Sandi Lovrić (born 28 March 1998) is a 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club Udinese and the Slovenia national team. After playing for Austria at all youth levels, he decided to represent Slovenia at senior level.

Club career

Lovrić joined Sturm Graz in 2012 from SV Rapid Lienz. He made his league debut on 17 August 2014 in a 1–1 home draw against

Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the most trophies of any Aust ...

by coming on as a substitute for Marko Stanković. On 9 May 2018, he won the

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for a record 27th time. Wo ...

with Sturm after defeating Red Bull Salzburg 1–0 in the final. On 3 July 2019, Lovrić signed a three-year deal with Swiss side

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

after he decided to not extend his contract with Sturm Graz. On 28 March 2022, he signed a five-year contract with

side Udinese.

International career

Eligible to represent

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 ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and

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 ...

internationally, Lovrić represented Austria in all youth selections from under-16 to under-21, making over 50 appearances between 2013 and 2019. He stated that he was never approached by anyone from the

Croatian Football Federation The Croatian Football Federation (, HNS) is the national governing body of football in Croatia. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of Zagreb. The organisation is a member of both FIFA and UEFA, and is responsible f ...

. In September 2020, he decided to represent Slovenia at senior level after being approached by their coach

Matjaž Kek Matjaž Kek (born 9 September 1961) is a Slovenian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of the Slovenia national football team, Slovenia nationa ...

. He debuted for Slovenia on 7 October 2020 in a

friendly game 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 ...

against

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

, playing for 59 minutes before being substituted by Benjamin Verbič. On 14 October 2020, Lovrić scored his first goal in a 4–0

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

victory over

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

. On 24 March 2021, he scored his second goal, the only goal in the 1–0 World Cup qualifying victory over his fatherland Croatia. The upset victory was notably Slovenia's first victory over Croatia in history.

Personal life

Lovrić's parents are of Croatian descent. His father hails from

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 ...

and his mother is a Bosnian Croat from

Modriča Modriča ( sr-cyrl, Модрича) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013 census, the town has a population of 10,137 inhabitants, while the municipality has a population of 25,720 inhabitants. Hist ...

. They moved to

Piran Piran (; ) is a town in southwestern Slovenia on the Gulf of Piran on the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the three major towns of Slovenian Istria. A bilingual city, with population speaking both Slovene and Italian, Piran is known for its medieva ...

, Slovenia as migrant workers, and later to Austria, where Lovrić was born. Alongside German, he also fluently speaks Croatian and Italian. As a youngster, Lovrić often spent summer vacations in Slovenia, and cited his connection to the country as the main reason to represent the Slovenia national team. Lovrić named

Luka Modrić Luka Modrić (; born 9 September 1985) is a Croatian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder and Captain (association football), captains both La Liga club Real Madrid and the Croatia national football team, Cro ...

as his football idol.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Sturm Graz *

: 2017–18 Lugano *

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

Sandi Lovrić
at

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lovric, Sandi 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Lienz Footballers from Tyrol (federal state) Austrian people of Croatian descent Slovenian people of Croatian descent Austrian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Slovenian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Men's association football midfielders Austrian men's footballers Austria men's youth international footballers Austria men's under-21 international footballers Slovenian men's footballers 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Slovenia men's international footballers SK Sturm Graz players FC Lugano players Udinese Calcio players Austrian Regionalliga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Swiss Super League players Serie A players UEFA Euro 2024 players Austrian expatriate men's footballers Slovenian expatriate men's footballers Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 21st-century Austrian sportsmen