Zoran Nižić (; born 11 October 1989) is a

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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who plays as

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

Šibenik Šibenik (), historically known as Sebenico (), is a historic town in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka (Croatia), Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is one of the oldest Croatia, Croatian self-governing cities ...

in the HNL.

Club career

Nižić started his career at his hometown club

HNK Zmaj Makarska HRNK Zmaj is a professional Croatian football club based in the town of Makarska. History HRNK Zmaj was founded in 1921. The first club president was Tonči Vuzio. From 1993 to 1996 club wore a sponsor name NK Zmaj-Euroherc. Achievements HR ...

, establishing himself early as a first team member at the Treća HNL Jug club. He secured himself a transfer abroad in 2009, aged just 19, to the

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 1909 and folded in 2016, when it was replace ...

side

FC Brussels Racing White Daring Molenbeek Brussels Football Club, often simply referred to as RWDM Brussels, F.C. Brussels or simply Brussels, was a Belgian professional association football club based in the municipality of Molenbeek, in the Brussels, Bru ...

, where he would spend the next 3 seasons as a starter. After his contract ran out, Nižić returned to Croatia and trained for a few months with

HNK Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Split, Croatia, Split, that competes in the Croatian First Football League, Cro ...

, before signing with them in late 2012. He made his league debut for Hajduk on 16 February 2013, entering the game for the injured

Matej Jonjić Matej Jonjić (; born 29 January 1991) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as centre back for club, Tochigi City FC. He has represented Croatia at youth level, having earned caps with all of the youth teams beginning with the Cro ...

in a 2–0 away win against

NK Slaven Belupo Nogometni klub Slaven Belupo (), often referred to as Slaven Belupo, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city of Koprivnica in the north of Croatia. They play their home matches at Gradski stadion in Koprivnica. They play in ...

. In June 2018, Nižić was named in the Prva HNL team of the season for 2017–18. In August 2018, Nižić refused to play for Hajduk in both League and European matches, allegedly due to a fever; it was later revealed that Nižić refused to play for the squad due to frustrations towards the club management and its transfer policy towards him and the players. It was also revealed that he had a confrontation with a director of Hajduk,

Saša Bjelanović Saša Bjelanović (; born 11 June 1979) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He has held an Italian passport since 2007, as his grandmother was from Trieste, Venezia Giulia; this made him eligible to acquire Ita ...

, in the locker room, who eventually took away his role as a captain. He was later transfer-listed by request. On 27 August 2018, he signed a 3-year contract with the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club

FC Akhmat Grozny Republican Football Club Akhmat (; ), commonly known as Akhmat Grozny, and formerly as Terek Grozny from 1958 to 2017, is a Russian professional Association football, football club based in Grozny that plays in the Russian Premier League. His ...

. On 6 June 2023, Akhmat announced that his contract expired and will not be extended. On 6 February 2024,

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League (, ''Qazaqstan Premier Ligasy''), commonly referred to as the Kazakh Premier League or simply the Premier League, is a professional association football league in Kazakhstan and the highest level of the ...

club Kyzylzhar announced the signing of Nižić.

International career

Nižić made his debut for

in a May 2017

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 ...

against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

in Los Angeles and earned a total of 2 caps, scoring no goals. His second and final international was a March 2018 friendly, also against Mexico. In May 2018 he was named in Croatia's preliminary 32 man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

but did not make the final 23.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nizic, Zoran 1989 births Footballers from Split, Croatia Living people 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Men's association football central defenders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers HNK Zmaj Makarska players R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C. players HNK Hajduk Split players FC Akhmat Grozny players FC Kyzylzhar players HNK Šibenik players Challenger Pro League players Croatian Football League players Russian Premier League players Kazakhstan Premier League players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan