Roko Šimić (born 10 September 2003) 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 le ...

who plays 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) ** Sm ...

for

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

on loan from

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

club Red Bull Salzburg.

Career

Šimić made his senior debut for

Lokomotiva Zagreb Nogometni klub Lokomotiva Zagreb ( en, Lokomotiva Zagreb Football Club), 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 c ...

on 16 August 2020 in a 6–0

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

defeat to

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

, getting substituted on for Indrit Tuci in the 66th minute. He was given an opportunity by coach

Goran Tomić Goran Tomić (; born 18 March 1977) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of UAE Pro League club Al Nasr SC. He started his managerial career with his hometown club HNK Šibenik in the Prva ...

due to the club's lack of squad depth. During the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

, which was marked by Lokomotiva's struggle to preserve the first league status, Šimić made 26 appearances and scored four goals. He scored his debut goal for Lokomotiva on 7 October 2020, in a 3–2 victory over Gaj Mače in the

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 *Croatian Minute Movie Cup ...

. His debut league goals came on 21 April 2021 when he scored a brace in the 4–0 victory over

Varaždin ) , image_photo = , image_skyline = , image_flag = Flag of Varaždin.svg , flag_size = , image_seal = , seal_size = , image_shield = Grb_Grad ...

Red Bull Salzburg

The first rumours that Red Bull Salzburg was following Šimić appeared in April 2021 in '' Kleine Zeitung''. Šimić signed a three-year deal with the Austrian club on 18 July 2021. With income of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

4 million, it is Lokomotiva's most expensive transfer surpassing that of Ivo Grbić to

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

. Despite the initial plan to leave the player at Lokomotiva on loan for half a

, he moved to Austria immediately and joined Salzburg's feeder club FC Liefering. He made his debut for Liefering on 30 July 2021, getting substituted on for Dijon Kameri in the 46th minute, and scored his debut goal within a minute in a 2–1 victory over

St. Pölten ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...

. On 10 October, he extended his contract with Salzburg until 2025, after impressing the club executives by scoring six goals in nine

appearances and two goals in two Youth League appearances. On 20 October 2021, he made his senior team and Champions League debut, replacing

Noah Okafor Noah Arinzechukwu Okafor (born 24 May 2000) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club AC Milan and the Switzerland national team. Club career FC Basel Okafor played his first youth football with local team FC ...

in the 87th minute of the 3–1 victory over VfL Wolfsburg. Four days later, he made his

debut for the senior team, replacing

Karim Adeyemi Karim-David Adeyemi (born 18 January 2002) is a German professional footballer who plays as a winger, striker or attacking-midfielder for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund and the Germany national team. Club career Red Bull Salzburg Adeyem ...

in the 87th minute of the 4–1 victory over Sturm Graz. During Salzburg's path to the Youth League Final, Šimić contributed seven goals and three assists, making him the joint-top goalscorer of the competition together with Mads Hansen and Aral Şimşir. On 5 January 2023, Šimić joined reigning

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

champions

on loan until the end of the 2022–23 season. He scored two goals on his debut on 21 January 2023 against

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (german: Luzern). It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Super League, the top tier of the Swiss football league syste ...

, after entering the game only in the 77th minute.

Personal life

He is the son of former footballer Dario Šimić and his wife Jelena Medić, and was born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

during his father's stint with AC Milan. He has three brothers – Viktor, Nikolas and David. He is also a nephew of

Josip Šimić Josip Šimić (born 16 September 1977) is a retired Croatian football striker. He is the younger brother of Dario Šimić. Club career Šimić started his professional career with Dinamo Zagreb in 1993, when the club was known as Croatia Zagre ...

. Roko Šimić is also

confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...

sponsor of Lukas Kačavenda, and a distant relative of Herzegovinian

hajduk A hajduk ( hu, hajdúk, plural of ) is a type of irregular infantry found in Central and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries. They have reputations ranging from bandits to freedom fighters depending on time, p ...

Andrijica Šimić Andrija "Andrijica" Šimić (1833 – 5 February 1905) was a Herzegovinian hajduk. Biography Andrija Šimić (Andrijica is a diminutive form) was born in Grude, into an ethnic Croat family of seven children: he had a brother and five siste ...

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simic, Roko 2003 births Living people Footballers from Milan Croatian footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers Italian footballers Italian people of Croatian descent Italian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Men's association football forwards NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players FC Red Bull Salzburg players FC Liefering players FC Zürich players Croatian Football League players 2. Liga (Austria) players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Swiss Super League players Croatian expatriate footballers Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate footballers in Austria Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland