Sulejman Krpić (born 1 January 1991) 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 forward for and

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

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 Željezničar. He also played for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Brčko Brčko ) is a city and the administrative seat of Brčko District, in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies on the banks of Sava river across from Croatia. As of 2013, it has a population of 39,893 inhabitants. De jure, the Brčko District b ...

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

, back then still within

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, Krpić played with the youth team of

Orašje Orašje ( sr-cyrl, Орашје) is a city and the capital of Posavina Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the northern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the banks of river ...

where he became noticed for being the top scorer in the team and scoring in the Bosnian Youth Cup final against Bosna Visoko which Orašje won by 4–1.Krpić potpisao za Dinamo na deset godina
at sportsport.ba, 24 April 2009, Retrieved 1 September 2016 He joined the

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 ...

youth team in 2008. In April 2009, while he was 18 years old, he signed a 10-year contract with Dinamo. He stayed with the Croatian giants for two years, playing in their youth and reserves teams. In 2010, he moved to Austria joining

LASK 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 ...

juniors team competing in the 2010–11

Austrian Regional League Central The Austrian Regional League Central (''Regionalliga Mitte'') is the third tier of Austrian football, established in the 1994–95 season. It serves as one of three regional leagues at this level in Austria and encompasses the states of Carinthia ...

, better known as Regionalliga, Austrian third level. In the summer of 2011, Krpić returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and after a half-season with Orašje, he signed a one-year contract with

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

the during winter-break, and debuted in the second half of the 2011–12 league season. A year later, Krpić left Sarajevo and moved to neighbor Serbia where he played in the second level,

Serbian First League The Serbian First League (), referred to as the Mozzart Bet First League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier in professional Serbia's football league. The league was formed in 2005, following a reshuffle of the second tier Serbo-Montenegr ...

, with Metalac Gornji Milanovac.

Sloboda Tuzla

At the end of the 2012–13 season, Krpić left Metalac and joined Sloboda Tuzla, then playing in the second level but clearly aiming to return to the top level. Sloboda had brought coach

Miroslav Blažević Miroslav "Ćiro" Blažević (; 9 February 1935 – 8 February 2023) was a Bosnian-Croatian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and Football player, player. A former right winger, his professional ...

whose first signings were Edin Husić and Krpić.Službeno: Sulejman Krpić pojačao Istru 1961
at sportsport.ba, 21 June 2014, Retrieved 1 September 2016 They achieved promotion that year by winning the 2013–14 First League of FBiH. Krpić stayed with Sloboda the following seasons, being a member of the squad for the 2015–16 season , just two years after their promotion, when they finished second in the league and were cup finalists. At the start of that season, Krpić left Sloboda and signed a three-year contract with Croatian top-flight side Istra 1961, however, he left Istra shortly afterward, without even debuting for them in any competition, and during the following winter-break he rejoined Sloboda. Halfway through the 2016–17 season, Krpić led the scoring table in the

, subsequently attracting interest from abroad. On 3 March 2017, it was announced that he had signed a three-year contract with Swedish first-tier side AIK, a fee rumoured to be €150,000, upon recommendation from the club's assistant manager

Nebojša Novaković Nebojša Novaković ( sr-Cyrl, Небојша Новаковић, born 29 October 1964) is a former professional football player who played as a striker, most notably for AIK. He is the manager of Vasalunds IF. Born in Sarajevo, he moved to S ...

. He left the club the same year and came back to Sloboda. After one season in Sloboda, Krpić left and joined Iranian club

Tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

Željezničar

At the end of the season, Krpić left Tractor, came back to Bosnia and Herzegovina and signed a two-year contract with Željezničar. In the 2018–19 season, he finished as the league's top goalscorer, scoring 16 goals in 32 league games for Željezničar. Krpić scored two goals in Željezničar's 5–2

Sarajevo derby The Sarajevo derby (, ), also known as the Eternal derby (), is the name given to any football match between rival clubs Željezničar and Sarajevo, the two primary clubs in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the most viewed annual sporting ...

win against his former club FK Sarajevo on 31 August 2019. On 30 November 2019, he scored another goal against Sarajevo in the city derby, this time in Željezničar's 3–1 away league win.

Later career

On 3 January 2020, Krpić signed a contract with South Korean

K League 1 The K League 1 () is a professional association football league in South Korea and the highest level of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. It is one of the most successful leagues in the Asian Foo ...

club

Suwon Samsung Bluewings The Suwon Samsung Bluewings () are a South Korean Association football, football club based in Suwon that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. Founded in December 1995, they have won the K League on four occas ...

for a €230.000 transfer fee. He made his official debut on 19 February 2020, in an

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

match against

Vissel Kobe is a Japanese professional football club based in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. They are currently the J1 League champions. The club's home stadium is Noevir Stad ...

. He left Suwon on 7 November 2020 after his contract with the club expired. Krpić joined Romanian

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club

Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club last based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spe ...

in December 2020. He made his debut in a league game against Argeș Pitești on 6 February 2021. He scored his first goal for Astra against

Academica Clinceni Club Sportiv LPS HD Clinceni, commonly known as Clinceni and formerly as ''Academica Clinceni'', is a Romanian Association football, football Club (organization), club based in Clinceni, Ilfov County, currently playing in the Liga IV - Ilfov Cou ...

in a league game on 27 February 2021. On 28 June 2021, Krpić signed a three-year contract with Tuzla City. He debuted and scored his first goal for Tuzla City on 19 July 2021, in a league game against Sarajevo. Following Tuzla City, he played for Australian side

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in t ...

Return to Željezničar

Krpić returned to Željezničar in February 2023, signing a two-year deal. He made his second debut for Željezničar in a Bosnian Cup game against Leotar on 18 February. He scored his first goal for the club since returning on 25 February, in a league game against Igman Konjic. On 12 May 2023, Krpić scored the equaliser 6 minutes into

stoppage time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the ga ...

against rivals Sarajevo in the Sarajevo derby, helping his team to narrowly escape defeat in a 2–2 draw. He made his 100th appearance for Željezničar in the Sarajevo derby on 14 April 2024. In August 2024, he signed a one-year contract renewal, keeping him at the club until at least July 2025. He scored his 50th goal for Željezničar with a hat-trick in a 4–1 home win over GOŠK Gabela on 9 December 2024. In January 2025, Krpić signed another contract renewal, keeping him at the club until July 2026. On 28 March 2025, he scored a brace in a 3–2 home win against

Posušje Posušje () is a town and municipality in the West Herzegovina Canton, a federal unit of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Name The name Posušje is derived from ''suša'' ( Croatian for drought). Th ...

International career

Krpić was part of the Bosnia and Herzegovina U19 national team in 2009 and 2011. He made 4 appearances for the national team but did not score a goal. In December 2021, Krpić received his first senior call-up, for 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 the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and debuted in that game on 18 December.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Sloboda Tuzla * First League of FBiH: 2013–14 *

runner up: 2015–16 * Bosnian Cup runner up: 2015–16 Individual * Bosnian Premier League top goalscorer: 2018–19

References

External links