Ivan Santini
Santini with Caen in 2016
Personal information
Date of birth (1989-05-21) 21 May 1989 (age 34)
Place of birth Zadar, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Zürich
Number 9
Youth career
2003–2006 Zadar
2006–2007 Inter Zaprešić
2007–2008 Red Bull Salzburg
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2007 Inter Zaprešić 4 (1)
2009 Ingolstadt 04 6 (0)
2009–2013 Zadar 64 (26)
2012–2013 → SC Freiburg (loan) 24 (1)
2013–2015 Kortrijk 69 (30)
2015–2016 Standard Liège 28 (12)
2016–2018 Caen 66 (26)
2018–2019 Anderlecht 34 (16)
2019–2021 Jiangsu Suning 30 (12)
2021 Osijek 12 (3)
2021–2022 Al-Fateh 23 (6)
2022– Zürich 21 (0)
International career‡
2007 Croatia U18 2 (0)
2007 Croatia U19 2 (1)
2017–2018 Croatia 5 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20:21, 7 December 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15 October 2018

Ivan Santini (Croatian pronunciation: [ǐʋan santîːni];[1][2] born 21 May 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Swiss club Zürich.

Club career

Ivan Santini, born in Zadar, played for his hometown side's youth team, until the summer of 2006, when he moved to Inter Zaprešić where he signed his first professional contract and made four first team appearances, scoring his first professional goal in the process. The next season, he moved to Red Bull Salzburg where he spent the duration of the year as a youth player.

He made his debut on the professional league level in the 2. Bundesliga for Ingolstadt on 8 March 2009, when he came on as a substitute in the 72nd minute in a game against TSV 1860 München and scored his first goal. From 2009 to 2012, he played for Zadar. On 31 January 2012, Santini joined SC Freiburg on a six-month loan move with a clause in which Freiburg could buy out his contract.[3]

In June 2013, he signed a contract to join Kortrijk.[4]

On 18 June 2015, Santini moved to Standard Liège on a four-year contract, for a fee of €2 million.[5] In the final of the Belgian Cup in 2016, Santini scored a goal in the 88th minute of the match to secure a dramatic 2–1 win over Club Brugge.[6]

On 3 August 2016, Santini moved to Caen on a three-year contract, for a fee estimated over €2 million. In January 2017, he became the second Croatian player after Dado Pršo to score at least ten goals in Ligue 1.[7]

Anderlecht

On 3 July 2018, he moved to Anderlecht on a three-year contract for €3 million fee.[8] He debuted on 13 July 2018 in a friendly match against Ajax and scored two goals.[9] In his official debut, on 28 July 2018, he scored a hat-trick against his former club Kortrijk. [10]

On 5 August 2018, he scored his second hat-trick of the season against Oostende. [11] On 12 August 2018, he scored the second goal in a 2–1 win against Charleroi.[12] He finished the 2018–19 season as the club's top scorer with 16 league goals.[13]

Jiangsu Suning

On 29 July 2019, Santini joined Chinese Super League club Jiangsu Suning, becoming their fifth and final allotted foreign born player for the season.[14][15] On 24 October 2020, Santini's ninth minute strike against Chongqing Lifan secured Jiangsu Suning a place in the semi-finals of the 2020 Chinese Super League play-offs against 2018 title winners Shanghai SIPG.[16] Santini was a substitute in the second-leg of the CSL final against Guangzhou Evergrande on 12 November, coming on in the 80th minute for goalscorer Éder.[17] The club held on to a 2–1 win which confirmed Jiangsu Suning as league champions for the first time in their history.[18]

NK Osijek

On 13 February 2021, Santini returned to Croatia to sign with Prva HNL side NK Osijek.[19] He scored the winning goal on his debut for the club against Varaždin on 26 February.[20]

Al-Fateh

On 10 August 2021, Santini joined Saudi Arabian club Al-Fateh.[21]

Zürich

On 29 June 2022, he joined Swiss side Zürich.[22]

International career

Santini made his debut for Croatia in a May 2017 friendly match against Mexico and earned a total of 5 caps, scoring no goals. In May 2018, he was shortlisted on Croatia's preliminary 32-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia,[23] but did not make the final 23.[24]

