Boško Balaban

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Boško Balaban
Personal information
Full name	Boško Balaban
Date of birth	15 October 1978
Place of birth	Rijeka, Croatia
Height	180cm
Position	forward
Club information
Current club	Club Brugge
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1995-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-	NK Rijeka Dinamo Zagreb Aston Villa Dinamo Zagreb (loan) Club Brugge	97 (21) 27 (14) 8 (0) 24 (15) 54 (24)
National team**
2000-	Croatia	28 (10)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22 June 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 22 June 2006.

Boško Balaban (born October 15, 1978) is a Croatian footballer who plays as a striker.

Born in Rijeka, he started to play for local club NK Rijeka and appeared in 97 matches between 1995 and 2000, scoring a total of 21 goals. During the 1999-2000 season, he was the top scorer of the Croatian First League with 15 goals and attracted the attention of another Croatian top club Dinamo Zagreb. Playing for Dinamo he kept up his goalscoring form and once again became the league's top scorer with 14 goals in 25 games. Two games into the following season, he was signed by Aston Villa for a fee of £5.8 million, earning a £20,000-a-week contract.

Balaban failed to find any form for the English club, making just nine appearances, seven as a substitute. Perhaps homesickness was the problem, as he was loaned back to Dinamo Zagreb for the 2002-2003 season, scoring 15 times in 24 appearances. However, in December 2003 Aston Villa released Balaban from his contract and he signed for FC Bruges on a free transfer. In the 2004-2005 season he scored 11 goals in 24 appearances for the club; in the 2005-2006 season, he scored 13 goals in 30 games for Bruges.

Balaban has been a regular squad member of the Croatian national team since 2000, but in recent years he rarely appears in the starting line-up and plays mostly as a second-half substitute. Up to this time, he won 27 international caps and scored nine goals for the team. Balaban made his debut for Croatia in a friendly match against Slovakia on August 16, 2000 after being a regular member of the Croatian under-21 team for more than one year. His debut was really successful as he also managed to score his first goal for the Croatian A-team in this match that ended with a 1-1 draw. He excelled in the Croatian team's qualifying campaign for the 2002 FIFA World Cup as he appeared in all eight matches and scored five goals, including a hat-trick against Latvia in Croatia's 4-1 victory on March 24, 2001. He was also in the Croatian squad at the final 2002 World Cup tournament, but spent all three group matches on the bench. He subsequently did not appear in any matches for Croatia between February 2003 and August 2004, and also missed the Euro 2004 finals without making a single appearance in the qualifying for this tournament. He made his competitive comeback against Bulgaria on October 9, 2004 in the Croatian team's qualifying campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and subsequently appeared in another four qualifying matches, scoring a brace against Iceland on September 3, 2005. He was also a squad member at the 2006 World Cup finals, but once again spent all three group matches on the bench.

In September 2006 he was dropped from Croatian squad for a qualifing match with Russia by coach Slaven Bilić, because of a late night partying in a local disco along with teammates Ivica Olić and Dario Srna.

He is reputedly good friends with the Irish Rugby Union player Peter Stringer.

[edit] External links

• Boško Balaban's profile at the official FIFA World Cup website
• Profile on JadranSport.org (English)
• Croatian trio expelled from squad (English)

	Croatia squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Pletikosa | 2 Šerić | 3 Šimunić | 4 Tomas | 5 Rapaić | 6 Živković | 7 Vugrinec | 8 Prosinečki | 9 Šuker | 10 N. Kovač | 11 Bokšić | 12 Butina | 13 Stanić | 14 Soldo | 15 Šarić | 16 Vranješ | 17 Jarni | 18 Olić | 19 Vlaović | 20 Šimić | 21 R. Kovač | 22 Balaban | 23 Vasilj | Coach: Jozić

	Croatia squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Pletikosa | 2 Srna | 3 Šimunić | 4 R. Kovač | 5 Tudor | 6 Vranješ | 7 Šimić | 8 Babić | 9 Pršo | 10 N. Kovač | 11 Tokić | 12 Didulica | 13 Tomas | 14 Modrić | 15 I. Leko | 16 J. Leko | 17 Klasnić | 18 Olić | 19 N. Kranjčar | 20 Šerić | 21 Balaban | 22 Bošnjak | 23 Butina | Coach: Z. Kranjčar