Leon Benko (; born 11 November 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 as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. A product of NK Varteks youth academy, Benko had spells abroad in the German

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 ...

with 1. FC Nürnberg and in Belgium with

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

and

K.V. Kortrijk Koninklijke Voetbalclub Kortrijk (often simply called KV Kortrijk or KVK) is a Belgian professional football club based in Kortrijk, West Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division, and they achieved their best ranking ever during the 20 ...

. He was the

2012–13 Prva HNL 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 ...

league's top goalscorer.

Club career

Varteks

Benko signed his first professional contract with his youth club, NK Varteks, in July 2003, and continued to play for the club in the following three seasons under coaches

Miroslav Blažević Miroslav "Ćiro" Blažević (; 9 February 1935 – 8 February 2023) was a Bosnian-Croatian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and Football player, player. A former right winger, his professional ...

(2003–05) and

Zlatko Dalić Zlatko Dalić (; born 26 October 1966) is a Croatian people, Croatian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former Football player, player. He has been the manager of the Croatia national football ...

(2005–06). In his second season at Varteks he established himself as one of the club's key players, appearing in 26 matches in the

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 ...

. In the summer of 2005, he also performed well for Varteks in the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

, scoring all four goals in their 4–1 victory over

Dinamo Tirana Football Club Dinamo City, commonly referred to as Dinamo City and colloquially known as Dinamo, is an Albanian professional football club based out of Tirana. They compete in the Kategoria Superiore, the top tier of Albanian football. Founded i ...

as well as a brace that included the winning goal in a 4–3 victory over Inter Turku. He finished the 2005–06 season as the club's top scorer, scoring 14 goals in 27 league appearances, and was instrumental in the club's 2005–06 Croatian Cup campaign in which they reached the final before losing to Rijeka on

away goals The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

rule. His excellent performances at Varteks earned him the 2005 Hope of the Year award for Croatia's best young player.

Nürnberg

On 23 May 2006, it was announced that Benko has signed for German

side 1. FC Nürnberg on a three-year contract with an optional one-year extension. He made his Bundesliga debut on 12 August 2006, playing as a substitute in the last five minutes of the club's first league match of the 2006–07 season, a 3–0 away victory at VfB Stuttgart. He finished his first Bundesliga season with only seven appearances, having missed the entire second part of the season due to injury problems. He scored his first goal for Nürnberg on 29 November 2007 in their

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 ...

group match against eventual winners of the competition, Zenit Saint Petersburg, securing his team a 2–2 away draw. He made a total of four appearances for Nürnberg in the 2007–08 season of the UEFA Cup.

Standard Liège

On 4 August 2008, Benko moved to Belgian side

for an undisclosed fee, signing a one-year contract with an optional extension. He made his debut for the club on 16 August 2008 in their 3–1 away win at FCV Dender in the first round of the 2008–09 Jupiler League, coming on as a late substitute. In his only season with the club he made only 14 league appearances due to his injury problems. He managed to win the Belgian First Division title with the club.

K.V. Kortrijk

On 30 June 2009,

signed the Croatian forward from Standard Liège until June 2010.

Slaven Belupo

On 29 January 2011, Benko signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with

Slaven Belupo Nogometni klub Slaven Belupo (), often referred to as Slaven Belupo, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city of Koprivnica in the north of Croatia. They play their home matches at Gradski stadion in Koprivnica. They play in ...

. In his first game for Slaven, he scored a goal in a 2–1 loss against RNK Split. By the end of the season he made ten more appearances for the club and scored eight goals in the process. He opened the new season by scoring a goal against NK Zagreb on matchday 1 in July 2011. He scored seven goals in Croatian First League and added three assists by the end of the mid-season when he was transferred to Saudi Professional League club Al-Faisaly.

Rijeka

In June 2012, it was announced that Benko will be joining

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 ...

. He was given the number 19 shirt. Benko made his debut for the new club against

NK Zadar Nogometni klub Zadar (), commonly referred to as NK Zadar or simply Zadar, was a Croatian football club based in Zadar, a city on the Adriatic coast, best known for playing in the top flight of Croatian football for almost twenty years. Histor ...

at the end of the July, and scored his first goal on Matchday 4 of the season against Lokomotiva Zagreb. In his first season with the club he fulfilled the expectations of the club officials and the fans as he was the

league's top scorer with 18 goals in 30 appearances. At the end of the season, he was awarded with SN Yellow Shirt award, as the best football player in the 2012–13 Prva HNL, based on post-match ratings awarded by sports journalists over the course of a season. The club finished third in the 2012–13 Prva HNL standings and secured their spot in the Europa League qualifications. Benko started the new 2013–14 season in strong fashion, netting 11 goals in first 11 appearances. He scored five goals in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase, including two goals against VfB Stuttgart in Europa League play-off round. His goals helped Rijeka to reach their first ever Europa League group stage where they were drawn in Group I together with Olympique Lyonnais, Real Betis and Vitória S.C.. On 28 September, he scored a spectacular volley against Rijeka's greatest rivals Hajduk Split in

Adriatic derby Adriatic derby () is the name given to matches between two largest Croatian football clubs coming from the Adriatic coast, Hajduk Split and Rijeka. The teams are supported by their fanbases called Split's Torcida and Rijeka's Armada. Games of ...

