Mihael Mikić (; born 6 January 1980) 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 ...

who played as a

right 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. ...

. He most commonly played as a right winger or

right-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 ...

, but was known as a quite effective

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in the beginnings of his career.

Club career

Mikić was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

and started to play football at Bistra when he was seven years old. At the age of 13, he moved to Inker Zaprešić and started his professional career at the club already at the age of 16. He left Inker after his first professional season and went on to sign with

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 ...

, where he became a regular by the time he turned 19. He was still only 18 years old when he went on to make three appearances for Dinamo Zagreb in the

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 ...

group stage in the autumn of 1998, starting in two matches and becoming notable for scoring the club's first goal in the UEFA Champions League when he opened the scoring in the 7th minute of Dinamo's fourth group match, against

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

at home in Zagreb. Dinamo won the match 3–1 and went on to win 1–0 against

Ajax Amsterdam Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

away and draw 1–1 against

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, ...

at home, but failed to advance to the quarterfinals after finishing second in their group. Mikić appeared in all of Dinamo's three home matches, playing as a striker. He also played with Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Champions League in the following year and made five appearances in six group matches, but was a starting player only once. He scored one goal in Dinamo's final group match, away against

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

, that ended in a 2–2 draw. Dinamo was eliminated from the competition after finishing last out of four teams in their group. Mikić continued to play for Dinamo Zagreb until 2004 and then he left the club after seven seasons for German

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 ...

side

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern (), K'lautern or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to Association football, football ...

. In his first season in Germany, he made only six Bundesliga appearances for Kaiserslautern and was not a regular in the first part of the 2005–06 season either, making only four appearances in the league, but then he became a regular after the winter break and collected a total of 20 Bundesliga appearances until the end of the season. He did not manage to score any goals in a total of 29 competitive appearances for Kaiserslautern and left the club in June 2006, shortly after they were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga with a 16th-place finish in the first division. In July 2006, he came back to Croatia by signing 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 ...

and made his competitive debut for the club on 13 July 2006 in their first-leg first-round

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 ...

qualifier against Cypriot club

Omonia Nicosia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia (; ''Athlitikós Sýllogos Omónoia Lefkosías''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia (also transliterated as Omonoia), is a Cypriot professional multi-sport club, established on 4 June 1948 in Nico ...

. Omonia eliminated Rijeka from the competition in the second leg by winning 4–3 on aggregate. Mikić's domestic league debut for Rijeka came on 30 July 2006 in the club's opening match of the 2006–07 season, where they celebrated a 4–3 away victory against

Cibalia Hrvatski nogometni klub Cibalia, commonly known as Cibalia Vinkovci or simply Cibalia, is a Croatian football club from the town of Vinkovci in eastern Croatia. Cibalia currently play in the Prva NL, Croatia's second-tier league. Their stadium ...

. In January 2007, Mikić left Rijeka after making only 14 domestic league appearances for the club and returned to his former club Dinamo Zagreb, making his domestic league debut in their 2–1 victory in derby against

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 ...

on 24 February 2007. On 25 December 2008, it was announced that Mikić moved to J. League side

Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sanfrecce Hiroshima () is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Hiroshima. The club competes in the J1 League, top flight of the Japanese football league system. Sanfrecce is one of the most successful clubs in Ja ...

International career

Mikić could not crack the Croatian national A-team, but he had a fairly successful international career at youth level with the Croatian national under-19 and under-21 teams. He debuted for the Croatian under-19 team on 3 November 1997 against

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in their qualifying campaign for the 1998 European Under-18 Championship and subsequently made another two appearances for the team in the qualifying, scoring once. In July 1998, he was seen by many as the best player of the Croatian team at the European Under-18 Championship finals in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, where he scored three goals in four matches and helped the team to reach the third place after beating

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. After the tournament, he made another four appearances and scored one goal for the team in their qualifying campaign for the 1999 European Under-18 Championship. Mikić won his last international cap for the Croatian under-19 team on 24 March 1999 and went to make his debut for the country's under-21 team in their opening match of the 1999 World Youth Championship in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, against

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

on 4 April 1999. He appeared in all four matches played by the Croatian team at the tournament before they were eliminated by

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in the round of 16. Until the end of the year 1999, he made five appearances and scored three goals for the Croatian under-21 team in their qualifying campaign for the 2000 European Under-21 Championship and subsequently also appeared in all three group matches at the final tournament in

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, where Croatia was eliminated in the group stage. He continued to play for the Croatian under-21 team until November 2001, making six appearances and scoring three goals in their qualifying campaign for the 2002 European Under-21 Championship.

Career statistics

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Honours

Dinamo 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 ...

: 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08 *

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 ...

: 1997–98, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2006–07, 2007–08 * Croatian Super Cup: 2002, 2003 Sanfrecce Hiroshima * J. League Division 1:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Japanese Super Cup The , the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J.League and the Japan Football Association. This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the reigning J1 Leag ...

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 ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

References

External links

* *
archive
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mikic, Mihael 1980 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Men's association football midfielders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers NK Inter Zaprešić players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players HNK Rijeka players Sanfrecce Hiroshima players Shonan Bellmare players Croatian Football League players Bundesliga players J1 League players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Japan GNK Dinamo Zagreb non-playing staff Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia 21st-century Croatian sportsmen