Goran Vlaović

Goran Vlaović (born 7 August 1972) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a striker.

Goran Vlaović

Personal information
Date of birth	7 August 1972
Place of birth	Nova Gradiška, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1990–1991	Osijek	24	(11)
1991–1994	Croatia Zagreb	80	(59)
1994–1996	Padova	50	(18)
1996–2000	Valencia	73	(17)
2000–2004	Panathinaikos	64	(29)
Total		291	(134)
National team
1993	Croatia U21	2	(0)
2001	Croatia B	1	(1)
1992–2002	Croatia	52	(15)
Honours Representing Croatia FIFA World Cup 1998
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Born in Nova Gradiška, Vlaović started his professional career with Osijek in 1989 and moved to Dinamo Zagreb in 1992, before going abroad to play for Calcio Padova in Italy, Valencia in Spain and Panathinaikos in Greece, where he retired in June 2004. His biggest personal success at club level came when he topped the goalscoring charts of the 1993–94 Croatian First League, netting 29 goals for Dinamo Zagreb that season. The record remained unbroken for 13 years before Eduardo da Silva scored 34 goals for the same club in 2006–07. He remains the youngest player to have scored the most goals in a single season in Croatia. He also won the Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España with Valencia in 1999, as well as a Greek double with Panathinaikos in 2004.

International career

Vlaović was a member of the Croatian national football team for over ten years, between July 1992 and August 2002. He won a total of 52 international caps and scored 15 goals for the team (plus a single goal in his only appearance for Croatia B in a friendly against Romania in 2001).[1]

Vlaović made his international debut for Croatia on 5 July 1992 in their friendly match against Australia in Melbourne, during the team's three-match tour through Australia. After the tour, Vlaović only made four international appearances in just over three and a half years, and having undergone surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain in 1995,[2] he was only able to make one appearance in the UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying. However, he started to play regularly for Croatia in early 1996. On 13 March 1996, he scored his first goals for the team in a friendly match against Korea Republic, netting a flawless hat-trick in Croatia's 3–0 victory.

He was subsequently added to the Croatian squad for the UEFA Euro 1996 finals in England, appearing in all of the team's four matches before they were knocked out by eventual champions, Germany, in the quarter-finals. In Croatia's first match at the tournament, against Turkey, he came off the bench to replace Alen Bokšić in the final 20 minutes and scored the only goal of the match in the 86th minute, thus becoming the first goalscorer for Croatia in a major international tournament.

Two years later, Vlaović was a member of the Croatian squad that surprisingly won the bronze medal at the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals in France, their first FIFA World Cup appearance. He appeared in all of Croatia's seven matches at the tournament, although only making one appearance over the entire 90 minutes in the semi-finals against France. In the 80th minute of the quarter-finals against highly favoured Germany, he scored the second goal in Croatia's 3–0 victory, which all but secured the team's place in the semi-finals.

After a year and a half of absence from the national team, Vlaović made his international comeback in January 2001, making an appearance for Croatia B in a friendly match against Romania, also scoring one goal in the match. He went on to make four appearances and score one goal in Croatia's qualifying campaign for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He was also added to Croatia's 23-man squad for the finals of that tournament, but was left an unused substitute in all three group matches as the team failed to qualify for the knock-out stages. He won his last international cap in a friendly match against Wales on 21 August 2002.

