Dejan Mezga
Dejan Mezga (born 16 July 1985) is a Croatian football midfielder who plays for Polet. He has previously played for Čakovec, Maribor, Hajduk Split, Apollon Limassol, Nacional, Inter Zaprešić, and Varaždin. He received a Slovenian citizenship on 23 August 2012.[1]
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Dejan Mezga | ||
Date of birth | 16 July 1985 | ||
Place of birth | Čakovec, SFR Yugoslavia | ||
Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
Playing position(s) | Midfielder | ||
Club information | |||
Current team | Polet | ||
Youth career | |||
Sloboda Slakovec | |||
Venera PMP | |||
2002–2004 | Varteks | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2000–2002 | Sloga Čakovec | ||
2004–2007 | Čakovec | 73 | (17) |
2007–2014 | Maribor | 159 | (39) |
2014–2015 | Hajduk Split | 21 | (3) |
2015–2016 | Apollon Limassol | 25 | (2) |
2016–2017 | Maribor | 4 | (0) |
2017 | Nacional | 6 | (1) |
2017–2018 | Inter Zaprešić | 4 | (0) |
2018 | Varaždin | 2 | (0) |
2018– | Polet | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11 August 2018 |
Career
Coming from the village of Brezje, near Čakovec, in the region of Međimurje,[2] Mezga went through the ranks of several lower-tier local clubs, debuting at the age of 15 for the seniors of NK Sloga Čakovec,[3] before joining the U17 team of NK Varteks Varaždin. In his last season of eligibility for the U19 team, he left the club, however, and joined the Druga HNL side NK Čakovec, where he became a fixture for the following several seasons.[4]
In 2007, he joined the Slovenian PrvaLiga side Maribor. He soon established himself in the first team, and, after winning his first league title with the team, in 2009, won the fans' award "Vijoličasti bojevnik" (Purple Warrior) awarded to the most distinguished player of the past season.[5] Maribor went on to win four titles in the following five seasons, with Mezga featuring heavily in all campaigns, and was selected for the league's ideal eleven of the 2011–12 championship.[6]
After his contract expired in the summer of 2014, he joined Croatian side Hajduk Split.
He briefly returned to Maribor in August 2016, before signing for Nacional in January 2017.[7]
References
- "Mezga brez statusa tujca" [Mezga is not foreign player anymore] (in Slovenian). NK Maribor. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- Dejan Mezga iz Brezja potpisao za splitski Hajduk Archived 17 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine at mnovine.hr
- Biografija at dejan-mezga.com
- "Mezga Dejan" (in Croatian). www.hnl-statistika.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012.
- "Vijoličasti bojevnik" [Purple Warrior] (in Slovenian). NK Maribor. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
- T. O. (14 May 2012). "Vršič najboljši igralec sezone slovenskega prvenstva" [Vrsic is the best player of the season] (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
- Peter Dominko (26 January 2017). "Mezga še drugič v karieri zapustil Ljudski vrt" [Mezga left Ljudski vrt for the second time in career] (in Slovenian). SNPortal.si. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
External links
- PrvaLiga profile (in Slovene)
- Dejan Mezga at Soccerway
- Dejan Mezga – UEFA competition record