Fabian Benko (born 5 June 1998) is a 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

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 ...

for

Bayernliga Süd The Bayernliga (English: Bavarian league) is the highest amateur football league and the second highest football league (under the Regionalliga Bayern) in the state of Bavaria () and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of fourteen Obe ...

club

FC Pipinsried FC Pipinsried is a German association football club from the town of Pipinsried, Bavaria. History FC Pipinsried was formed in 1967 and, for most of its early history the club has been a non-descript amateur side in local Bavarian football. Whi ...

. Born in Germany, he most recently represented Croatia at youth level.

Club career

Bayern Munich

Born in Munich to Croatian parents, Benko joined

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

in 2005 when he was seven years old. He progressed through the club's academy side and was awarded an apprentice contract on 3 September 2015. The terms of the contract came into effect in June the following year with the effect of tying him to the club until 2018. In January 2016, Benko was one of five academy players invited by

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Pep Guardiola Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Catalans, Catalan professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player from Spain who has been the manager of club Manchester City F.C., Ma ...

to travel with the senior squad to

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

on their mid-season tour and later featured in a pre-season tour of China. Benko then appeared on the bench for Bayern for the first time in their Champions League match against

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

on 12 December 2015 where he remained an unused substitute. Had he taken to the field he would have become the club's youngest ever player. He returned to and featured predominantly for Bayern's reserve side,

Bayern Munich II FC Bayern Munich II (''FC Bayern Munich Amateure'' until 2005) are the German reserve football teams, reserve team of Football in Germany, German association football club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich, currently playing in the Regionalliga B ...

, thereafter but his made his senior debut and only first team appearance on 19 August 2016, coming off the bench for

Arturo Vidal Arturo Erasmo Vidal Pardo (; born 22 May 1987) is a Chilean professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Chilean Primera División club Colo-Colo and the Chile national football team, Chile national team. His displ ...

in Bayern's 5–0

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

win over Carl Zeiss Jena.

LASK

On 5 June 2018, Benko was transferred to

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

side

LASK Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as LASK (), or Linzer ASK, is an Austrian professional football club based in Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football Bundes ...

on a free transfer where he signed a three-year contract. The following month he was one of 100 players nominated for the Golden Boy award. Benko made his professional debut on 29 July 2018, coming on as a substitute in the 78th minute for Peter Michorl in the 3–1 away loss to Red Bull Salzburg.

SSV Ulm

Out-of-contract, Benko signed with

Regionalliga Südwest The Regionalliga Südwest ('Regional League Southwest') is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with t ...

side

SSV Ulm SSV Ulm 1846 FUSSBALL e.V., commonly known as SSV Ulm 1846 or SSV Ulm, is a German football club based in Ulm, Baden-Württemberg. SSV Ulm 1846 FUSSBALL was formed on 7 March 2009 as new independent club through the separation of the football ...

on 4 August 2021.

International career

Youth national teams

Benko made his debut for the German U17 national team in 2014. He later elected to represent

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

at the 2015

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the annual world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fé ...

. In September 2016, amid discussion surrounding his international future, the Croatian Football Association confirmed that Benko had decided to continue to represent Croatia.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benko, Fabian Living people 1998 births German people of Croatian descent Croatian men's footballers Footballers from Munich German men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Croatia men's youth international footballers Germany men's youth international footballers Regionalliga players Oberliga (football) players Austrian Football Bundesliga players 2. Liga (Austria) players FC Bayern Munich footballers FC Bayern Munich II players FC Juniors OÖ players LASK players SSV Ulm 1846 players SG Sonnenhof Großaspach players FC Pipinsried players Croatian expatriate men's footballers German expatriate men's footballers Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Austria German expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria 21st-century German sportsmen