Robert Berić (born 17 June 1991) is a Slovenian 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 striker for

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

club

Changchun Yatai Changchun Yatai Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Changchun, Jilin, that competes in . Changchun Yatai plays its home matches at the Changchun Stadium, located within Nanguan District. The club's founder and main ...

. In the 2014–15 season, he ranked 11th in the

European Golden Shoe The European Golden Shoe, also known as the European Golden Boot, is an award that is presented each season to the player with the most points in league matches from the top division of a European national league. The trophy is a sculpture o ...

award.

Club career

Berić began his career at the age of five in

Krško Krško (; ) is a town in eastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the City Municipality of Krško. The town lies on the Sava River and on the northwest edge of the Krško Plain (), which is part of the larger Krka Flat (). The area is divided between t ...

youth teams before being promoted to their main squad in the 2007–08 season. In 2008, he signed for Interblock. He made his debut at Interblock as a substitute in a 2–1 away victory over

Drava Ptuj Nogometni klub Drava Ptuj (), commonly referred to as NK Drava Ptuj or simply Drava, was a Slovenian football club, which played in the town of Ptuj. Named after the Drava river which flows through the town, Drava Ptuj has spent a total of seve ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–0 win over Primorje on 7 December 2008. In total, he played 34 games for Interblock in the Slovenian first division, scoring 12 goals. In August 2010, Berić joined

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

together with his teammate

Josip Iličić Josip Iličić (; born 29 January 1988) is a Slovenian professional Association footballer, footballer who plays for FC Koper, Koper. Primarily an attacking midfielder, he can also play as a winger (association football), winger or forward (assoc ...

, signing a four-year contract. In June 2013, he moved to

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian professional association football club, based in Graz, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austr ...

for a reported fee of €1 million. In the 2013–14 season, he amassed 10 goals and 11 assists. In 2014, he left Sturm Graz for league rivals

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

. The transfer fee was estimated at between €700,000 and 800,000. In his first season, he became the league's second best goalscorer with 27 goals in 33 appearances, which earned him 11th place in the

award.

Saint-Étienne

On 31 August 2015, Berić joined

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

on a four-year deal while the transfer fee paid to Rapid Wien was reported as €6 or 7.5 million. He quickly established himself in the starting lineup and began scoring goals for the club in both the

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

and the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

campaigns. However, on 8 November 2015 during an away Ligue 1 match against

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, Berić suffered a knee injury which sidelined him for the rest 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 ...

. During his time at Saint-Étienne, Berić received the nickname "Terminator". On 30 August 2017, Berić joined

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

on a one-year loan. Saint-Étienne recalled Berić from his loan spell at Anderlecht on 1 January 2018. On 22 April 2018, Berić came off the bench at the start of the second half and scored twice as Saint-Étienne came from behind to beat

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

2–1 in a home Ligue 1 match. On 18 May 2019, Berić scored twice as Saint-Étienne defeated

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million 2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla FC, Sevill ...

Chicago Fire

On 18 January 2020,

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

club Chicago Fire announced that it had acquired Berić via a transfer deal from Saint-Étienne, and that he had signed for the club as a Designated Player. Berić scored in his debut against

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

, but Chicago lost 2–1. Following the 2021 season, Berić had his contract option declined by Chicago and left the club.

Tianjin Jinmen Tiger

In April 2022, Berić signed with

club Tianjin Jinmen Tiger.

Changchun Yatai

In February 2024, Berić joined fellow Chinese Super League club

. On 1 March, he made his debut and scored his first goal for Yatai in a 4–2 away defeat against Shandong Taishan.

International career

Berić made his debut for

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

in a November 2012

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

away against

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

and earned a total of 25 caps, scoring 2 goals. His final international was an October 2019 European Championship qualification match against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

References

External links

Robert Berić
at NZS * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beric, Robert 1991 births Living people People from Krško Men's association football forwards Slovenian men's footballers 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Slovenia men's youth international footballers Slovenia men's under-21 international footballers Slovenia men's international footballers NK Krško Posavje players NK IB 1975 Ljubljana players NK Maribor players SK Sturm Graz players SK Rapid Wien players AS Saint-Étienne players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Chicago Fire FC players Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. players Changchun Yatai F.C. players Slovenian Second League players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Ligue 1 players Championnat National 3 players Belgian Pro League players Major League Soccer players Chinese Super League players Slovenian expatriate men's footballers Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's footballers in China Designated Players (MLS)