Mateo Kovačić
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Kovačić with Real Madrid in 2016
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mateo Kovačić | ||
| Date of birth | 6 May 1994 | ||
| Place of birth | Linz, Austria | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
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Current team
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Real Madrid | ||
| Number | 16 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2000–2007 | LASK Linz | ||
| 2007–2010 | Dinamo Zagreb | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2010–2013 | Dinamo Zagreb | 43 | (7) |
| 2013–2015 | Inter Milan | 80 | (5) |
| 2015– | Real Madrid | 48 | (1) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2008 | Croatia U14 | 2 | (1) |
| 2008 | Croatia U15 | 2 | (0) |
| 2009–2011 | Croatia U17 | 15 | (0) |
| 2011–2012 | Croatia U19 | 6 | (0) |
| 2011– | Croatia U21 | 7 | (0) |
| 2013– | Croatia | 35 | (1) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:23, 26 April 2017 (UTC). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 28 March 2017 |
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Mateo Kovačić (Croatian pronunciation: [matěo kôʋatʃitɕ]; born 6 May 1994) is a Croatian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Spanish club Real Madrid and the Croatia national team. Kovačić is usually deployed as a central midfielder or deep-lying playmaker, but he is considered to be a versatile midfielder, having played in different positions and adapted to playing either wide on the left or as an attacking midfielder.
Kovačić began his professional career with Dinamo Zagreb at the age of 16, with whom he won two consecutive league titles, before joining Inter in 2013. After the 2014–15 season, he moved to Real Madrid, where he won his first Champions League with the squad in 2016. A full Croatian international since 2013, Kovačić represented the nation at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2016. He is nicknamed Il Professore (The Professor).
Born in Linz, Austria, to Bosnian Croat parents who had moved there from Kotor Varoš in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kovačić began playing at an early age at the local LASK Linz's academy. In 2007, when Kovačić was 13, he was spotted by scouts from several prominent European clubs, including Ajax, Inter Milan, Juventus and Bayern Munich, but his family opted to move to Zagreb instead, where he joined Croatian giants Dinamo Zagreb. Kovačić suffered a serious injury in 2009 in which his leg was broken, but he returned to the pitch after a lengthy recovery on 31 May 2010, appearing in the last match of the Croatian under-17 academy league, a 5–0 win against RNK Split under-17s.
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