Jurica Vranješ (; born 31 January 1980) 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 ...

. He was described as versatile midfielder, playing both as a

defensive Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

and a

central 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 ...

, noted for his tackling and passing abilities.

Club career

Vranješ was born in

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

, Croatia. He started playing in

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek (), commonly referred to as NK Osijek (), is a Croatian professional association football, football sports club, club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav First Le ...

where he played between 1997 and 1999. Some websites say Vranješ started his career at FK Vojvodina, but Vranješ himself explained how those websites confused their statistics with another player,

Mićo Vranješ Mićo Vranješ (; born 8 September 1975) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Club career After playing for Vojvodina, Smiljanić moved abroad and joined Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia in 2000. He would also play pr ...

, playing back then in Vojvodina. After playing with Osijek in the Prva HNL, he then moved to

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

where he played three seasons until moving to

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

in 2003 and finally to Werder Bremen in 2005. In August 2009 Werder Bremen announced that he could leave the club. On 29 January 2010, he left Werder Bremen and was loaned to Gençlerbirliği for the rest of the season. In September 2011, Vranješ joined Aris Saloniki He made his debut in the yellow jersey against Olympiacos. His contract was terminated on 10 January 2012. In May 2012, he joined

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

in Croatia, where he played six games before his contract with the club was terminated in November 2012.

International career

Vranješ made his debut for

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 ...

in a June 1999

Korea Cup The Korea Cup (, Korea Cup International Football Tournament) was an international Association football, football tournament held annually in South Korea from 1971 to 1999. History The Korea Cup was created with the name ''President of Sout ...

match against

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and earned a total of 26 caps, scoring no goals. He was part of the national team squad at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, where he played in two games. He also played in the Croatian team at the 1998 Under-18 European Championship when Croatia won the third place. His final international was an October 2007

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Osijek * Croatian Cup:

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Bayer Leverkusen *

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

runner-up: 1999–00 2001–02 *

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 ...

runner-up:

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

runner-up: 2001–02 Werder Bremen *

runner-up: 2005–06, 2007–08 *

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

* DFL-Ligapokal:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

DFL-Supercup The Franz Beckenbauer Supercup or ''German Super Cup'' is a one-off association football, football match in Germany that features the winners of the Bundesliga championship and the DFB-Pokal. The competition is run by the Deutsche Fußball Liga (E ...

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

runner-up: 2008–09 Individual * Croatian Footballer Hope of the Year: 1998

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vranjes, Jurica 1980 births Living people Footballers from Osijek Men's association football midfielders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players NK Osijek players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players VfB Stuttgart players SV Werder Bremen players Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players HNK Rijeka players Croatian Football League players Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Süper Lig players Super League Greece players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Greece 21st-century Croatian sportsmen