Career statistics

Club

Sources:[3][4]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Yugoslavia		League			Yugoslav Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
NK Osijek	1989–90	Yugoslav First League	1	0	0	0	–	–	–	–	1	0
	1990–91		23	11	2	1	–	–	–	–	25	12
	Total		24	11	2	1	0	0	0	0	26	12
Croatia		League			Croatian Cup		Super Cup		Europe		Total
HAŠK Građanski	1992	Prva HNL	22	9	6	2	–	–	–	–	28	11
Croatia Zagreb	1992–93		29	23	7	11	3	2	–	–	39	36
	1993–94		30	29	11	7	–	–	4	6	45	42
	1994–95		–	–	–	–	2	0	–	–	2	0
	HAŠK Građanski / Croatia Zagreb Total		81	61	24	20	5	2	4	6	114	89
Italy		League			Coppa Italia		Supercoppa Italiana		Europe		Total
Calcio Padova	1994–95	Serie A	27	5	0	0	–	–	–	–	27	5
	1995–96		23	13	1	0	–	–	–	–	24	13
	Total		50	18	1	0	0	0	0	0	51	18
Spain		League			Copa del Rey		Supercopa de España		Europe		Total
Valencia	1996–97	La Liga	24	8	0	0	–	–	7	2	31	10
	1997–98		26	7	1	0	–	–	–	–	27	7
	1998–99		20	2	3	1	–	–	0	0	23	3
	1999–00		4	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	7	0
	Total		74	17	6	1	0	0	8	2	88	20
Greece		League			Greek Cup		Greek Super Cup		Europe		Total
Panathinaikos	2000–01	Superleague	22	12	–	–	–	–	7	0	29	12
	2001–02		21	13	–	–	–	–	13	2	34	15
	2002–03		13	2	–	–	–	–	3	0	16	2
	2003–04		13	2	–	–	–	–	4	0	17	2
	Total		69	29	0	0	0	0	27	2	96	31
Career total			298	136	33	22	5	2	39	10	375	170

International appearances

Croatia national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1992	3	0
1993	0	0
1994	1	0
1995	1	0
1996	12	8
1997	8	2
1998	10	2
1999	6	1
2000	0	0
2001	8	2
2002	3	0
Total	52	15

International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1–3	13 March 1996	Kranjčevićeva, Zagreb	South Korea	1 – 0	3 – 0	Friendly
				2 – 0
				3 – 0
4	26 March 1996	Stadion Varteks, Varaždin	Israel	2 − 0	2 − 0	Friendly
5	11 June 1996	City Ground, Nottingham	Turkey	1 − 0	1 − 0	Euro 1996
6	8 October 1996	Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2 − 1	4 − 1	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
7–8	11 December 1996	Mohamed V, Casablanca	Morocco	1 – 0	2 – 2	1996 King Hassan II Trophy
				2 – 0
9	8 June 1997	Olympic, Tokyo	Japan	3 – 4	3 – 4	1997 Kirin Cup
10	29 October 1997	Maksimir, Zagreb	Ukraine	2 – 0	2 – 0	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
11	29 May 1998	Aldo Drosina, Pula	Slovakia	1 – 1	1 – 2	Friendly
12	4 July 1998	Gerland, Lyon	Germany	2 – 0	3 – 0	World Cup 1998
13	10 March 1999	Spiridon Louis, Athens	Greece	1 – 2	2 – 3	Friendly
14	25 April 2001	Stadion Varteks, Varaždin	Greece	1 – 2	2 – 2	Friendly
15	2 June 2001	Stadion Varteks, Varaždin	San Marino	1 – 0	4 – 0	World Cup 2002 Qualifying

Honours

Club

Dinamo Zagreb

• Croatian First League: 1992–93
• Croatian Football Cup: 1994

Valencia

• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1998
• Copa del Rey: 1999
• Supercopa de España: 1999

Panathinaikos

• Greek Superleague: 2003–04
• Greek Football Cup: 2004

International

Croatia

• 1996 International Cup Tournament

Individual

• SN Yellow Shirt Award: 1993
• Croatian First League Top Scorer: 1993, 1994
• Croatian Cup Top Scorer: 1993
• Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport: 1998

Orders

• Order of Danica Hrvatska with face of Franjo Bučar - 1995[5]
• Order of the Croatian Trefoil - 1998[6]

References

1. "Statistics - Caps: Goran Vlaović". Croatian Football Federation. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
2. "Vlaovic finds his form". Archived from the original on 30 May 2008.
3. "Goran Vlaović statistics". bdfutbol.com. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
4. "Goran Vlaović Dinamo". povijest.gnkdinamo.hr. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
5. "ODLUKU KOJOM SE ODLIKUJU REDOM DANICE HRVATSKE S LIKOM FRANJE BUČARA" (in Croatian). hrvatska.poslovniforum.hr.
6. "PREDSJEDNIK TUDJMAN ODLIKOVAO HRVATSKU NOGOMETNU REPREZENTACIJU" (in Croatian). hrt.hr.

External links

• Goran Vlaović – FIFA competition record
• Goran Vlaović at National-Football-Teams.com
• Goran Vlaović at the Croatian Football Federation
• Goran Vlaović at Croatian Football Statistics (national team profile)