders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers HNK Hajduk Split players Lechia Gdańsk players SpVgg Greuther Fürth players Croatian Football League players Ekstraklasa players 2. Bundesliga players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany 21st-century Croatian sportsmen