Marko Pjaca (; born 6 May 1995) 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 as a

left winger 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. ...

for the Croatia national team. Pjaca began his professional club career in Croatia with

Lokomotiva Zagreb 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 1 ...

in 2012, before moving to

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

in 2014. After winning consecutive domestic doubles with Dinamo, he joined Juventus in 2016, where he also won a domestic double in his first season. However, after injuries hindered his development, Pjaca was sent out on a string of loans to six different clubs, to

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

and

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 ...

. At international level, Pjaca represented

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 ...

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...

and at the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

, reaching the final of the latter tournament and making an appearance in it.

Early life

Pjaca's father Željko was a wrestler and his mother Višnja was a judoka. He has two elder sisters: Martina and Iva. In childhood, he trained in handball, basketball and table tennis.

Club career

Lokomotiva

Pjaca began his professional career with Croatian side

. He made his debut in the

2011–12 Croatian First Football League The 2011–12 Croatian First Football League (officially known as the MAXtv Prva Liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 21st season of the Croatian First Football League, the national championship for men's association football teams in Croatia ...

on 24 February 2012 in a 3–0 victory over

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

, in which he managed an assist. It was his only appearance that season. The following season, Pjaca was much more prominent in the first team, particularly after the winter break. He ended 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 ...

season with 2 goals in 17 appearances. However, it was his performances in the 2013–14 Prva HNL season which largely caught the eye of bigger clubs, with the winger scoring 7 times in 31 appearances.

Dinamo Zagreb

In summer 2014, Pjaca was signed by reigning

Croatian First Football 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. Establishe ...

champions

for a transfer fee believed to be in the region of €1 million. He made his Dinamo debut in the opening match of the 2014–15 season, when he scored against

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 ...

. On 11 December 2014, he scored a hat-trick as Dinamo defeated

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 ...

4–3 in the last match of the

2014–15 UEFA Europa League group stage The 2014–15 UEFA Europa League group stage was played from 18 September to 11 December 2014. A total of 48 teams competed in the group stage to decide 24 of the 32 places in the knockout phase of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League. Draw The draw ...

. Pjaca finished the season with 14 goals in 47 appearances in all competitions, as Dinamo won the league title for the tenth-straight season. Pjaca also played the full match as Dinamo beat

RNK Split Radnički nogometni klub Split ("Workers' Football Club of Split") commonly known as RNK Split, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city of Split. History The club had a strong fanbase in the Split's shipyard. The club was fo ...

in the 2015 Croatian Football Cup Final on penalties. On 20 July 2016, Pjaca himself confirmed that the

2016–17 UEFA Champions League The 2016–17 UEFA Champions League was the 62nd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 25th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pla ...

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

tie against Macedonian club

Vardar The Vardar (; , , ) or Axios (, ) is the longest river in North Macedonia and a major river in Greece, where it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of ...

would be his last for Dinamo. He scored two goals, assisted for the third and received a standing ovation from the fans in his farewell match at the

Stadion Maksimir Maksimir Stadium (, ) is a multi-use stadium in Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia. Named after the surrounding neighbourhood of Maksimir, it is one of the List of football stadiums in Croatia, largest stadiums in the country with a current seating capacit ...

Juventus

On 21 July 2016, it was announced Pjaca signed a five-year contract with

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

for a €23 million transfer fee to Dinamo. With the transfer, Pjaca became the most expensive ever sale by Dinamo and the Croatian First Football League. Pjaca made his Juventus and

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 ...

debut on 27 August, coming on as a substitute for

Paulo Dybala Paulo Exequiel Dybala (born 15 November 1993) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as an Attacking Midfielder, attacking midfielder or Forward (association football), winger for club AS Roma, Roma and the Ar ...

in the second half of a 1–0 away win over

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

. In October 2016, Pjaca suffered a cracked fibula while on international duty with Croatia, and was initially expected to miss around six weeks of the season. After being sidelined through injury for almost three months, in January 2017, he returned to action with two half-hour-long substitute appearances against

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

in the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

and

. He scored his first goal for Juventus in the first leg of the Champions League

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

tie against

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

, a 2–0 away win. Pjaca suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

(ACL) injury on 28 March while on international duty with Croatia, sidelining him for six months.

Loan to Schalke 04

After returning from a long term ACL injury, on 4 January 2018, it was announced that Pjaca had joined German club Schalke 04 on loan without an option to buy until the end of the 2017–18 season, for €800,000, plus an additional €200,000 in possible bonuses. At the moment German giants were chasing a place that takes them to the UEFA Champions League and coach Tedesco saw Marko as a player who can help them achieve their goals. On the other hand, in Schalke Marko could get his playing time to get back in his best form before the FIFA World Cup at the end of the season. Pjaca made his official club debut on 13 January, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 3–1 away defeat to

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig or informally as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company ...

