Mario Šitum (born 4 April 1992) is a Croatian 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 for Croatian HNL club Lokomotiva.

Club career

Šitum's senior career began when he was promoted from the Dinamo Academy to the first team in 2011, making his first-team debut in the same year in a 3–0 win over Czech side

Sigma Olomouc SK Sigma Olomouc is a Czech professional football club based in the city of Olomouc. The club currently competes in the Czech First League, the first tier of Czech football. The club played in the first tier league for 30 years between 1984 and 2 ...

. On 19 February 2011 he started and played 75 minutes in a friendly against

NK Istra 1961 Nogometni klub Istra 1961 (), commonly referred to as Istra 1961, is a Croatian professional football club based in Pula, that competes in the Croatian First League. It is a common opinion amongst many people that ''Istra 1961'' was founded i ...

, which Dinamo won 4–3 at the newly renovated

Stadion Aldo Drosina Stadion Aldo Drosina () is a multi-use stadium in Pula, Croatia. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of NK Istra 1961 and formerly NK Istra. The stadium has a capacity of 8,900. From March 2009 to January 20 ...

in Pula. His first league appearance came on 26 February 2011 in Dinamo's game against

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. In the 2021 census, its population was 49,377. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located southwest of Zagreb and northeast of Rijeka, and is connected to them via the ...

. Šitum started the match and scored in the 12th minute, a goal which turned out to be the game winner. Šitum started on a high note in the 2011–12 season, scoring the fourth goal in a 5–0 win against

NK Karlovac NK Karlovac 1919 is a Croatian football club based in the town of Karlovac. Karlovac plays their home matches at Stadion Branko Čavlović-Čavlek. History Traditionally lower-level minnows, the club's most successful period in the Yugoslav foo ...

, and then scoring twice in a 4–0 win against

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 ...

. He scored again in the next round, netting the only goal in a win against

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 ...

. On 17 July 2014, Šitum joined Italian

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 ...

club

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

on loan after a -year loan spell with

NK Lokomotiva Nogometni klub Lokomotiva Zagreb (), commonly known as Lokomotiva Zagreb or simply Lokomotiva, is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. It competes in the Croatian First Football League, the country's top division. Founded in 19 ...

. On 17 June 2017, he was loaned to Polish side

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation's highest division. ...

. On 1 September 2022, Šitum signed with

Catanzaro Catanzaro (; or ; ), also known as the "City of the two Seas" (), is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its province and the second most populated comune of the region, behind Reggio Calabr ...

International career

Internationally, Šitum scored his first goals for the

Croatia national under-21 football team The Croatia national under-21 football team represents Croatia in international association football, football matches for players 21 or under. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Croatia. It is ...

, during qualification for the

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 20th edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a biennial international association football, football competition for men's under-21 national teams organised by UEFA. The final tourn ...

in the match against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

where Šitum scored the first two goals in a 4–0 win. In May 2015 he received a call-up to the senior

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 ...

squad for the friendly against

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

and for a Euro 2016 qualifier game against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. His final international was a January 2017 China Cup against the hosts.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Situm, Mario 1992 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Men's association football forwards Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players Spezia Calcio players Lech Poznań players Kayserispor footballers AS Reggina 1914 players Cosenza Calcio players US Catanzaro 1929 players Croatian Football League players First Football League (Croatia) players Serie B players Serie C players Ekstraklasa players Süper Lig players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 21st-century Croatian sportsmen