Dario Melnjak (born 31 October 1992) is a Croatian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establish ...

club

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

Club career

Melnjak started his career in the lower tier , spending most of his youth career there, apart from two seasons at Varteks at under-15 level. After debuting for his club in the 2010–11 season, he moved on to the Treća HNL West team Zelina, where he achieved promotion to

Druga HNL The Prva nogometna liga (), commonly Prva NL or 1. NL, is the second tier of the football league system in Croatia. The league was formed in 1991 with the breakup of Yugoslavia and the dissolution of the Yugoslav Second League. The 1. NL is ope ...

in the 2011–12 season. He remained a first team player in the following season, and moved on to the

team

Slaven Belupo Nogometni klub Slaven Belupo (), often referred to as Slaven Belupo, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city of Koprivnica in the north of Croatia. They play their home matches at Gradski stadion in Koprivnica. They play in ...

at the beginning of the 2013–14 season. On 2 February 2015, Melnjak signed a contract with Belgian side Sporting Lokeren for three-and-a-half seasons. On 20 June 2016, Melnjak signed for

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League (), also known as Misli Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Azerbaijan and the highest level of the Azerbaijani football league system. It is contested by twelve ...

side Neftçi on loan. On 10 November 2016, Neftçi and Lokeren mutually agreed to the early termination of Melnjak's loan. On 23 September 2021, Melnjak signed a one-year contract with Croatian club

HNK Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Split, Croatia, Split, that competes in the Croatian First Football League, Cro ...

, with an option for a further two years. On 19 January 2022, Melnjak extended his contract for two years, with the new deal ending in mid-2024. On 2 March 2022, Melnjak scored two goals against

HNK Gorica Hrvatski nogometni klub Gorica (), commonly referred to as HNK Gorica, is a Croatian football club based in the town of Velika Gorica, located just south of the Croatian capital Zagreb. They play their home matches at the Gradski stadion Velik ...

in the

2021–22 Croatian Football Cup The 2021–22 Croatian Football Cup was the 31st season of Croatia's football knockout competition. It was sponsored by the betting company ''SuperSport'' and known as the SuperSport Hrvatski nogometni kup for sponsorship purposes. The defending ch ...

semi-final, taking Hajduk to the final in a 2–1 win. On 26 May 2022, in the 2022 Croatian Football Cup Final, Melnjak again scored twice, this time in a 3–1 win against

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as HNK Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka competes in Croatia's top division, Croatian First Football League, Supersport HNL, o ...

, to give Hajduk its seventh cup win and first since 2012–13.

International career

He made his Croatia national team debut on 11 June 2019 in a friendly against

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, as a starter.

Honours

Hajduk Split *

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup *Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup The Croatian Water Polo C ...

: 2021–22,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

External links

* 1992 births Living people Footballers from Varaždin Men's association football fullbacks Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers NK Zelina players NK Slaven Belupo players K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen players Neftçi PFK players NK Domžale players Çaykur Rizespor footballers HNK Hajduk Split players First Football League (Croatia) players Croatian Football League players Belgian Pro League players Azerbaijan Premier League players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Süper Lig players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 21st-century Croatian sportsmen {{Croatia-footy-defender-stub