Stjepan Radeljić (; born 5 September 1997) is a Bosnian 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

centre-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 ...

for

Croatian Football League 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 ...

club

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 the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Radeljić started his professional career at

VfB Stuttgart II VfB Stuttgart II is a German Association football, football team located in Stuttgart, currently playing in the 3. Liga. They are the German reserve football teams, reserve team of VfB Stuttgart. Until 2005 the team played under the name of VfB ...

, before joining

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 2018, who loaned him to

Široki Brijeg Široki Brijeg () is a city and the regional capital of West Herzegovina Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. the town itself had a population of 6,149 and the municipality of 28,929. Name ...

in 2020 and to

Sheriff Tiraspol Fotbal Club Sheriff Tiraspol (), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnistria, that plays in the Liga, the top tier o ...

in 2021, with whom he signed permanently a year later. The following year, he moved to Rijeka. A former youth international for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Radeljić made his senior international debut in 2024.

Club career

Early career

Radeljić started playing football at

Vitez Vitez ( sr-cyrl, Витез) is a town and municipality located in the Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the 2013 census, the town has a population of 6,329 inhab ...

, before joining Zrinjski Mostar's youth academy in 2014. In July 2016, he signed with German team

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

. In June 2018, he moved to Croatian side

. He made his professional debut in a UEFA Europa League qualifier against Petrocub on 12 July at the age of 20. In January 2020, he was sent on a six-month loan to

. In July, his loan was extended for an additional season. On 29 February, he scored his first professional goal in a triumph over Mladost Doboj Kakanj. In February 2021, Radeljić was sent on a year-long loan to Moldovan outfit

, with an option to make the transfer permanent, which was activated in January 2022. He debuted 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 ...

against

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

on 15 September.

Rijeka

In July 2023, Radeljić signed a three-year deal with

. He made his official debut for the squad in a UEFA Europa Conference League qualifier against Dukagjini on 27 July. On 10 August, he scored his first goal for Rijeka in a UEFA Europa Conference League qualifier against

B36 Tórshavn B36 Tórshavn () is a Faroese football club based in the capital of Tórshavn, playing in the Faroe Islands Premier League, the top tier of Faroese football. B36 Tórshavn has always played its home games in Gundadalur. Today B36 Tórshavn i ...

. Two weeks later, he made his league debut against Lokomotiva. On 25 August 2024, he scored his first league goal in a defeat of Osijek. He won his first trophy with the club on 25 May 2025, when they were crowned league champions.

International career

Radeljić represented

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 ...

at various youth levels. In May 2024, he received his first senior call up, for friendly games against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He debuted against the former on 3 June.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Sheriff Tiraspol *

Moldovan Super Liga The Moldovan Liga, officially known as Liga 7777.md for sponsorship reasons, is an association football league that is the top division of Moldovan football league system. The competition was established in 1992, when Moldova became independent ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2021–22,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Cupa Moldovei Cupa Moldovei (), officially known as Cupa Orange for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition, held annually in Moldova. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round. Finals The finals were: Goalscorers So ...

: 2021–22,

Rijeka *

: 2024–25 *

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 ...

: 2024–25

References

External links