Marko Rog (; born 19 July 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

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 ...

for Italian club

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

and the Croatia national team.

Club career

Early career

Rog started his senior football in 2013 with NK Varaždin, which was coming off being suspended in the 2011–12 season due to financial difficulties. The club, previously in 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 ...

, were allowed back in at the 3. HNL, where Rog was Varaždin's top goalscorer, scoring 17 times in 30 league matches, as his side finished 7th. He moved to Croatian First Football League side

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 summer 2014 for an undisclosed fee, though it did not help Varaždin, which folded in 2015 (no relation to the

NK Varaždin (2012) Nogometni klub Varaždin, commonly referred to as NK Varaždin, is a Croatian professional football club based in Varaždin, that competes in the Croatian Football League, the top tier of Croatian football. History The club was founded as FC ...

club). On 28 July 2014, Rog made his professional debut for

playing against Istra 1961. His first and only season with Split was highly successful, scoring nine goals in 44 appearances.

Dinamo Zagreb

In June 2015, Rog joined

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 ...

. He signed a five-year contract with the club for a reported fee of €5 million; a record transfer for the Croatian league. On 12 July 2015, aged 19, he made an official league debut for Dinamo Zagreb, coming on as a substitute for

Ante Ćorić Ante Ćorić (; born 14 April 1997) is a Croatian professional Association football, footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Croatian Football League club NK Varaždin (2012), Varaždin. He played for the Croatia national football tea ...

in a first league game of the season against Hajduk Split on the home stadium and also received a yellow card in the game.

Napoli

On 29 August 2016, Rog joined

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 ...

side

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

on a five-year contract. He scored his first goal for the club in 3–1 win over Atalanta on 27 August 2017. All 28 of his games in the 2017–18 season which he played in Serie A were played from the substitutes' bench, as were all of his other matches, except from one match in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

and two matches 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 ...

. He was versatile in this season, playing in the

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

and centre of midfield, and at

centre forward 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 be ...

, at various stages in the campaign. He scored one goal (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 ...

) and made one assist (against Red Bull Leipzig). He received 4 yellow cards and played 251 minutes of football. Rog made 1.2 tackles and 1.1 fouls per match in Serie A in the 2016–17 season as well as partaking in 1.2 dribbles per match in 373 minutes of game time, and in 2017–18 made 0.4 tackles and 0.4 fouls per game and made 0.4 dribbles per game in 251 minutes of game time, and in 2018–19 made 1.3 tackles and 1.3 fouls per match as well as 0.6 interceptions (his highest of any season), and 0.9 dribbles per match. He scored once for Napoli in the 2018–19 Serie A. He made his most starts for Napoli in the league in 2018–19. His passing success rate was always high in the league, ranging from 87.5 to 91.6% over the three seasons in the league. He has featured little in Europe for the Neapolitans.

Sevilla (loan)

On 29 January 2019, Rog joined on loan to Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

until 30 June 2019. Rog started his first two matches for Sevilla in La Liga in defeats against

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and

Huesca Huesca (; ) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon between 1096 and 1118. It is also the capital of the Spanish Huesca (province), ...

. He also started in a 3–0 loss to

Leganés Leganés () is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most popu ...

and a 2–0 victory over

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

. He made six further appearances in the league from the bench. He featured in three matches in the

. At Sevilla, his passing success rate was 86.4% and he was given two yellow cards.

Cagliari

On 17 July 2019,

bought the footballer from

. Rog joined Cagliari on loan with an obligation set at €18 million including bonuses.

Return to Dinamo Zagreb

On 12 February 2024, Rog returned to

on loan until the end of 2024. The loan was extended for six additional months in January 2025.

International career

On 12 November 2014, Rog made his international debut for the Croatia national team against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

coming as an 84th-minute substitute for

Duje Čop Duje Čop (born 1 February 1990) is a Croatian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Croatian Football League club HNK Rijeka, Rijeka. Čop made over 200 appearances and scored ...

. He was part of the Croatian squad at the

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 ...

in France. He was in the starting lineup for the team's final group match, a 2–1 win 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 ...

, which was his only appearance at the tournament. A regular member of the Croatian squad during 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 ...

qualifying, Rog made five appearances as a substitute. In May 2018 he was named in Croatia's preliminary 32-man squad for the

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

in Russia but did not make the final 23.

Style of play

Rog is regarded as highly talented prospect. He is most played in the attacking midfield and winger roles. Regular starting in the central attacking midfield position to build up play with his creative and sharp passing, he has been compared to the likes of

Ivan Rakitić Ivan Rakitić (; born 10 March 1988) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for HNL club Hajduk Split. Rakitić started his professional career at Basel and spent two seasons with them before he was signed by Schalke ...

. However, Rog's explosive strength and pace make a him a very different player altogether. Rog is aggressive and has extreme balance making him very difficult to knock off the ball, but also allowing him to pressure and win balls either deep or higher up the pitch. Napoli utilizes Rog in this way. Rog has the freedom and ability to drop deeper into a central defensive midfield slot where he can tackle and win balls with his aggression. Thereafter, he is given the freedom to either drift wide and open up space for his side to counter-attack in to or run directly at the opposition defense towards goal.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Dinamo Zagreb *

: 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 ...

: 2015–16

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rog, Marko 1995 births Living people Footballers from Varaždin Men's association football midfielders Croatian men's footballers 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2016 players NK Varaždin (1931–2015) players RNK Split players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players SSC Napoli players Sevilla FC players Cagliari Calcio players Croatian Football League players Serie A players La Liga players Serie B players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Spain