Mario Stanić (born 10 April 1972) is a Croatian 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 ...

. A versatile offensive player, he played in forward or attacking midfield positions, and was also deployed as a wing-back in the Croatia national team. He is currently assistant manager at Shakhtar Donetsk.

Club career

Born in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, Stanić started his career with hometown club Željezničar. He was considered to be one of the most talented young players in former Yugoslavia. In 1992, war in Bosnia and Herzegovina began and Stanić escaped to

Slavonski Brod Slavonski Brod (, ), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod is the 7th lar ...

wading the

Sava The Sava, is a river in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reac ...

and moved to Croatia, where he played for Croatia Zagreb. After only one season, he moved to Spanish

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

, and year later to S.L. Benfica in Portugal. In 1995, he arrived at Club Brugge and was top scorer of the

Belgian First Division 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– ...

that year with 20 goals. Then

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

bought him in late 1996 and he played four seasons with that side.

Chelsea

Stanić joined Chelsea on a £5.6 million transfer in June 2000. He became Vialli's third signing, after

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Jerrel Floyd "Jimmy" Hasselbaink ( ; born 27 March 1972) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. Born in Suriname, he and his family would later move to the Dutch city of Zaandam where he first played football, initially a ...

and

Eiður Guðjohnsen Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen (transliterated as Eidur Smari Gudjohnsen; born 15 September 1978) is an Icelandic professional football coach and former player who played as a forward. Eiður saw his greatest success in England and Spain with Chels ...

. Stanić made his league debut in a 4–2 home win against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

in August 2000, where he scored a brace, one of them a strike from 35 yards. The goal was later nominated for the '' Goal of the Season'' on BBC's ''

Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a Association football, football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights during the Premier League season. ''Match of the Day'' is one of the BBC's longest-runn ...

'' programme.

International career

After playing twice for

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

in 1991, Stanić won 49 international

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

and scored seven goals for the Croatia national team between 1995 and 2003, making his international debut in a

UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Qualifying for UEFA Euro 1996 took place throughout 1994 and 1995. Forty-seven teams were divided into eight groups, with each team playing the others in their group both home and away. The winners of each group and the six best runners-up qualif ...

against

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 ...

in September 1995. He made three appearances for Croatia at the Euro 1996 finals in England and went on to appear in all of the team's seven matches at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

finals in France, where they won the bronze medal. At the latter tournament, he scored Croatia's first-ever World Cup goal in their opening 3–1 victory over

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

and assisted in Robert Jarni's opening goal in their 3–0 victory over

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in the quarterfinals. Stanić also made two appearances for Croatia at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

finals as a second-half substitute, only to see Croatia fall short of qualifying for the second round of the tournament. His last international appearance came in April 2003 as a half-time substitute in a friendly match against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. He was forced to retire at the age of 32 after developing a serious knee injury during the 2003–04 league season.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Croatia Zagreb *

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 ...

: 1992–93 Club Brugge *

: 1995–96 *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 1995–96 Parma *

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: 1998–99 *

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

: 1998–99 Chelsea *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

Croatia *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

third place:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Individual * Belgian First Division Top Scorer: 1995-96 * Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport: 1998 Orders * Order of Danica Hrvatska with face of Franjo Bučar - 1995 * Ribbon of an Order of the Croatian Trefoil

Ribbon of an Order of the Croatian Trefoil

Order of the Croatian Trefoil The Order of the Croatian Trefoil () is the sixteenth most important medal given by the Republic of Croatia. The order was founded on 1 April 1995. The medal is awarded for excellence in war, direct war danger or in extraordinary circumstances in ...

- 1998

References

External links

* * * *
Profile
- Club Brugge {{DEFAULTSORT:Stanic, Mario 1972 births Living people Footballers from Sarajevo Croatian sportspeople from Bosnia and Herzegovina Men's association football forwards Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 1996 players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Dual internationalists (men's football) FK Željezničar Sarajevo players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Sporting de Gijón players S.L. Benfica footballers Club Brugge KV players Parma Calcio 1913 players Chelsea F.C. players UEFA Europa League–winning players Yugoslav First League players Croatian Football League players La Liga players Primeira Liga players Belgian Pro League players Serie A players Premier League players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in England Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Croatian expatriate sportspeople in England Croatian football managers FC Shakhtar Donetsk non-playing staff Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Ukraine Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine