Robert Jarni

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Robert Jarni
Personal information
Full name	Robert Jarni
Date of birth	26 October 1968
Place of birth	Čakovec, Croatia, then Yugoslavia
Height	1.80 m
Position	Left winger or wingback
Youth clubs
until 1986	Čakovec
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1986-1991 1991-1993 1993-1994 1994-1995 1995-1998 1998 1998-1999 1999-2001 2001-2002	Hajduk Split Bari Torino Juventus Real Betis Coventry City Real Madrid Las Palmas Panathinaikos	128 (17) 52 (3) 23 (0) 15 (1) 98 (20) 0 (0) 27 (1) 43 (6) 5 (0)
National team
1990-1991 1990-2002	Yugoslavia Croatia	7 (1) 81 (1)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Robert Jarni (born October 26, 1968) is a former Croatian footballer who played on the left side of the pitch as a winger or wingback. A regular on these positions for the Croatian national team during the 1990s and early 2000s, he was also the team's all-time cap leader for four years after going into retirement back in 2002. His crowning moment came perhaps in the quarter-final against Germany at the 1998 World Cup, when, with only seconds before halftime, he scored to give Croatia a 1-0 lead, in a match the Croats would go on to win 3-0, becoming the first debut team to reach the World Cup semifinals since Portugal in 1966.

Contents 1 Club career 2 National team 3 After retirement 4 External links

[edit] Club career

Jarni was born in Čakovec and started to play football in the mid-1980s at local club MTČ, which is now known as NK Čakovec. In June 1985, he was spotted by Hajduk Split while playing for MTČ in a cup match in Split and started his professional career by joining the club in February 1986. He played for Hajduk until 1991 and transferred then to Italian club A.S. Bari, for which he played in the next two seasons. In 1993, he transferred to Torino F.C. and played one season for the club before leaving it for Juventus F.C., in which he also spent only one season before transferring to Spanish club Real Betis in 1995. He continued to play for Betis until 1998 and moved then to Real Madrid, in which he spent one season. After Real, he went on to play two and half seasons for UD Las Palmas before leaving Spain in December 2001 by joining Greek club Panathinaikos. In June 2002, he was released from his contract and retired from professional football after the 2002 World Cup finals, where Croatia was eliminated in the group stage after playing three matches.

Jarni also became part of Coventry City F.C. briefly in 1998, signing on a free transfer from Real Betis. However, when Real Madrid decided they wanted the player, they successfully bought him from Coventry with Jarni having made no appearances whatsoever.

[edit] National team

Jarni started his international career by playing for the national team of former Yugoslavia, in which he won seven international caps and also made his World Cup debut when he appeared in one match at the 1990 World Cup in Italy. In December 1990, he went on to make his international debut for then newly founded Croatian national team. In twelve years of playing for Croatia, he collected a total of 81 international caps and was the team's all-time cap leader before Dario Šimić surpassed his record on June 18, 2006. While making numerous assists, he managed to score only one goal himself. It happened during Croatia's 3-0 upset win over Germany in the quarterfinals of the 1998 World Cup in France. The match was played on July 4, 1998 in Lyon. Jarni opened the score in the last minute of stoppage time of the first half, striking a powerful shot which beat the out-strecthed arm of German goalkeeper Andreas Koepke. Jarni was the only player who appear in all of the Croatian team's 10 matches at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. He also appeared in every of the Croatian team's four matches at the Euro 1996 finals in England.

[edit] After retirement

After retiring from professional football, Jarni continued to play Futsal for some time at Croatian club MNK Split. In association with Astrea, a sports apparel manufacturer based near his native town, he also founded his own sports apparel brand simply called Jarni, which became quite popular among sports teams in Međimurje. Jarni is also appearing as an expert analyst for the Croatian national team's matches that are broadcasted live on RTL Televizija, a Croatian national commercial television station.

[edit] External links

• Robert Jarni's sports apparel brand (Croatian)
• Robert Jarni's profile for the 2002 World Cup

	SFR Yugoslavia squad - 1990 World Cup Quarter Finalists
1 Ivković | 2 Stanojković | 3 Spasić | 4 Vulić | 5 Hadžibegić | 6 Jozić | 7 D. Brnović | 8 Sušić | 9 Pančev | 10 Stojković | 11 Vujović | 12 Omerović | 13 Katanec | 14 Bokšić | 15 Prosinečki | 16 Šabanadžović | 17 Jarni | 18 Baljić | 19 Savićević | 20 Šuker | 21 Panadić | 22 Leković | Coach: I. Osim

	Croatia squad - 1996 European Championship
1 Ladić | 2 Jurčević | 3 Jarni | 4 Štimac | 5 Jerkan | 6 Bilić | 7 Asanović | 8 Prosinečki | 9 Šuker | 10 Boban | 11 Bokšić | 12 Mrmić | 13 Stanić | 14 Soldo | 15 Pavličić | 16 Mladenović | 17 Pamić | 18 Brajković | 19 Vlaović | 20 Šimić | 21 Cvitanović | 22 Gabrić | Coach: Blažević

	Croatia squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup Third Place
1 Ladić | 2 Krpan | 3 Šerić | 4 Štimac | 5 Jurić | 6 Bilić | 7 Asanović | 8 Prosinečki | 9 Šuker | 10 Boban | 11 Marić | 12 Mrmić | 13 Stanić | 14 Soldo | 15 Tudor | 16 Kozniku | 17 Jarni | 18 Mamić | 19 Vlaović | 20 Šimić | 21 Jurčić | 22 Vasilj | Coach: Blažević

	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