| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1975-03-24)24 March 1975 (age 50) | ||
| Place of birth | Varaždin,SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1992–1997 | Varteks | 123 | (56) |
| 1997–2000 | Trabzonspor | 85 | (29) |
| 2000–2002 | Lecce | 71 | (19) |
| 2003–2004 | Atalanta | 30 | (0) |
| 2004–2005 | Catania | 20 | (2) |
| 2005–2006 | Rijeka | 24 | (15) |
| 2006–2008 | Dinamo Zagreb | 34 | (16) |
| 2008–2010 | NK Zagreb | 55 | (33) |
| 2010–2012 | Varaždin | 40 | (8) |
| 2012–2015 | Slaven Belupo | 64 | (22) |
| Total | 546 | (196) | |
| International career | |||
| 1995 | Croatia U20 | 1 | (0) |
| 1994–1997 | Croatia U21 | 19 | (3) |
| 1999 | Croatia B | 1 | (0) |
| 1996–2006 | Croatia | 28 | (7) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Davor Vugrinec (born 24 March 1975) is a Croatian former professionalfootballer. He primarily played as astriker, but also operated as anattacking midfielder or asecond striker. He is all-time top scorer of theCroatian First Football League with 146 goals he has scored for five different clubs and also the oldest player to score a goal in the league, netting for Slaven Belupo 10 days before his 40th birthday.[1]
Vugrinec is currently the vice-president ofNK Varaždin, a different organization from the defunct (as of 2015) Varteks / Varaždin club he was with during his playing career.[2]
Vugrinec started his professional career at local clubNK Varteks in 1992, becoming a regular at the club fromhis second professional season onwards, and scoring in double digits in three of the following four campaigns. In1995–96, he netted 17 goals in 31 games as the team finished in fourth position (third after the second stage), also appearing inthe season'sCroatian Cup final.
In June 1997, Vugrinec moved abroad, joiningTrabzonspor inTurkey, scoring 24Süper Lig goals in his first two seasons combined. In the 2000 summer, he moved teams and countries again, signing withU.S. Lecce inItaly, his 11 successful strikes proving crucial as theApulia outfitnarrowly avoided relegation fromSerie A; on 12 November 2000, he netted the game's only goal at theSan Siro, in an historic win againstF.C. Internazionale Milano.
2002–03 saw Lecce inSerie B, but Vugrinec returned to the top level in January 2003, joiningAtalanta BC.The last of his five seasons in the country was spent in division two, withCalcio Catania (less than half of the league games, no promotion).
Subsequently, Vugrinec returned to Croatia and signed withNK Rijeka. Together withAhmad Sharbini, he was the club's top goalscorer in2005–06'stop division (15 goals apiece), and also helped the teamwin the domestic cup by scoring the crucial goal in the second-leg match against former club Varteks (Rijeka lost 1–5 away after winning 4–0 in the first leg – with two goals from him – thus overcoming onaway goals).
Vugrinec joinedNK Dinamo Zagreb in early June 2006 and made his official debut for the club on 19 July, in theCroatian Supercup against his previous club Rijeka,assisting for two goals in a 4–1 win. He went on to score his first goals for Dinamo in theUEFA Champions Leaguequalifier againstFK Ekranas and the team's first domestic league match of the2006–07 season, againstNK Slaven Belupo. He suffered an injury in a home fixture againstHNK Šibenik on 4 August, but managed to recover for the club's first-leg third-round Champions League clash againstArsenal four days later, only to be stretchered off 30 minutes into the game, missing the second match.
Vugrinec joined neighbouringNK Zagreb for the2008–09 season, returning to Varteks, renamed NK Varaždin, two years later, at the age of 35. In March 2012, he terminated his contract with the team, ranking second best all-time goalscorer in the Croatian top division with a total of 124 goals scored.[3] During the same month, Vugrinec joinedSlaven Belupo and scored in his debut againstOsijek.[4][5]
Vugrinec made his debut forCroatia on 10 April 1996, in afriendly match withHungary played inOsijek, but had to wait two 1/2 years to win his second internationalcap, in the nation's secondUEFA Euro 2000qualifier away againstMalta, on 10 October 1998; he entered the match as an earlysubstitute after injury forced offJurica Vučko in the 16th minute and went on to score two goals in the second half, as the national team came from behind to win it 4–1.
