Mateo Kovačić

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Mateo Kovačić
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Mateo Kovačić (2019)
Personnel
birthday May 6, 1994
place of birth Linz ,  Austria
size 178 cm
position midfield
Juniors
Years station
1999-2000 ASKÖ Ebelsberg
2000-2007 LASK
2007-2010 Dinamo Zagreb
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
2010-2013 Dinamo Zagreb 63 (7)
2013-2015 Inter Milan 80 (5)
2015-2018 real Madrid 73 (1)
2018– Chelsea FC 57 (1)
National team
Years selection Games (goals) 2
2008 Croatia U14 2 (1)
2008 Croatia U15 2 (0)
2009-2011 Croatia U17 15 (0)
2011–2012 Croatia U19 6 (0)
2011-2015 Croatia U21 8 (0)
2013– Croatia 49 (1)
1 Only league games are given.
As of March 14, 2020

2 As of November 19, 2019

Mateo Kovačić (born May 6, 1994 in Linz ) is a Croatian - Austrian soccer player who has been under contract with Chelsea since August 2018 .

Club career

Beginnings in Austria and Croatia

Mateo Kovačić was born to Bosnian-Croatian parents from Kotor Varoš in Linz, Upper Austria. Before he was born, his family had found refuge in Austria due to the war in Yugoslavia .

He began his footballing career in October 1999 at ASKÖ Ebelsberg , from which he moved to the LASK's youth department after a year . Besides, he was at the Sporthauptschule Kleinmuenchen as captain of student league team won in use and with this some titles.

Seven years later he moved to Croatia, where he was accepted into the youth department of Dinamo Zagreb . From this he made the leap into the professional squad of the Croatian record champions and played his first league game on November 20, 2010 against Hrvatski Dragovoljac Zagreb . In this game he scored his first goal in the top Croatian league , making him the youngest goalscorer in league history at 16 years and 198 days. Despite his young age, Kovačić also played regularly in the Champions League . In the 2011/12 season he scored his only goal in this competition in a group match against Olympique Lyon . Thus, at 17 years and 215 days, he replaced Bojan Krkić as the second youngest CL goal scorer. Only Peter Ofori-Quaye from Olympiacos was younger in 1997 at 17 years and 195 days.

With Dinamo Kovačić won twice the double , consisting of championship and cup . In 2011 he also received the Hope of the Year award for the best young player in the Croatian league .

Inter Milan

On January 31, 2013, Kovačić moved to the Italian club Inter Milan . Inter transferred Dinamo 11 million euros for it. This sum was increased to 15 million euros through bonus payments. He was given jersey number 10, worn by Wesley Sneijder, who had moved to Galatasaray Istanbul , as well as Lennart Skoglund , Luis Suárez and Lothar Matthäus . He made his debut in the 3-1 away defeat against AC Siena . Just a few months later, in May 2013, he received a San Siro Gentleman Award as Discovery of the Year . On January 9, 2014, Kovačić's contract term was prematurely extended to June 2019.

real Madrid

For the 2015/16 season , Kovačić moved to the Spanish Primera División to Real Madrid for a rumored transfer fee of 30 million euros . He received a six-year contract with the record champions until June 30, 2021. With Real Madrid, Kovačić won the UEFA Champions League three times in a row and became Spanish champions. However, he was mostly only a substitute in midfield, especially behind Casemiro , Toni Kroos , Isco and his national team colleague Luka Modrić .

Chelsea FC

After Kovačić had not come out of the role of reserve player in three years at Real Madrid, he switched to the English Premier League for Chelsea for a year on loan for the 2018/19 season . There he came under the head coach Maurizio Sarri to 32 Premier League appearances (21 in the starting XI). He also made 12 appearances in the Europa League , which Chelsea won in the final against Arsenal .

For the 2019/20 season , Chelsea finally acquired the transfer rights to Kovačić, who signed a new contract with a term until June 30, 2024.

National team career

Kovačić went through all youth national teams in Croatia and was also active in the U21 national team . He made his debut on July 3, 2011 in the U21 qualifier against Georgia. In 2012, Kovačić was called up for the first time in the Croatian national team , but was not used due to an injury. He made his debut on March 22, 2013 in the World Cup qualifier against Serbia (2-0). He was also nominated for the 2014 World Cup . He played all three games of the Croatian team.

He was included in the Croatian squad at the 2016 European Championships in France . He was only used in the second game against the Czech Republic when he was substituted on after a 2-0 lead in the last third. The game ended 2-2. In the group final against Spain he came into the game as a substitute for the second time. The team was eliminated in the round of 16 against eventual European champions Portugal. In this game he stayed on the bench.

successes

title

National team

Awards

Web links

Commons : Mateo Kovačić  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://sportsport.ba/magazin/mateo-kovacic-posjetio-kotor-varos/179518
  2. ↑ "He was a good, quiet boy" , accessed on February 17, 2016
  3. ↑ diepresse.com: Kovacic: native of Linz for 11 million euros to Inter (February 1, 2013)
  4. ↑ http://www.football-italia.net : Official: Inter invest € 15m in Kovacic (January 30, 2013)
  5. ↑ fedenerazzurra.com: With The Number 10, Kovacic Has Entered Into A Prestigious Club (February 2, 2013)
  6. ↑ http://www.inter.it : Inter at San Siro Gentleman Awards (May 13, 2013)
  7. ↑ http://www.inter.it : Kovacic extends Inter deal till 2019 (9 January 2014)
  8. ↑ Mateo Kovačić: From the LASK youth on Real Madrid , accessed on February 17, 2016
  9. ↑ See the official confirmation from Real Madrid on August 18, 2015, last accessed on August 18, 2015.
  10. ↑ Official announcement: Mateo Kovacic , realmadrid.com, August 8, 2018, accessed August 8, 2018.
  11. ↑ Mateo Kovacic joins Chelsea on a permanent deal , chelseafc.com, July 1, 2019, accessed July 1, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Kovačić, Mateo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Croatian-Austrian soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1994
PLACE OF BIRTH Linz , Austria