. A month later, on Matchday 2 of the 2013–14 Europa League, Benko scored another volley goal against Real Betis to give his team 1–0 lead on

Stadion Kantrida Kantrida Stadium () is a football stadium in the Croatian city of Rijeka. It is named after the Kantrida neighbourhood in which it is located, in the western part of the city. It has served as the home of the HNK Rijeka football club for most yea ...

. The match eventually finished 1–1.

Dalian Aerbin

On 24 February 2014, Benko reportedly signed for

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

team

Dalian Aerbin Dalian Professional Football Club (), known as Dalian Pro, was a Chinese professional Association football, football club based in Dalian, Liaoning, which mostly competed in the Chinese Super League. Dalian Pro played its home matches at various ...

for an undisclosed fee. On 28 April 2015, Benko filed a lawsuit at the

Hong Kong High Court The High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is a part of the legal system of Hong Kong. It consists of the Court of Appeal and the Court of First Instance; it deals with criminal and civil cases which have risen beyond the l ...

against the

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

for unpaid wages and image rights. Benko claimed that his contract with Dalian was worth 1.02 million euros. However, four months into his contract, he was paid only 36,000 euros. He has terminated his contract with Dalian since then.

Sarajevo

On 12 September 2014, Benko signed for

Bosnian Premier League The Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina (; ; sr-Cyrl, Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), officially known as the Wwin League of Bosnia and Herzegovina for sponsorship purposes, is the top tier football leagu ...

club

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

as a free agent. During the first half of the

2014–15 Premier League The 2014–15 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 23rd season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992, and the ...

, he scored 9 goals in 14 appearances. In the next season, Sarajevo was ranked fourth in the league and Benko was the league top goalscorer with 18 goals. At the beginning of the 2016–17 season Benko got suspended for drinking alcohol before a match against rival club Zrinjski.

Olimpija Ljubljana

After falling out with Sarajevo over his suspension, Benko signed a two-year contract with

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 ...

club Olimpija Ljubljana on a free transfer on 30 August 2016. During the mid-season, on 15 December 2016, the club announced that Benko would be departing from the club due to poor performances. In the end, Benko stayed at the club, scoring 14 goals in 34 appearances for the club in all competitions. He also appeared in the final of the 2017 Slovenian Football Cup, where Olimpija lost 1–0 to

Domžale Domžale (; )''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 24. is a town and the seat of the Municipality of Domžale in Slovenia. The town lies ne ...

Varaždin

On 20 August 2018, Benko signed for the Croatian second tier club

Varaždin Varaždin ( or ; , also known by #Name, alternative names) is a city in Northern Croatia, north-east of Zagreb. The total population is 46,946, with 38,839 in the city settlement itself (2011). The city is best known for its baroque buildings, ...

. On 18 May 2019, he scored two goals in Varaždin's 3–1 home win against

Šibenik Šibenik (), historically known as Sebenico (), is a historic town in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka (Croatia), Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is one of the oldest Croatia, Croatian self-governing cities ...

, which secured his team a promotion to the

Prva HNL 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 ...

International career

Benko has been capped for the Croatian national under-21 team and he subsequently went on to make his debut for the country's A-team by appearing in both of their two matches at the 2006 Carlsberg Cup in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. Benko was once again included in the roster for the friendly match against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

on 10 September 2013. He provided a crucial assist for

Domagoj Vida Domagoj Vida (; born 29 April 1989) is a Croatian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), defender for Super League Greece club AEK Athens F.C., AEK Athens. He is capable of playing in any def ...

who scored the first goal in 65th minute of the match. Croatia went on to win the match, being their second match and second win against

side in the year of 2013 alone. His prolific goalscoring form in his club earned him another call-up, this time for 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 ...

crucial 2014 World Cup play-off matches against Iceland on 15 November 2013.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Nürnberg *

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 ...

: 2006–07 Standard Liège *

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

: 2008–09 Sarajevo *

: 2014–15 Olimpija Ljubljana *

: 2017–18 *

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 ...

: 2017–18 Varaždin * 2. HNL: 2018–19 Individual * Croatian Football Hope of the Year: 2005 * SN Yellow Shirt Award: 2013 * Football Oscar Team of the Year: 2013 * HNL's Football Player of the Year: 2013 *

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 ...

top goalscorer: 2005–06 * 1. HNL top goalscorer:

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 ...

* Bosnian Premier League top goalscorer: 2015–16 *

top goalscorer: 2016–17, 2017–18 * 2. HNL top goalscorer: 2018–19

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benko, Leon 1983 births Living people Footballers from Varaždin Men's association football forwards Croatian men's footballers 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers NK Varaždin (1931–2015) players 1. FC Nürnberg players Standard Liège players K.V. Kortrijk players NK Slaven Belupo players Al Faisaly FC players HNK Rijeka players Dalian Professional F.C. players FK Sarajevo players NK Olimpija Ljubljana (2005) players Croatian Football League players Bundesliga players Belgian Pro League players Saudi Pro League players Chinese Super League players Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina players Slovenian PrvaLiga players First Football League (Croatia) players Second Football League (Croatia) players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in China Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in China Expatriate men's footballers in Bosnia and Herzegovina Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia