Zoran Nižić

Croatian footballer

Zoran Nižić
Nižić with Akhmat Grozny in 2019
Personal information
Date of birth (1989-10-11) 11 October 1989 (age 34)
Place of birth Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
Height 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Position(s) Centre back
Team information
Current team
 Kyzylzhar
Youth career
0000–2008 Zmaj Makarska
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008–2009 Zmaj Makarska 30 (2)
2009–2012 RWDM Brussels FC 84 (2)
2012–2018 Hajduk Split 102 (8)
2018–2023 Akhmat Grozny 86 (0)
2024– Kyzylzhar 0 (0)
International career‡
2017– Croatia 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 29 April 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 2 June 2023

Zoran Nižić (Croatian pronunciation: [zǒran nǐːʒitɕ];[1][2] born 11 October 1989) is a Croatian football player who plays as centre back for Kyzylzhar in the Kazakhstan Premier League.

Club career

Nižić started his career at his hometown club HNK Zmaj Makarska, establishing himself early as a first team member at the Treća HNL Jug club. He secured himself a transfer abroad in 2009, aged just 19, to the Belgian Second Division side FC Brussels, where he would spend the next 3 seasons as a starter. After his contract ran out, Nižić returned to Croatia and trained for a few months with HNK Hajduk Split, before signing with them in late 2012.[3] He made his league debut for Hajduk on 16 February 2013, entering the game for the injured Matej Jonjić in a 2–0 away win against NK Slaven Belupo.[4]

In June 2018, Nižić was named in the Prva HNL team of the season for 2017–18.[5]

In August 2018, Nižić refused to play for Hajduk in both League and European matches, allegedly due to a fever; it was later revealed that Nižić refused to play for the squad due to frustrations towards the club management and its transfer policy towards him and the players. It was also revealed that he had a confrontation with a director of Hajduk, Saša Bjelanović, in the locker room, who eventually took away his role as a captain.[6] He was later transfer-listed by request.

On 27 August 2018, he signed a 3-year contract with the Russian Premier League club FC Akhmat Grozny.[7] On 6 June 2023, Akhmat announced that his contract expired and will not be extended.[8]

On 6 February 2024, Kazakhstan Premier League club Kyzylzhar announced the signing of Nižić.[9]

International career

Nižić made his debut for Croatia in a May 2017 friendly match against Mexico in Los Angeles and earned a total of 2 caps, scoring no goals. His second and final international was a March 2018 friendly, also against Mexico.[10]

In May 2018 he was named in Croatia's preliminary 32 man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia[11] but did not make the final 23.[12]

Career statistics

As of match played 29 April 2023[13]
Club Season League Cup Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Brussels 2009–10 Belgian Second Division 32 0 0 0 – 32 0
2010–11 29 2 0 0 – 29 2
2011–12 23 0 0 0 – 23 0
Total 84 2 0 0 0 0 84 2
Hajduk Split 2012–13 Croatian First Football League 6 0 1 0 – 7 0
2013–14 12 0 3 0 0 0 15 0
2014–15 16 0 5 0 3 0 24 0
2015–16 16 2 2 0 7 1 25 3
2016–17 28 2 0 0 5 1 33 3
2017–18 23 3 4 1 6 0 33 4
2018–19 1 1 – 1 0 2 1
Total 102 8 15 1 22 2 139 11
Akhmat Grozny 2018–19 Russian Premier League 10 0 1 0 – 11 0
2019–20 21 0 1 0 – 22 0
2020–21 24 0 2 0 – 26 0
2021–22 20 0 1 0 – 21 0
2022–23 11 0 1 0 – 12 0
Total 86 0 6 0 0 0 92 0
Career total 272 10 21 1 22 2 315 13

References

  1. ^ "zòra". Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 17 March 2018. Zòran
  2. ^ "njȅžan". Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 17 March 2018. Nížić
  3. ^ Alfirević, Slaven (1 December 2012). "Mišo Krstičević: Mi radimo i treniramo svaku da pobijedimo; Zoran Nižić potpisao". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Croatian). Retrieved 16 February 2013.
  4. ^ "Kuban nudi 3,5 milijuna za Maloču!; Hajduk pobjednički u Koprivnici, puni Poljud čeka Dinama!". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Croatian). Retrieved 16 February 2013.
  5. ^ "Najbolji hrvatski igrač je Luka Modrić, a HNL-a Hilal Soudani!". 24sata.hr. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  6. ^ "ZORAN NIŽIĆ PREKINUO ŠUTNJU 'Bjelanović se iživljavao na meni, unio mi se u lice, izvrijeđao me i osramotio ispred cijele svlačionice'". Sportske novosti (in Croatian). Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  7. ^ "Нижич и Харин перешли в "Ахмат"" (in Russian). FC Akhmat Grozny. 27 August 2018.
  8. ^ "Спасибо за все, Зоран!" (in Russian). FC Akhmat Grozny. 6 June 2023.
  9. ^ "Зоран Нижич- «Qyzyljar» ойыншысы". instagram.com/fcqyzyljar/?hl=en (in Kazakh). FC Kyzylzhar Instagram. 6 February 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  10. ^ "Player Database". EU-football. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad – Final 23-man lists". Goal. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  12. ^ "Head coach Dalić presents 24-man Croatia squad". hns-cff.hr. Croatian Football Federation. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  13. ^ Zoran Nižić at Soccerway

External links

  • Zoran Nižić at UEFAEdit on Wikidata
  • Zoran Nižić at the Croatian Football FederationEdit on Wikidata
  • Zoran Nižić at EU-Football.infoEdit on Wikidata
  • Zoran Nižić at FBref.comEdit on Wikidata
  • Zoran Nižić at National-Football-Teams.comEdit on Wikidata
  • Zoran Nižić at Soccerbase.comEdit on Wikidata
  • Zoran Nižić at Soccerway.comEdit on Wikidata
  • Zoran Nižić at WorldFootball.netEdit on Wikidata
  • Zoran Nižić at AS.com (in Spanish)Edit on Wikidata
  • v
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FC Kyzylzhar – current squad