Leo Štulac (born 26 September 1994) is a Slovenian 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 club

Reggiana Reggiana may refer to: * A.C. Reggiana 1919, a football club * ASDCF Reggiana, a women's football club * Pallacanestro Reggiana Pallacanestro Reggiana, also simply known as Reggiana or Reggio Emilia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as U ...

on loan from

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

Club career

Koper

Born in

Koper Koper (; ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, fifth-largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Slovenian Istria, Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, Koper is the main urban center of the Slovene coast. Port of Koper i ...

, Štulac started his career at hometown club

FC Koper Football Club Koper, commonly referred to as FC Koper or simply Koper, is a Slovenian football club based in Koper that competes in the Slovenian First League, the top flight of Slovenian football. The club was founded in 1920. They won the Sl ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut on 2 April 2011, aged 16, in a 3–0 victory against

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 ...

. In 2013, Štulac joined third division side Jadran Dekani on loan, where he scored 4 goals in 13 games. With Koper, Štulac won the

Slovenian Cup Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes, an ethno-linguistic group mainly living in Slovenia * Sl ...

during the 2014–15 season and the

Slovenian Supercup The Slovenian Supercup () was a football match played between the Slovenian PrvaLiga champions and the Slovenian Cup winners. Prior 2007, the match was held only twice, in 1995 and 1996. The competition was resurrected in 2007 and was held annual ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Venezia

On 15 July 2016, Štulac joined the

Lega Pro The Lega Italiano Calcio Professionistico (Italian for Professional Football Italian League), commonly known as Lega Pro (Pro League), is the governing body that runs the third tier of professional football competitions in Italy, the Serie C. I ...

side

Venezia Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. In his first season, he gained promotion to

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

. He also won the

Coppa Italia Lega Pro Coppa Italia Serie C (), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the competition. It begins i ...

with the club. Štulac scored his first Serie B goal on 24 October 2017 in a 2–1 away defeat against

Cittadella Cittadella () is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around . There are fo ...

. On 5 May 2018, he scored the winner in a 2–1 victory against

Foggia Foggia (, ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere, also know ...

Parma

On 30 June 2018, Štulac signed for

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

on a five-year contract.

Empoli

On 26 July 2019, Štulac signed with Serie B club

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

. With Empoli, he won promotion to Serie A in 2021, and played the

2021–22 Serie A The 2021–22 Serie A (known as the Serie A Telecom Italia, TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 120th season of top-tier Italian association football, football, the 90th in a round-robin tournament, and the 12th since its organization under an ...

with the Tuscanians.

Palermo

On 18 August 2022, Štulac was signed by Serie B club

on a loan deal with a mandatory buying option to be exercised on certain conditions. Štulac's first season with the ''Rosanero'' was marred by injuries and was eventually cut short by a serious muscle injury that sidelined him from January until the end of the campaign. Despite that, Palermo signed him permanently from Empoli and confirmed him in the first team roster. On 2 September 2023, Štulac scored his first league goal with Palermo in a 3–0 home win against Feralpisalò.

Reggiana

On 2 August 2024, Štulac went on a two-year loan deal to fellow Serie B side

International career

Štulac played for various Slovenian national youth selections, such as the under-17, under-19 and under-21 teams. In March 2018, he received his first call-up to the

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

national team for the friendly matches against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. He made his senior debut against

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

on 9 September 2018.

Career statistics

Honours

Koper *

: 2014–15 *

Venezia *

: 2016–17 *

: 2016–17 Empoli *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

External links

*
Leo Štulac
at NZS {{DEFAULTSORT:Stulac, Leo 1994 births Living people Footballers from Koper Men's association football midfielders Slovenian men's footballers 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Slovenia men's youth international footballers Slovenia men's under-21 international footballers Slovenia men's international footballers FC Koper players NK Dekani players Venezia FC players Parma Calcio 1913 players Empoli FC players Palermo FC players AC Reggiana 1919 players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Serie C players Serie B players Serie A players Slovenian expatriate men's footballers Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy