Silvio Marić

Silvio Marić
Personal information
Date of birth 20 March 1975 (1975-03-20) (age 36)
Place of birth Zagreb, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position Attacking midfielder, second striker
Youth career
Lokomotiva
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1992–1998 Dinamo Zagreb 91 (28)
1994–1995 → Segesta (loan) 9 (1)
1998–2000 Newcastle United 23 (0)
2000–2001 FC Porto 11 (2)
2001–2003 Dinamo Zagreb 33 (12)
2003–2005 Panathinaikos 33 (2)
2005–2006 Dinamo Zagreb 22 (1)
Total 222 (46)
National team‡
1994–1997 Croatia U21 20 (8)
1997–2002 Croatia 19 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:40, 28 August 2009 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18:40, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Silvio Marić (born 20 March 1975) is a retired Croatian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.

Contents

Club career

Born in Zagreb, Marić began his professional career at Dinamo Zagreb in 1992. In the autumn of 1998, he appeared for Dinamo Zagreb in all of their six group matches in the UEFA Champions League and secured himself a move to English side Newcastle United in early 1999. He made his Premier League debut for Newcastle United on 10 March 1999 against Nottingham Forest, but never managed to establish himself as a regular at the club and, after making 23 Premier League appearances without scoring a goal, went on to move to Portuguese side Porto in 2000. At Newcastle United, he notably managed to become the first Croatian player to appear in an FA Cup Final, when he came on as a substitute in the Magpies' 2-0 defeat to Manchester United in the 1999 Final. During the final, with Newcastle trailing 2-0, Maric weakly shot past the post when exceptionally well-placed to score. This summed up his Newcastle career in general. He did however score twice for Newcastle in their 1999/2000 UEFA Cup campaign, when he netted both home[1] and away[2] against FC Zurich.

After playing one season for Porto, where he also never managed to become a regular, he made his first comeback to Dinamo Zagreb and subsequently spent two seasons with the club before making another move abroad, to Greek side Panathinaikos in 2003. He subsequently spent two seasons at Panathinaikos and also managed to make nine UEFA Champions League appearances for the club before making his second comeback to Dinamo Zagreb in 2005, signing a two-year contract. However, with his role in the team largely diminished and the fact that he mostly appeared as a substitute, he cancelled his contract upon the end of the 2005-06 season and thus finished his playing career. In his three spells with Dinamo, he appeared in a total of 146 league matches and scored 41 goals.

International career

Marić made his international debut for the Croatian national team on 30 April 1997 in their 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Greece and managed to score his first international goal in his second cap against Bosnia and Herzegovina on 6 September 1997 in this same qualifying session. Between 1995 and 1997, he also made several appearances for the Croatian national under-21 team.

He was also a member of the Croatian squad that won the bronze medal at the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals in France and appeared in four matches at the tournament, although he only started the final group match against Argentina. He won a total of 19 international caps for Croatia between 1997 and 2002, but his first international goal also remained his only one. His last appearance for the Croatian national team came on 12 October 2002 in their second Euro 2004 qualifier, which they lost 2-0 to Bulgaria on the road.

Career statistics

Club Season League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Dinamo Zagreb 1992–93 1 0 - - - - - -
1993–94 3 0 - - - - - -
Segesta 1994–95 9 1 - - - - - -
Dinamo Zagreb 1994–95 8 0 - - - - - -
1995–96 21 3 - - - - - -
1996–97 26 13 - - - - - -
1997–98 18 7 - - - - - -
1998–99 14 5 - - - 1 - -
Newcastle United 1998–99 10 0 - - - - - -
1999–2000 13 0 - - - - - -
FC Porto 2000–01 11 2 - - - - - -
Dinamo Zagreb 2001–02 9 5 - - - - - -
2002–03 24 7 - - - - - -
Panathinaikos 2003–04 13 1 - - - - - -
2004–05 20 1 - - - - - -
Dinamo Zagreb 2005–06 22 1 - - - - - -
Total 222 46 - - - - - -

Honours

References

  1. ^ Walker, Michael (4 November 1999). "Ferguson eases Newcastle nerves". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/1999/nov/05/newsstory.sport7. Retrieved 9 November 2009. 
  2. ^ Walker, Michael (21 October 1999). "Magpies lifted by magic of Maric". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/1999/oct/22/newsstory.sport11. Retrieved 9 November 2009. 

External links

Croatia squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup Third Place