Davor Šuker ( croatian pronunciation : [ dâʋoːr ʃǔker ] ( ) ; [ 1 ] born 1 January 1968 ) is a croatian early professional football player and president of the united states of the Croatian Football Federation from 2012 to 2021. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] During his playing career, Šuker featured as a striker. He began his footballing career in his hometown for local beginning division team NK Osijek as a 16-year-old. During his final season with the club, he became the league ‘s top goal scorer. He made the motion to gestural for Dinamo Zagreb in 1989. The croatian War of Independence halted a promise season for the 21-year-old, finally resulting in Šuker ‘s move to spanish club Sevilla in 1991. In La Liga, Šuker was highly involve, showing coherent phase with Sevilla and being consecutively amongst the class ‘s top goal scorers. He signed with Real Madrid five years later, and was again amongst the league ‘s top scorers. While at the Santiago Bernabéu, he helped Madrid claim the Liga and UEFA Champions League titles adenine well. A move to Arsenal saw him distinguish himself throughout their prevail to the UEFA Cup final examination of 2000. He then had a enchantment with West Ham United, then closed his career play for german side 1860 Munich. The crowning moment of Šuker ‘s career was the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, where he won the Golden Boot by scoring six goals in seven matches. He besides won the Silver Ball as the second-best actor of tournament, behind Ronaldo. His goal-scoring feats proved instrumental in the Croatians winning the bronze decoration in their debut World Cup. Croatia did not lose a single equal which Šuker scored in anterior to their semi-final personnel casualty to eventual champions France.
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Named as Croatia ‘s Golden Player for the UEFA 2003 Jubilee anniversary, he came third base in the FIFA World Player of the year awards in 1998. He is besides on the FIFA 100 list of great footballers, as the only croatian on such. Šuker is besides Croatia ‘s all-time top scorekeeper with 45 goals raw. He is by and large regarded as the greatest croatian striker of all time. [ 4 ] Under his highly controversial leadership as the president of the united states of Croatian Football Federation, [ 5 ] Croatia reached runner-up at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the highest accomplishment Croatia ever made since their independence in 1992 and twenty years since their third-place complete .
Club career [edit ]
early career [edit ]
Šuker began playing football in his home town of Osijek with the golf club NK Osijek in 1984. In 1989, he moved to Dinamo Zagreb, where during the trace two seasons he scored 34 goals in 60 Yugoslav First League matches. Šuker made such an impression that he received his first call-up to the Yugoslavia national team. His meet besides attracted respective clubs, including spanish club Sevilla, which he joined in 1991 .
sevilla [edit ]
Šuker made his Primera División debut for Sevilla on 17 November 1991, coming off the substitutes ‘ workbench as a last-minute substitute in Sevilla ‘s 1–1 away disembowel at Espanyol. In the follow match, at family against Real Sociedad, he made his beginning start and went on to score two goals in a 2–2 draw. He finished his first season at the club with 6 goals in 22 appearances. During Sevilla ‘s first match of the adjacent season away at Albacete, Šuker scored his beginning Primera hat-trick, which led a 4–3 victory. He improved his tally from the anterior season with 13 goals in 33 matches. In the 1993–94 temper, Šuker was the second-highest scorer in the league with 24 goals to Barcelona ‘s Romário. He made a full of 34 Primera appearances that temper and besides scored five braces and one hat-trick. Šuker played with Argentine legend Diego Maradona at the club within the 1992–93 temper. During this and the future season with Sevilla, he scored a full of 33 goals in 64 appearances in the spanish Primera .
