Davor Vugrinec

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Davor Vugrinec
Personal information
Full name	Davor Vugrinec
Date of birth	24 March 1975
Place of birth	Varaždin, Croatia
Height	179 cm
Position	Attacking midfielder or striker
Club information
Current club	Dinamo Zagreb
Number	30
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1992-1997 1997-2000 2000-2002 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-present	Varteks Varaždin Trabzonspor Lecce Atalanta Bergamo Calcio Catania Rijeka Dinamo Zagreb	123 (56) 85 (29) 71 (19) 30 (0) 20 (2) 23 (15) 4 (2)
National team**
1996-2006 1998-1999	Croatia Croatia B	28 (7) 2 (1)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 September 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 1 February 2006.

Davor Vugrinec (born March 24, 1975) is a Croatian footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or striker.

He was born in Varaždin and started his professional career at local club Varteks Varaždin in 1992, becoming a regular at the club in his second professional season and playing for them until June 1997, when he transferred to Turkish club Trabzonspor.

He made his debut for the Croatian national team on April 10, 1996 in their friendly match against Hungary at home in Osijek, but subsequently had to wait for two and half years to win his second international cap for the Croatian national A-team in their second Euro 2000 qualifier, away against Malta on October 10, 1998. He entered the match as an early substitute after injury forced off Jurica Vučko in the 16th minute and went on to score two goals in the second half, switching the Maltese team's surprising 1-0 lead on the halftime and leading Croatia to a 4-1 victory. At the time, he also made two appearances and scored one goal for the Croatian national B-team, playing in their friendly matches against Romania on March 17, 1998 and France on January 19, 1999.

In 2000, he became a regular in the Croatian national A-team and went on to appear in seven out of possible eight qualifying matches for the 2002 World Cup. He also scored two goals during the qualifying as he was on target once in Croatia's home matches against Latvia and San Marino respectively. He was subsequently also part of the Croatian team at the 2002 World Cup finals and appeared in two group matches before the team was eliminated from the tournament in the first round after finishing third in their group. He started the second match against Italy, but was substituted in the 57th minute. He also played in the final group match against Ecuador, entering as a substitute in the 52nd minute. After the 2002 World Cup, he only appeared in one friendly match and two Euro 2004 qualifiers before being uncapped for more than three years, until January 2006.

At club level, Vugrinec played for Trabzonspor until June 2000 and then he transferred to Italian club US Lecce, where he spent two and half seasons before moving to Atalanta Bergamo with the beginning of the year 2003. He spent one season and half with Atalanta Bergamo before moving to Calcio Catania in July 2004, spending one entire season with the club. After five years in Italy, Vugrinec returned to Croatia by signing with Rijeka in the summer of 2005 and subsequently played a very successful season with the club. Together with teammate Ahmed Sharbini, he was the club's most successful goalscorer with 15 goals scored in the Croatian First League that season and also helped the team to win the Croatian Cup by scoring the crucial goal in the second-leg match of the Cup finals against his first club Varteks Varaždin, where Rijeka lost 5-1 after winning 4-0 in the first leg and won the Cup on away goals.

After three years of absence from the Croatian national team, Vugrinec made his international comeback by appearing in two matches at the 2006 Carlsberg Cup in Hong Kong and was subsequently also seen by many as a candidate to join the Croatian team at the 2006 World Cup finals, especially after scoring a hat-trick in Rijeka's 4-0 victory away against Hajduk Split in the Croatian First League, but was eventually omitted from the World Cup squad.

He went on to sign with Dinamo Zagreb in early June 2006 and made his official debut for the club on July 19, 2006 in the Croatian Supercup against his previous club Rijeka, assisting for two goals in Dinamo's 4-1 victory. He went on to score his first goals for Dinamo as he was on target once in both their first UEFA Champions League qualifier against Ekranas and their first domestic league match of the 2006-07 season against Slaven Belupo. He subsequently suffered an injury in the club's second domestic league match of the season, at home against HNK Šibenik on August 4, 2006. He nevertheless started the club's first-leg third-round UEFA Champions League qualifier against Arsenal four days later, but was forced off the pitch in the first 30 minutes and subsequently missed the second-leg qualifier as well as three domestic league matches before making his comeback in Dinamo's home match against Kamen Ingrad on September 9, 2006.

Vugrinec is currently the eighth best goalscorer of all times in the Croatian First League with a total of 73 goals scored, scoring 56 goals for Varteks, 15 for Rijeka and so far 2 for Dinamo.

	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