Ante Ćorić

Ante Ćorić (born 14 April 1997) is a Croatian footballer who currently plays for Dinamo Zagreb in the Croatian First Football League and Croatia national team, as an attacking midfielder.

Club career

Early years

Ćorić was born in Zagreb to Herzegovian Croat parents from Široki Brijeg; his father, Miljenko, is a football manager in the Zagreb area with whom Ante attended training sessions starting at a very young age. Ćorić started playing football at the age of 5 at Hrvatski Dragovoljac. When he was 9 years old, he signed for the youth academy of NK Zagreb. In 2009, Ćorić joined the youth academy of Red Bull Salzburg, in spite of interest from other clubs, including Bayern Munich, Chelsea, and Barcelona. On joining the club Corić commented, "I wanted to become a Red Bull Salzburg player because my team-mates here are better than players of the same age anywhere else. We train better and more often than others. And I was very impressed by how warmly I was welcomed." In 2013, after four years in Salzburg, Ćorić returned to Croatia and signed with Dinamo Zagreb for a fee of €900,000.

Senior years

On 16 April 2014, Ćorić made his senior debut against RNK Split, coming in as a 69th-minute substitute for Ivo Pinto. On 26 April, he made his first start in a 1–1 draw against Lokomotiva Zagreb. On 10 May, Ćorić scored his first senior goal for Dinamo in a 1-2 loss to NK Istra 1961. On 18 September, Ćorić came on as a 77th-minute substitute and scored the fifth goal in Dinamo's 2014-15 Europa League opener against Astra Giurgiu, a 5-1 win. With this goal, he became the youngest goal scorer in Europa League history, at the age of 17 years and 157 days. In 2015, newspaper Večernji list awarded Ćorić the Croatian Hope of the Year as the best young Croatian player of the year.

International career

Ćorić played for various youth Croatian teams, and made his debut for the senior Croatia national football team in a friendly 1-0 win over Moldova in May 2016 after entering the game as the half time substitute. He was called for UEFA Euro 2016 as one of the 23 players included in the squad, but remained as an unused substitute during the entire tournament.

Career statistics

Statistics accurate as of last match played on 3 December 2016.

Personal life

His older brother Josip is also a football player.

Honours

Individual

• Croatian Football Hope of the Year: 2015