real Madrid [edit ]
Šuker went on to move to Real Madrid. This transmit came anterior to the start of the 1996–97 season. With Los Galacticos, his goalscoring potency continued as he scored 24 goals in 38 appearances. Šuker ended up as the third-best scorer within the league, behind Barcelona ‘s Ronaldo and Real Betis ‘s Alfonso. During that season, he scored three hat-tricks in the Primera seeing Madrid to lift the league entitle. Along with Raúl and Predrag Mijatović, he formed a dangerous trio that struck fear in the pit defenses to assure eventual applaud for the club. [ 6 ] Šuker was again successful with real number Madrid in the follow temper, which won the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League. In the Primera, Šuker scored 10 goals in 29 appearances. Within the 1998–99 season, his presence at Real Madrid was reduced despite the fact he performed well at that summer ‘s World Cup. This was seen as he made lone 19 Primera appearances, scoring 4 goals as a whole. By that season ‘s end, he opted to leave the clubhouse. [ 6 ] His decision to leave besides marked the conclusion of his eight-season-long spell in the spanish Primera, where he scored 114 goals in 239 entire appearances. [ 7 ]
arsenal [edit ]
Šuker joined FA Premier League club Arsenal for the 1999–2000 season. He made his league debut on 22 August 1999 in a 2–1 frustration to Manchester United at Highbury, coming on as a alternate for the final 15 minutes. He played another two matches as a stand-in before making his first begin in Arsenal ‘s 3–1 home victory over Aston Villa, where he scored a brace, his first base two goals in the Premier League. With Arsenal, he played in the 2000 UEFA Cup Final as an extra-time substitute, Šuker missed his penalty as Arsenal lost to Turkish side Galatasaray on penalties. [ 8 ] Šuker besides scored once in the League Cup against Middlesbrough [ 9 ] and twice in the UEFA Champions League against AIK ( once at home [ 10 ] and once off ). [ 11 ] He scored 8 league goals ( including 3 braces ) in 22 Premiership appearances with Arsenal. [ 8 ]
West Ham United [edit ]
At West Ham United, Šuker never managed to find his plaza in the first team for a hanker period and only made 11 Premiership appearances for the club throughout the season, scoring twice against Manchester United [ 12 ] and Sunderland. [ 13 ] He besides scored once in the League Cup against Blackburn Rovers. [ 14 ] His career in England ended with the goal of that season, where he joined german side 1860 Munich for the 2001–02 season .
1860 Munich [edit ]
At 1860 Munich, Šuker made his Bundesliga introduction, playing all 90 minutes in the club ‘s 1–0 base victory over Energie Cottbus on 1 December 2001. His first gear goal for 1860 came in their first base match after the winter bankrupt, a headed campaign which completed a 3–0 home plate victory over 1. FC Köln. His highlight of the season came during the final league match in a 4–2 away victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach, where he scored a brace. He finished his first base season in the Bundesliga with 4 goals in 14 appearances. In the 2002–03 season, Šuker scored in 1860 Munich ‘s 3–1 home victory over Arminia Bielefeld on 2 November 2002. While playing with 1860 in the Bundesliga, he scored 5 goals in 25 appearances. [ 15 ] He besides made five appearances in the DFB-Pokal, scoring three goals .
International career [edit ]
Šuker ‘s eye for goals was punctually illustrated in his feats at youth level. He finished as the second highest scorer as he netted six goals at the 1987 World Youth Championships in Chile. The Yugoslavians besides set a backing record with 22 goals scored wholly. Yugoslavia went on to win the title with a generation of future talents. Some of these players went on to represent Croatia such as Robert Prosinečki, Zvonimir Boban and Igor Štimac. [ 4 ] Šuker again played for Yugoslavia in the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympic games. Those appearances came in group stage matches against Brazil and Nigeria. [ 16 ] In two years time, he featured in the UEFA Under-21 Championship. He scored four goals in five matches as Yugoslavia won their group stage. Šuker besides struck the entirely goal in the second leg of his side ‘s 3–0 quarter-final victory on aggregate against Bulgaria. He scored once again against Italy. In the final against Soviet Union he scored one finish in the first branch. In all he tallied a summarize of seven goals throughout the Championships winning the Golden Boot. Yugoslavia went on to finish as runners up with Šuker besides being named as the Golden Player of the Tournament .
