Dejan Mezga (born 16 July 1985) is a former Croatian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. During his career, he played for

Čakovec Čakovec (; ; ; ) is a city in Northern Croatia, located around north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital, and close to the borders with Slovenia and Hungary. Čakovec is both the county seat and the largest city of Međimurje County, the northernmo ...

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

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 ...

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship tit ...

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

Inter Zaprešić Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * Inter Playa del Carmen, a Mexican club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Fi ...

Varaždin Varaždin ( or ; , also known by #Name, alternative names) is a city in Northern Croatia, north-east of Zagreb. The total population is 46,946, with 38,839 in the city settlement itself (2011). The city is best known for its baroque buildings, ...

, Polet Sv. Martin na Muri, and SV Übelbach. Mezga acquired Slovenian citizenship on 23 August 2012.

Career

Coming from the village of Brezje, near

, in the region of Međimurje, Mezga went through the ranks of several lower-tier local clubs, debuting at the age of 15 for the seniors of NK Sloga Čakovec, before joining the under-17 team of NK Varteks. In his last season of eligibility for the under-19 team, he left the club, however, and joined the Croatian Second League side

NK Čakovec Nogometni Klub Čakovec (), commonly referred to as NK Čakovec or simply Čakovec, was a Croatian football club based in Čakovec, in the northern part of the country. The club folded in 2011. The club's arguably biggest success came when they ...

, where he played for the next three years. In 2007, Mezga joined

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga (, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Slovenian football league system. Contested by ten clubs, it operates on a system of prom ...

side

. He soon established himself in the first team and won his first league title with the team in 2009, and was also declared the most distinguished player of the season by the Maribor fans. Maribor went on to win four titles in the following five seasons, with Mezga featuring heavily in all campaigns, and was selected in the league's ideal eleven of the 2011–12 championship. After his contract expired in the summer of 2014, Mezga joined

in his homeland. He briefly returned to Maribor in August 2016, before signing for Portuguese side

in January 2017.

References

External links

*
Dejan Mezga
at NZS * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mezga, Dejan 1985 births Living people Footballers from Čakovec Men's association football midfielders Croatian men's footballers 21st-century Croatian sportsmen NK Čakovec players NK Maribor players HNK Hajduk Split players Apollon Limassol FC players C.D. Nacional players NK Inter Zaprešić players NK Varaždin (1931–2015) players First Football League (Croatia) players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Croatian Football League players Cypriot First Division players Primeira Liga players Second Football League (Croatia) players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria