Marko Babić (born 28 January 1981) is a Croatian football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and 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 ...

. He primarily played as

left 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. ...

, but was also often deployed 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 ...

. Babić began his senior career with

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

in 1997. However, he only made 16 league appearances before moving to Germany to join

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

. He became a regular for the club, and made 144 league appearances before joining Spanish side

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

. He was less successful here, and made 12 league appearances in two years, while his spells at

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

and

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 ...

were brief. In 2010, Babić returned to Osijek, but struggled to re-establish himself, and made just 26 league appearances in two years. A switch to

LASK Linz Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as LASK (), or Linzer ASK, is an Austrian professional football club based in Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football Bundes ...

followed in 2013, but this yielded just eight league matches before he left the club and afterwards retiring from professional football. Having represented Croatia at under-15, under-17, under-18, under-19, and under-20 levels between 1996 and 2001, Babić made his under-21 and senior international debut in 2002, and made 49 appearances for the senior international appearances. However, he was omitted from Croatia's

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

squad, and did not play for the national team ever again. After finishing his playing career, he became a manager, working as an assistant manager at

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

in 2017. In 2019 he managed

Bosnian Premier League The Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina (; ; sr-Cyrl, Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), officially known as the Wwin League of Bosnia and Herzegovina for sponsorship purposes, is the top tier football leagu ...

club Čelik Zenica. Between 2019 and 2020, he was the manager of Rudeš.

Club career

Babić made his debut with hometown club

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek (), commonly referred to as NK Osijek (), is a Croatian professional association football, football sports club, club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav First Le ...

, where he spent three seasons. In 2000, Babić completed his move to

where he joined the German outfit's Croatian contingent. He played for the club during their 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 ...

in the 2002 Champions League final. Babić was offered a new contract in 2003.

presented the player to the press and fans on 17 July 2007. Early reports suggested he had signed on a free transfer as his contract had ended. On 23 July 2007, Babić made his Betis debut in a friendly match against San Fernando. His competitive debut came in the

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

season against

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in , holding home ...

on 26 August 2007. In January 2009, Babić left Spain to play for

on a free transfer and gave up the non-EU quota to

Ricardo Oliveira Ricardo José Dognella Lima de Oliveira (; born 6 May 1980) is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played as a striker. Oliveira represented São Paulo and Santos in two different spells, but also played in Spain, amassing La Lig ...

. He left Hertha six months later. On 8 August 2009, he signed a two-year contract with

. On 6 September 2010 his contract was terminated. On 2 March 2011, Babić signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with former club Osijek. After leaving Osijek in 2012, he signed with Austrian club

, for who he played until 2013, after which he decided to retire from professional football at the age of 32.

International career

Babić made his Croatia national team debut in May 2002 against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. He was part of the Croatian squad at

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

, but did not make an appearance. He played all three matches at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

, stationed as a left wing-back in a 3–5–2 formation. He was a surprise omission from

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 ...

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

Managerial career

Early career

Babić started off his managerial career in June 2017, being appointed as an assistant manager of Besnik Hasi at

. He stayed at Olympiacos until September of the same year, before leaving the club after Hasi got sacked.

Čelik Zenica

On 5 September 2019, Babić got his first managerial position, being appointed as the new manager of

club Čelik Zenica. In his first game as the club's manager, Čelik beat Mladost Doboj Kakanj at home 1–0 in a league match. His first loss as Čelik manager was in a cup game against Rudar Kakanj on 18 September 2019, in which Čelik surprisingly lost 3–0 away in

Kakanj Kakanj ( sr-cyrl, Какањ) is a town and municipality located in Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the Europe's oldest continuously inhabitted settlement. As of 2013, ...

. Less than a month after being named manager, on 30 September 2019, Babić left Čelik after making some poor results and not being in good contact with the players of the club.

Rudeš

On 7 October 2019, it was announced that Babić was named the new manager of 2. HNL club Rudeš.

Ilirija 1911

In January 2022, Babić became the new head coach of

Slovenian Second League The Slovenian Second Football League (), also known by the abbreviation 2. SNL, is the second highest Association football, football league in Slovenia. The league was formed in 1991 and is operated by the Football Association of Slovenia. Format ...

side Ilirija 1911.

Career statistics

International goals

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

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Osijek *

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 ...

: 1998–99, runner-up: 2011–12 Bayer Leverkusen *

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

runner-up: 2001–02 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

runner-up: 2001–02 *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

runner-up: 2001–02

References

External links