Ivica Vrdoljak (; born 19 September 1983) 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 mainly as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Vrdoljak started playing football at his homeclub, Serbian

top league Japan Rugby League One (), formerly known as the Top League (), is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by ...

club

FK Vojvodina Fudbalski klub Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Војводина), commonly known as Vojvodina and colloquially as Voša ( sr-Cyrl, Воша), is a Serbian professional football club based in Novi Sad, Serbia, the second large ...

, where he played for the youth teams until 1999, when he moved to

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

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 ...

, and settled in the youth system of the Croatian top flight side

NK Zagreb Nogometni klub Zagreb (''Zagreb Football Club''), commonly known as NK Zagreb or simply Zagreb (), is a Croatian football club based in the capital city of Zagreb. It currently competes in the fifth tier league competition of Croatian footbal ...

. After graduating to the senior team he was sent on loans to

NK Lučko Nogometni klub Lučko is a Croatian football club based in the Novi Zagreb – zapad (New Zagreb-West) district in southwest Zagreb. Founded in 1931 as SK Velebit, shortly after renamed into NK Velebit, it is one of the oldest clubs in its bor ...

and the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

team

Croatia Sesvete NK Croatia Sesvete was a Croatian football club based in the Sesvete district of the City of Zagreb. Previous club names: NK Sljeme (1957–1988), NK Sesvete (1988–1996), NK Badel Sesvete (1996–1997), NK Sesvete (1997–1998). The club was ...

. Vrdoljak had a good season at

, scoring four goals and featuring in 22 league matches, and after that he was returned to

. In three seasons at the club he made 81 league appearances and scored three goals. He was then, along with his teammate

Mario Mandžukić Mario Mandžukić (; born 21 May 1986) is a Croatian association football, football coach and a former player who was most recently an assistant coach for the Croatia national football team, Croatia national team. As a player, he played as a for ...

, transferred to Croatian powerhouse Dinamo Zagreb for a fee of €1 million. Since his arrival, Vrdoljak has established himself as a consistent first-team player. In his debut season for Dinamo he played in twenty-four league matches and bagged three goals. The next season, he was irreplaceable in the midfield and made 29 league appearances by the end of the season and scored three more goals. While playing for

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

, during the qualifiers 2014–15 UEFA Champions League qualifying round, Vrdoljak missed two penalties in a 4–1 win over against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

. After being sidelined throughout the 2015–16 season due to a knee injury, he left Legia in the summer of 2016. Shortly after, he joined another

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

outfit

Wisła Płock Wisła Płock Spółka Akcyjna (Wisła Płock S.A.), commonly referred to as Wisła Płock (), is a Polish professional football club based in Płock, Masovian Voivodeship. They will compete in the Ekstraklasa in the 2025–26 season after wi ...

, however after failing to make a single appearance, he decided to ultimately retire.

International career

He is also a former Croatia under-21 international and capped seven times at the under-21 level during the 2004–05 season.

Career statistics

Honours

;Dinamo Zagreb *

Croatian First League 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 ...

: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10 *

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 ...

: 2007–08, 2008–09 ;Legia Warsaw *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14 *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2011–12,

References

External links

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Profile
at Nogometni Magazin {{DEFAULTSORT:Vrdoljak, Ivica 1983 births Living people Footballers from Novi Sad Croats of Vojvodina Naturalized citizens of Croatia Serbian emigrants to Croatia Men's association football central defenders Croatian men's footballers 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Croatia men's under-21 international footballers NK Zagreb players NK Lučko players NK Croatia Sesvete players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Legia Warsaw players Wisła Płock players First Football League (Croatia) players Croatian Football League players Ekstraklasa players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Poland