In 2000, Vugrinec became a regular in the main squad, and went on to appear in seven out of possible eightqualifying matches for the2002 FIFA World Cup. He scored two goals during the campaign, as he was on target againstLatvia andSan Marino respectively (both home fixtures), and was subsequently part of the final stages' squad, appearing in two games in an eventual group stage exit: he started the second match againstItaly, but was replaced in the 57th minute, and also played in the final one againstEcuador as an early second-half substitute.
After the tournament inJapan andSouth Korea, Vugrinec only appeared in one friendly match and twoEuro 2004 qualifiers before being uncapped for more than three years, until January 2006. He made his international comeback by appearing in two matches at the Carlsberg Cup inHong Kong,[6] thus applying for a spot in the final squad of 23 at the2006 World Cup, especially after scoring ahat-trick in Rijeka's 4–0 league win atHNK Hajduk Split, but was eventually omitted. He earned a total of 28 caps, scoring 7 goals.[7]
An art collector, he owns theKolekcije Vugrinec in his gallery in Zagreb.[1] He is married to curator and museum advisor Petra[8] and they have one daughter together, while he also has three kids from his first marriage to Nina.[9] Among them, his son Noa signed professional terms withNK Varaždin in 2021.[10]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Varteks | 1992–93 | Prva HNL | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 6 | 1 | ||
| 1993–94 | Prva HNL | 33 | 17 | 5 | 5 | – | – | 38 | 22 | |||
| 1994–95 | Prva HNL | 27 | 8 | 6 | 2 | – | – | 33 | 10 | |||
| 1995–96 | Prva HNL | 31 | 17 | 9 | 7 | – | – | 40 | 24 | |||
| 1996–97 | Prva HNL | 27 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | – | 35 | 19 | ||
| Total | 123 | 56 | 25 | 18 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 152 | 76 | ||
| Trabzonspor | 1997–98 | 1.Lig | 30 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | 34 | 16 | |
| 1998–99 | 1.Lig | 28 | 12 | 3 | 2 | – | – | 31 | 14 | |||
| 1999–2000 | 1.Lig | 27 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | 32 | 7 | ||
| Total | 85 | 29 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 97 | 37 | ||
| Lecce | 2000–01 | Serie A | 34 | 11 | 4 | 3 | – | – | 38 | 14 | ||
| 2001–02 | Serie A | 29 | 7 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 29 | 7 | |||
| 2002–03 | Serie B | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 10 | 1 | |||
| Total | 61 | 19 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67 | 22 | ||
| Atalanta | 2002–03 | Serie A | 15 | 0 | – | – | – | 15 | 0 | |||
| 2003–04 | Serie B | 15 | 0 | – | – | – | 15 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 | ||
| Catania | 2004–05 | Serie B | 20 | 2 | 3 | 1 | – | – | 23 | 3 | ||
| HNK Rijeka | 2005–06 | Prva HNL | 24 | 15 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | – | 30 | 19 | |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 2006–07 | Prva HNL | 21 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1[b] | 0 | 32 | 16 |
| 2007–08 | Prva HNL | 13 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | – | 20 | 6 | ||
| Total | 34 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 52 | 22 | ||
| NK Zagreb | 2008–09 | Prva HNL | 29 | 11 | 3 | 2 | – | – | 32 | 13 | ||
| 2009–10 | Prva HNL | 26 | 18 | 4 | 1 | – | – | 30 | 19 | |||
| Total | 55 | 29 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 62 | 32 | ||
| NK Varaždin | 2010–11 | Prva HNL | 24 | 6 | 2 | 2 | – | – | 26 | 8 | ||
| 2011–12 | Prva HNL | 16 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | – | 22 | 6 | ||
| Total | 40 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 14 | ||
| Slaven Belupo | 2011–12 | Prva HNL | 7 | 4 | – | – | – | 7 | 4 | |||
| 2012–13 | