Danijel Pranjić (born 2 December 1981) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. Being a versatile left-footed player, he could play all across the left

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is e ...

and could also be used as a central midfielder.

Club career

Pranjić started his career at Papuk. He played for NAŠK, Papuk, Belišće, and Osijek before making his move to a bigger stage at

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

in 2004. While at Dinamo Zagreb, he also played regularly during their 2004–05

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

campaign, making six appearances and scoring one goal in the competition. In 2005, he was transferred to Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

side

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July ...

. His good performances as an offensive winger secured him a return to international football with

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

in 2007. He started the

2008–09 Eredivisie The Eredivisie 2008–09 is the 53rd season of Eredivisie since its establishment in 1955. PSV were the reigning champions. The season began on 29 August 2008 with a game between Vitesse Arnhem and FC Groningen and ended on 10 May 2009. A total ...

season well, netting four goals in his first three league matches. Pranjić scored his first

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in the Dutch Cup on 12 November 2008 in a huge 7–0 win against Haaglandia. On 31 January 2009, he made the lone goal in a Heerenveen victory at

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

. A month later, he scored a late penalty that gave Heerenveen a 3–2 win at PSV. He won the Dutch Cup with Heerenveen at the end of the 2008–09 season, which turned out to be his last match for the club. In June 2009, Bayern Munich announced Pranjić would join the club. He struggled to make an impact in his first season with the club, starting only 14 matches and losing out to first choice left-back

Holger Badstuber Holger Felix Badstuber (born 13 March 1989) is a German former professional footballer who played as a centre-back or left-back. Badstuber made his debut in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich in the 2009–10 season, at the age of 19. He played ne ...

. Due to his utility and injuries to other teammates, however, he started an increasing number of games in his second season with the Bavarian club. On 13 July 2012, after the expiration of his Bayern contract, Pranjić was announced as a new signing for Portuguese Primeira Liga team

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

. He played nine games for ''Os Leões'' before joining Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

club

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues ...

in January 2013 on loan until the end of the season. On 30 August 2013, Pranjić and Sporting terminated the contract in mutual agreement. On 2 September 2013, it was officially announced that Pranjić had signed with Panathinaikos for three years. He made his professional debut in a 1–1 away draw against Platanias F.C. On 11 September 2016, Pranjić joined Slovenian club

FC Koper Football Club Koper, commonly referred to as FC Koper or simply Koper, is a Slovenian football club based in Koper that competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top flight of Slovenian football. The club was founded in 1920. Koper is one of five ...

on free transfer. On 21 July 2017, Pranjić signed with Cypriot club

Anorthosis Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fo ...

. On 1 July 2019, Pranjić signed with Ayia Napa, competing in the

Cypriot Second Division The Cypriot Second Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Β΄ Κατηγορίας) is the second highest football division of the Cypriot football league system. Administrated by the Cyprus Football Association, it is contested by 16 teams, with th ...

International career

Pranjić started his international career with the Croatian national under-21 football team, winning a total of 15 international caps and scoring one goal for the team between 2002 and 2004. On 16 November 2004, Pranjić made his full international debut for

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

in a friendly match against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

. After two years of absence from the national team, he was called up for a friendly match against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

in February 2007. Later that year, he also appeared in three UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers. Asked to play a defensive role by Croatia coach

Slaven Bilić Slaven Bilić (; born 11 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of EFL Championship side Watford. Bilić, who played as a defender, began his career in 1988 with his hometown c ...

, although still predominantly a midfielder in his club career, Pranjić was the only Croatian to start all four games at the

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

finals. Pranjić provided an assist to Darijo Srna to score the opener in Croatia's 2–1 victory over

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and an assist to Ivan Klasnić to score the only goal in their next game, a 1–0 win over

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. He kept his place as a regular in the national team during their unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, appearing in a total of nine matches. On 28 September 2012, Pranjić retired from the national team in protest to the call up of Brazilian-born player Sammir. On 10 November 2013, Kovač called up Pranjić to the national team after Ivan Strinić sustained an injury that made him ineligible for the playoffs against Iceland. Pranjić was called to the Croatia's 23-man squad for 2014 FIFA World Cup. He earned a total of 58 caps, scoring 1 goal. His last match for Croatia happened at a Euro 2016 qualification match against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

in 2015.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and Results show Croatia's goal tally first'' , - , 1 , , 28 March 2015 , ,

Stadion Maksimir Maksimir Stadium ( hr, Stadion Maksimir, ) is a multi-use stadium in Zagreb, Croatia. It takes its name from the surrounding neighbourhood of Maksimir. The venue is primarily the home of Dinamo Zagreb, the top club of the country with 23 le ...

, Zagreb, Croatia , , , , , , , ,

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

Honours

Heerenveen * KNVB Cup: 2008–09 Bayern Munich *

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

: 2009–10 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

: 2009–10 * DFL-Supercup: 2010 *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

runner-up: 2009–10, 2011–12 Panathinaikos *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...

: 2013–14

References

External links