His final international was an October 2018 friendly against Jordan.[25]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 3 September 2023[26]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Inter Zaprešić 2006–07 Druga HNL 4 1 – – 4 1
Ingolstadt 2008–09 2. Bundesliga 6 0 – – – 6 0
NK Zadar 2009–10 1. HNL 19 6 0 0 – – 19 6
2010–11 1. HNL 29 10 0 0 – – 29 10
2011–12 1. HNL 16 10 0 0 – – 16 10
Total 64 26 0 0 – – 64 26
SC Freiburg (loan) 2011–12 Bundesliga 10 0 0 0 – – 10 0
2012–13 Bundesliga 14 1 3 1 – – 17 2
Total 24 1 3 1 – – 27 2
Kortrijk 2013–14 Belgian Pro League 36 15 3 2 – – 39 17
2014–15 Belgian Pro League 33 15 2 1 – – 35 16
Total 69 30 5 3 – – 74 33
Standard Liège 2015–16 Belgian Pro League 27 11 5 1 – 4[c] 1 36 13
2016–17 Belgian Pro League 1 1 1 1 – 0 0 2 2
Total 28 12 6 2 – 4 1 38 15
Caen 2016–17 Ligue 1 34 15 2 1 0 0 – 36 16
2017–18 Ligue 1 31 11 5 0 2 0 – 38 11
Total 65 26 7 1 2 0 – 74 27
Anderlecht 2018–19 Belgian Pro League 34 16 1 0 – 4[c] 0 39 16
Jiangsu Suning 2019 Chinese Super League 10 6 0 0 – – 10 6
2020 Chinese Super League 20 6 1 1 – – 21 7
Total 30 12 1 1 – – 31 13
NK Osijek 2020–21 1. HNL 12 3 1 0 – – 13 3
Al Fateh 2021–22 Saudi Pro League 23 6 1 0 – – 24 6
Zürich 2022–23 Swiss Super League 11 0 1 0 – 5[d] 2 17 2
2023–24 Swiss Super League 3 0 1 2 – – 4 2
Total 14 0 2 2 – 5 2 21 4
Career total 373 133 26 10 2 0 13 3 415 146
  1. ^ Includes Croatian Cup, DFB-Pokal, Belgian Cup, Coupe de France, Chinese FA Cup, King Cup, Swiss Cup
  2. ^ Includes Coupe de la Ligue
  3. ^ a b Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  4. ^ One appearance and one goal in UEFA Champions League, four appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League

Personal life

His brother Krševan plays as a goalkeeper. Their father is the late singer Romeo Santini.[27]

Honours

Inter Zaprešić

Standard Liege

Jiangsu Suning

Individual

References

  1. ^ "Ìvan". Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 17 March 2018. Ìvan
  2. ^ "Sȃnto". Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 17 March 2018. Santȋni
  3. ^ Štrbinić, Lovro (31 January 2012). "Santini karijeru nastavlja u Bundesligi". Sportnet.hr (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
  4. ^ "Santini zieht weiter nach Belgien". kicker.de (in German). 16 June 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  5. ^ "Santini voor vier jaar naar Standard: 'Verschil is dat deze club voor de titel speelt'". SportWereld (in Dutch). 18 June 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Belgian Cup Final - Club Brugge 1-2 Standard Liege". Yahoo. 20 March 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  7. ^ "Scouting… Anderlecht striker Ivan Santini". View From The Ninian. 3 January 2019. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  8. ^ "Ivan Santini potpisao za Anderlecht". nogometplus.net (in Croatian). 3 July 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  9. ^ "Sjajan dan za Ivana Santinija, njegovi golovi srušili Ajax". sportnet.rtl.hr (in Croatian). 13 July 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  10. ^ "Čudesan debi Santinija, utrpao hat trick protiv bivšeg kluba". 24sata.hr (in Croatian). 28 July 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  11. ^ "Novi hat-trick Santinija za Anderlecht". hrt.sport.hr (in Croatian). 28 July 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  12. ^ "Nezaustavljivi Santini zabio sedmi gol u tri utakmice". index.hr (in Croatian). 12 August 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  13. ^ "Jupiler Pro League Top Scorer". Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  14. ^ "苏宁官宣克罗地亚前锋桑蒂尼加盟 比甲34场轰16球". Sina Sports (in Chinese). 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  15. ^ "Gareth Bale: Jiangsu Suning sign Ivan Santini to end pursuit of Real Madrid winger". Sky Sports. 29 July 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  16. ^ "CSL: Ivan Santini strikes to take Jiangsu Suning through to semi-final against Shanghai SIPG". South China Morning Post. 25 October 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  17. ^ "Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao 1 - 2 Jiangsu Suning". CSL (in Chinese). 12 November 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  18. ^ a b "Alex Teixeira shines as Jiangsu claim maiden Chinese Super League title". ESPN. 16 November 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  19. ^ Ben Berkane, Hanif (13 February 2021). "Ivan Santini retourne en Croatie" [Ivan Santini returns to Croatia]. Foot Mercato (in French). Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  20. ^ "Varaždin - Osijek 2:3". HNS (in Croatian). 26 February 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  21. ^ "الفتح يتعاقد مع المهاجم الكرواتي سانتيني".
  22. ^ "Der FCZ verpflichtet Stürmer Ivan Santini". FC Zürich (in German). 29 June 2022. Archived from the original on 15 August 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  23. ^ "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists | Goal.com".
  24. ^ "Head coach Dalić presents 24-man Croatia squad". hns-cff.hr. Croatian Football Federation. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  25. ^ "Player Database". EU-football. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  26. ^ "Ivan Santini". Soccerway. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  27. ^ "Otac Romeo nam je bio uzor i kad je bilo najteže". 20 December 2010.
  28. ^ "Kramarić nogometaš godine MAXtv Prve lige!" (in Croatian). T Portal. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2019.

External links

FC Zürich – current squad
Prva HNL Player of the Year (Tportal)
Categories