Mate Maleš

Mate Maleš
Personal information
Date of birth11 March 1989
Place of birthŠibenik, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing positionDefensive midfielder
Club information
Current team
Rijeka
Number26
Youth career
1999–2007HNK Šibenik
2007–2008Hajduk Split
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2006–2007HNK Šibenik3(0)
2007–2008Hajduk Split0(0)
2008–2010Dinamo Zagreb1(0)
2008–2010→ NK Lokomotiva Zagreb (loan)26(0)
2010–2013NK Lokomotiva Zagreb38(0)
2011–2012NK Zagreb (loan)23(0)
2013–Rijeka22(0)
National team
2014-Croatia1(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11 April 2014.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 April 2014

Mate Maleš (born 11 March 1989 in Šibenik), is a Croatian player who plays for NK Rijeka of the MAXtv Prva Liga.

Club career

Maleš started his football career with HNK Šibenik, debuting for the first team as a cadet in the 2005/2006 season, on 4 August 2006 against GNK Dinamo Zagreb. His teammates in HNK Šibenik were Ante Rukavina and Gordon Schildenfeld.

Hajduk Split brought him to their youth system in 2007. He was all set to sign his first professional contract in February 2008, after a tournament in Hong Kong in which he played for the Hajduk Split first team, but he decided to sign a 5-years deal with Dinamo Zagreb instead. Because of that, he was eligible to play the first league football for Dinamo until 15 June 2008.

After only two matches for his new team at the beginning of the 2008/2009 season, he was loaned to NK Lokomotiva where he remained ever since. In the summer of 2010, his contract with Dinamo was cancelled and he signed a full-time contract with Lokomotiva. Mostly a substitute, he was loaned in August 2011 to NK Zagreb for a year.

He currently plays for the Croatian football club NK Rijeka on the Croatian coast, competing in Croatia's MAXtv Prva Liga and the group stage of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League.

International career

In 2006, Mate Maleš was selected for the national under-21 team, but despite being a regular U19 player, he never got a cap for the U21s. However, he has been called up to the Croatia squad and was in the squad for the 2014 World Cup Qualifying match against Iceland,[1] on 19 November 2013.

He made his international debut on 5 March 2014 in a friendly match in Switzerland, where he was in the starting line-up and eventually replaced by Luka Modrić. The match ended 2-2.

References

  1. "Kovac calls up uncapped Males for Iceland play-off". Eurosport. Retrieved 4 November 2013.

External links