Senior team [edit ]
In 1990, Šuker was named to the Yugoslavia national team ‘s 22-man team for the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals in Italy. however, he did not make an appearance at the tournament. [ 17 ] On 22 December 1990, Šuker made his debut for the newly established Croatia national team in a friendly against Romania. In 1991, he won his only two caps for Yugoslavia at senior level : on 27 February 1991 against Turkey, and on 16 May 1991 against the Faroe Islands. In the latter pit, Šuker scored his foremost senior international goal. This feat was noted given Croatia was not registered with FIFA nor UEFA at that point. Šuker ‘s irregular and the beginning official match for Croatia came in a friendly against Mexico in 1992 where he scored a couple in a 3–0 victory. He then led Croatia to their inaugural major international tournament, UEFA Euro 1996, with a then-record 12 goals in 10 matches during the qualify stages. During the Euro 1996 final stages in England, he scored three goals in four matches, including two in the 3–0 group stage win over defending champions Denmark. It was in this equal he set up the final seduce with an unforgettable loop shoot over Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, hush remembered as one of the greatest goals in UEFA european Championship history. [ 18 ] Šuker ‘s feats during the tournament saw him named to the team of the Tournament. [ 19 ] Šuker then went on to see Croatia qualify for their first FIFA World Cup after scoring five goals in nine matches during the qualify stages for the 1998 finals in France. In the tournament proper, he scored six goals in seven matches, scoring in every match Croatia scored. These admit goals in 1–0 victories over Japan in the group stage and Romania in the round of 16. In the quarter-finals against Germany, Šuker was fouled by christian Wörns who received a straight bolshevik tease. Šuker scored the final goal in a 3–0 victory. He besides brought the team to the doorsill of the final by scoring the opener in the semi-final against France. Lilian Thuram took the match back for the hosts with his alone two external goals to give France a 2–1 victory and a rate in the final examination. In the third-place play-off, Šuker scored the match-winner in a 2–1 victory against the Netherlands, leading Croatia to a arresting third-place finish in their first World Cup appearance since becoming an independent nation. Šuker won the Golden Boot as the tournament ‘s crown scorer, arsenic well as the Silver Ball as the World Cup ‘s second-best musician, behind Ronaldo of Brazil. [ 20 ] [ 4 ]
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After the 1998 World Cup, Šuker featured for Croatia in their unfruitful run to qualify for the Euro 2000. Šuker was though noted in endeavouring to keep Croatia ‘s hopes alive when he scored a 94th-minute winner against the Republic of Ireland at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb. The win ensured Croatia would have a strong prospect of still qualifying for the tournament. The Croatians would miss out on such in their final qualifier, a 2–2 draw at home to Yugoslavia. Šuker did score a late forbid goal which, if stood, would have assured Croatia ‘s qualification. He finished with four goals in seven matches during the campaign. Šuker was besides depart of the croatian team at the 2002 World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan. however, he only played 63 minutes in the tournament, in a 1–0 get the better of to Mexico in Croatia ‘s possibility match. After Croatia ‘s elimination, Šuker announced his retirement from international football. Šuker won a total of 71 international caps during his senior career, 2 for Yugoslavia and 69 for Croatia. [ 21 ] The forward scored 46 international goals in total. With 45 goals, he is Croatia ‘s all-time lead goal-scorer. His 12 goals during the political campaign for Euro 1996 was a record that stood for over 10 years— Northern Ireland ‘s David Healy broke his record in 2007 after scoring 13 goals during Euro 2008 qualifying. [ 22 ]
Šuker during a jacob’s ladder meet in 2014 Šuker established his own school of football entitled the Davor Šuker Soccer Academy, with discipline camps located in Zagreb and several other croatian cities. The concept for this academy originated near the goal of his play days. [ 8 ]
Controversies [edit ]
In 1996, in the company of two well-known criminals, Šuker posed for a word picture at the grave of croatian fascist dictator and genocide perpetrator, Poglavnik Ante Pavelić. [ 23 ] [ 24 ] [ 25 ] [ 26 ] [ 27 ] In 2011, Šuker was fined for stealing antique coins left over by another passenger on an airplane. rather of reporting his findings and handing the coins in, he decided to give them to his girlfriend, who tried to sell them. [ 28 ] [ 29 ] [ 30 ] In 2015, croatian Journalists ‘ Association ( HND ) accused Šuker of preventing freedom of information and for physically blocking journalists from reporting and doing their workplace. [ 31 ]
career statistics [edit ]
clubhouse [edit ]
International [edit ]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team
Year
Apps
Goals
Yugoslavia
1991
2
1
Total
2
1
Croatia
1990
1
0
1992
1
2
1993
1
1
1994
5
5
1995
7
8
1996
10
6
1997
7
4
1998
13
12
1999
9
4
2000
4
0
2001
8
2
2002
3
1
Total
69
45
- Scores and results list Yugoslavia’s and Croatia’s goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Šuker goal.
Honours [edit ]
Real Madrid [ 32 ]
Arsenal
Yugoslavia Youth
Croatia
Individual
Orders
See besides [edit ]
References [edit ]
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