Franko Kovačević

Franko Kovačević (born 8 August 1999) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim II as a forward.

Franko Kovačević
Personal information
Date of birth (1999-08-08) 8 August 1999
Place of birth Koprivnica, Croatia
Playing position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 1899 Hoffenheim II
Number 10
Youth career
2009–2010 Varaždin
2010–2015 Bjelovar
2015–2017 Rijeka
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2019 Hajduk Split 5 (0)
2019 → Rudeš (loan) 13 (0)
2019 Rudeš 0 (0)
2019– 1899 Hoffenheim II 4 (4)
National team
2015 Croatia U17 2 (0)
2017 Croatia U18 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 01:31, 6 November 2019 (UTC)

Club career

Born in Koprivnica, Kovačević grew up in the city of Križevci. At the age of 10, he joined the youth academy of Varaždin, before switching to Bjelovar a year later. According to him, he started taking football seriously and started "serious training" during his stint at Bjelovar. At the age of 15, he switched to the academy of Rijeka.[1] After having spent one year at the club, he was called by German club Bayern Munich's manager Carlo Ancelotti to train with their team. In spite of the club expressing their interest in him,[2] he joined fellow club Hajduk Split on 16 June 2018 and was promoted to the first team.[3]

On 24 August 2017, Kovačević made his first team debut, coming on as an 85th-minute substitute for Hamza Barry in a 1–1 draw against English club Everton in the UEFA Europa League.[4] On 3 March 2018, he made his league debut, coming as a substitute in a 1–0 victory over Rudeš.[5]

On 15 February 2019, Kovačević was loaned out to NK Rudeš for the rest of the season.[6] At the end of the season, Rudeš activated the option to sign him permanently for 300.000 €.[7] However, a week after activating the option, he was sold to German club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim where he was supposed to play for the U23 team in the Regionalliga Südwest. Kovačević signed a 4-year contract with the German club.[8]

Club statistics
As of match played on 26 September 2018
Club Season League Cup Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Hajduk Split 2017–18[6] Prva HNL 40201[lower-alpha 1]070
2018–19[6] Prva HNL 00100010
Career total 40301080
  1. Appearance in UEFA Europa League
gollark: Oh, *that*.
gollark: I assumed they would both just work as the Lua docs claimed.
gollark: There's a difference?!
gollark: That's the generally-Lua things, CC has other ones, and no.
gollark: Lua functions or shell commands?

References
  1. "FRANKO KOVAČEVIĆ Branio je boje koprivničke Prizme VV, a danas je napadač splitskog Hajduka" [FRANKO KOVAČEVIĆ Defended the colors of Koprivnica Prizma VV, and today is the attacker of the Split Hajduk] (in Croatian). Drava. 29 August 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  2. "Hrvatski 'Ibra': Hajduk sam izabrao ispred Bayerna, a sličim Lewandowskom" [Croatian 'Ibra': I chose Hajduk in front of Bayerna, and similar to Lewandowski] (in Croatian). Goal. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  3. "Franko Kovačević potpisao za bijele: Čast mi je sto cu nositi Hajdukov dres!" [Franko Kovačević signed for Bianchi : "I'm honoured to wear the Hajduk jersey"] (in Croatian). HNK Hajduk Split. 16 June 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  4. "Split: Hajduk - Everton 1:1". HNK Hajduk Split. 24 August 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  5. "Kovacevic: This is a great motivation to keep working hard". HNK Hajduk Split. 4 March 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  6. "F. Kovačevićpublisher=Soccerway". Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  7. Čudan transfer u HNL-u: Drugoligaš plaća Hajduku više od dva milijuna kuna, gol.dnevnik.hr, 11 June 2019
  8. Franko Kovačević potpisao za Hoffenheim, nogometplus.net, 18 June 2019
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.