Goran Rubil (born 9 March 1981) is a Croatian former 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 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 ...

Career

Rubil started his career in his hometown club Marsonia Slavonski Brod. At the age of 17 he moved to France to play for

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes, commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Naunnt''), is a French professional association football, football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 Ap ...

, where he remained until the end of the 2004–05 season. During his time at Nantes he played only ten league matches for the club, but was a regular in the Croatian U19 and U21 sides. He spent the 2003–04 season on loan with

Stade Lavallois Stade Lavallois Mayenne Football Club (), also referred to as Stade Lavallois or simply Laval,Stade Laval, used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, is not a grammatically correct name for the club. is a Football in France, F ...

where he had eight appearances and scored one goal. He acquired

French nationality French nationality law is historically based on the principles of ''jus soli'' (Latin for "right of soil") and ''jus sanguinis'', (Latin for "right of blood") according to Ernest Renan's definition, in opposition to the German definition of nat ...

naturalization Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

on 1 August 2005. In mid-2005 he signed for the

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yasud ...

team

Shonan Bellmare is a Japanese professional football club based in Hiratsuka, in the west of Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Hiratsuk ...

. In early 2006 he moved back to Croatia to join

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 ...

, where he stayed until the mutual termination of his contract in December of the same year. Several clubs, both in Croatia and abroad showed interest. He went to England on trial for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

, and looked set to sign for them, but apparently got tired of waiting, and returned to Croatia to sign a 3.5-year contract for

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 ...

Career statistics

References

External links

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Goran Rubil profile
at Nogometni Magazin * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rubil, Goran 1981 births Living people Footballers from Slavonski Brod Men's association football midfielders Croatian men's footballers 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Naturalized citizens of France French men's footballers FC Nantes players Stade Lavallois players Shonan Bellmare players HNK Rijeka players HNK Hajduk Split players Asteras Tripolis F.C. players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players J2 League players Croatian Football League players Super League Greece players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Croatian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece 21st-century French sportsmen