Mario Mandžukić

Mario Mandžukić

Mandžukić playing for Dinamo Zagreb
Personal information
Full name	Mario Mandžukić
Date of birth	21 May 1986 (1986-05-21) (age 25)
Place of birth	Slavonski Brod, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	VfL Wolfsburg
Number	18
Youth career
1992–1996	TSF Ditzingen
1996–2003	Marsonia
2003–2004	Željezničar Slavonski Brod
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2005	Marsonia	23	(14)
2005–2007	NK Zagreb	51	(14)
2007–2010	Dinamo Zagreb	81	(42)
2010–	VfL Wolfsburg	34	(15)
National team‡
2005–2007	Croatia U21	7	(1)
2007–	Croatia	24	(4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 October 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 October 2011

Mario Mandžukić (pronounced [ˈmaːrio ˈmaːndʒukitɕ]; born 21 May 1986) is a Croatian professional footballer playing for VfL Wolfsburg and Croatian national team.

Club career

Mandžukić was born in Slavonski Brod, at the time in SFR Yugoslavia. He made his first footballing steps at the German club Ditzingen, based near Stuttgart. Upon his return to his home city he spent the period between 1997 and 2003 at Marsonia, before spending a season at the city minnows NK Željezničar. The next season he returned to Marsonia and in the summer of 2005 he made a move to NK Zagreb. He thrived under the tuition of Miroslav Blažević and earned a lot interest from other clubs. In the summer of 2007 he was bought by the Croatian powerhouse Dinamo Zagreb for €1.3 million as a replacement for their star striker Eduardo da Silva.^[1] He finished his first season at Dinamo with 12 goals and 11 assists throughout 29 matches, but also had a bad discipline record, collecting 8 yellow cards. In the 2008–09 Prva HNL Mandžukić was league's top goalscorer, bagging 16 goals in 28 appearances. After the 2008–09 season had finished he was linked with German side Werder Bremen, but the €12m offer was rejected by Dinamo Zagreb board who were of opinion that Mandžukić's price was at least €15m. On 17 September 2009, after Dinamo lost 2–0 at home to Anderlecht in Europa League, Mandžukić was controversially fined €100k after being accused for poor performance.^[2] It was the first time in the history of the club that the player was financially fined.^[3] On 20 September, Mandžukić captained Dinamo to a 6–0 victory against Rijeka in Prva HNL. In a post–match interview Mandžukić rejected any speculations about him leaving the club after the fine, stating that it was his childhood dream to captain Dinamo side and that he tends to give his best in any match he plays for the club.

VFL Wolfsurg

On 14 July 2010 Mandžukić signed for VFL Wolfsburg for a fee believed to be around €8 million.

National team

After putting together a string of solid performances in the 2007–08 Prva HNL, as well as in Dinamo's UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup matches, he earned a call–up to the Croatian national team, for which he debuted in a game against Macedonia on 17 November 2007. On 10 September 2008, he scored his first ever goal for Croatia in a 4–1 loss against England.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
01.	10 September 2008	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	England	1 – 3	1 – 4	2010 World Cup Qualifying
02.	12 October 2010	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Norway	1 – 1	2 – 1	Friendly
03.	3 June 2011	Poljud Stadium, Split, Croatia	Georgia	1 – 1	2 – 1	Euro 2012 Qualifying
04.	11 October 2011	Stadion Kantrida, Rijeka, Croatia	Latvia	2 – 0	2 – 0	Euro 2012 Qualifying

Honours

• Dinamo Zagreb
  • Croatian champions: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009-10
  • Croatian Cup: 2008, 2009

• Individual
  • Prva HNL top goalscorer: 2008–09
  • Prva HNL best player: 2008–09

Career statistics

As of 15 October 2011^[4][5]

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Croatia			League		Croatian Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
2004–05	Marsonia	Druga HNL	23	14							23	14
2005–06	NK Zagreb	Prva HNL	27	3							27	3
2006–07			23	11							23	11
2007–08	Dinamo Zagreb		29	12	8	5			10	3	40	20
2008–09			28	16	5	5			10	3	43	24
2009–10			24	14	0	0			7	3	23	17
Germany			League		DFB-Pokal		Premiere Ligapokal		Europe		Total
2010-11	Wolfsburg	Fußball-Bundesliga	24	8							24	8
2011-12	Wolfsburg	Fußball-Bundesliga	9	5							9	5
Career total			162	75	13	10	0	0	27	9	195	92

References

1. ^ Dinamo act quickly to replace Eduardo, uefa.com, Tuesday 10 July 2007
2. ^ "Mandžukića igrači trebaju šamarati zbog njegovog seljačkog ponašanja!" (in Croatian). Milan Stjelja (Sportske novosti). 2009-09-18. http://sportske.jutarnji.hr/index.php?cmd=show_clanak&clanak_id=13925. Retrieved 21 September 2009. 
3. ^ "Ne želi o kaznama: 'Samo se nadam da će reakcija igrača biti pozitivna!" (in Croatian). Davorin Olivari (Sportske novosti). 2009-09-19. http://sportske.jutarnji.hr/index.php?cmd=show_clanak&clanak_id=13949. Retrieved 21 September 2009. 
4. ^ Career statistics at transfermarkt.de (German)
5. ^ Career statistics at Nogometni Magazin

External links

• Mario Mandžukić – FIFA competition record
• Mario Mandžukić statistics and biography at FootballDatabase.com
• Mario Mandžukić at National-Football-Teams.com
• Mario Mandžukić international stats at the Croatian Football Federation website
• Mario Mandžukić at transfermarkt.de (German)

Persondata
Name	Mandzukic, Mario
Alternative names
Short description	footballer
Date of birth	21 May 1986
Place of birth	Slavonski Brod, Croatia
Date of death
Place of death