. In his second appearance for the club, and his first start, on 21 January, he scored his first goal in a 1–1 home draw against

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

Loan to Fiorentina

On 7 August 2018, Pjaca joined

on a season-long loan deal with the option to make the transfer permanent for an undisclosed fee.

Loan to Anderlecht

On 31 January 2020, during the winter transfer deadline day, Belgian club

signed Pjaca on loan until the end of the season.

Loan to Genoa

On 19 September 2020, Pjaca moved on a season-long loan to

. On his debut, on 20 September, Pjaca scored a goal in a 4–1 win against

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

Loan to Torino

On 28 July 2021, Pjaca joined

on loan with an option to buy.

Loan to Empoli

On 1 September 2022, Pjaca moved on loan to

, with an option to buy.

Rijeka

On 1 September 2023, Pjaca signed a three-year contract with

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 ...

Return to Dinamo Zagreb

On July 3rd 2024, Pjaca signed for Dinamo Zagreb with a 1.5m euro transfer fee.

International career

Pjaca made his senior international debut for

on 4 September 2014, replacing

Mateo Kovačić Mateo Kovačić (; born 6 May 1994) is a Croatian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a central midfielder for club Manchester City F.C., Manchester City and the Croatia national football team, Croatia national team. Ko ...

for the last 12 minutes of a 2–0 friendly win over

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 ...

at the

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 ...

Pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...

. On 3 September 2015, he made his competitive debut for the national team in the

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

match against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

, starting and playing the entire fixture, which ended in a 0–0 draw. On 4 June 2016, he scored his first international goal for Croatia in a 10–0 win over

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

Euro 2016

Pjaca was included in Croatia's

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

squad. He played a major role in Croatia's impressive 2–1 victory against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, the reigning European champions, at

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux The Matmut Atlantique, also known as the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux (, "New Bordeaux Stadium"), is a football stadium in Bordeaux, France. It is the home of Championnat National 2 club FC Girondins de Bordeaux and seats 42,115 spectators. The spon ...

. During that match, he completed an impressive seven of his eight attempted take-ons, took one shot, created one clear scoring opportunity and won one tackle. Pjaca took a seat on the substitutes' bench for the clash with

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in the next round, only to be brought on late in extra time with just ten minutes of the additional 30 remaining. Being introduced as a substitute, he brought some much-needed attacking impetus to the side, completing three dribbles against a previously impenetrable Portugal defence. Croatia eventually lost to Portugal 1–0 after Portugal's

Ricardo Quaresma Ricardo Andrade Quaresma Bernardo (; born 26 September 1983) is a Portuguese former professional association football, footballer who played as a Winger (association football), winger. He began his career at Sporting CP and went on to play for ...

scored a 117th-minute winner to eliminate Croatia.

2018 World Cup

On 4 June 2018, Pjaca was named to Croatia's final 23-man squad for the

. Croatia reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the tournament, where they were defeated 4–2 by

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

on 15 July.

Later career

He played against Spain in a 3–2 win in the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

, but then went five years without a cap. He was finally called up for

Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

matches in November 2023, but did not play. He finally made his on-field return in a 4–2 friendly win over Egypt on 28 March 2024.

Style of play

Regarded as a talented and promising young prospect, Pjaca is a winger who is capable of playing on either flank, although his preferred position is on the left, where he likes to cut inside from wide positions and either shoot on goal or create chances with his stronger right foot; he has also been deployed as an

attacking 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. ...

or as a

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

on occasion. A dynamic, agile and technically gifted player, Pjaca is known for his direct and offensive style of play. Due to his physique, speed,

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. As ...

skills and ability to change direction quickly, he often takes on players in one-on-one situations, and is also known for his ability to make intelligent attacking runs behind the opponents' defensive line.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Croatia's goal tally first.''

Honours

Dinamo Zagreb *

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 ...

: 2014–15, 2015–16 *

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 ...

: 2014–15, 2015–16 Juventus *

: 2016–17, 2017–18 *

: 2016–17 Croatia *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

runner-up:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Individual *

Football Oscar The Football Oscar () is an annual football award given by the Croatian Association Football Union and Sportske novosti since 2013. In the 2017 edition the award was renamed as Trophy Footballer (). It is awarded to the best football player, manager ...

Best Prva HNL player:

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 ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

* Croatian Football League Team of the Year: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2023–24 Orders * Order of Prince Branimir

Order of Duke Branimir The Order of Duke Branimir () is the 7th most important medal given by the Republic of Croatia. The order was founded on April 1, 1995. The medal is awarded for excellence in promoting Croatia in international relations. It is named after duke Br ...

: 2018

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pjaca, Marko 1995 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Croatian men's footballers 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Men's association football wingers NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Juventus FC players FC Schalke 04 players ACF Fiorentina players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Genoa CFC players Torino FC players Empoli FC players HNK Rijeka players Croatian Football League players Serie A players Bundesliga players Belgian Pro League players Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2016 players 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2024 players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy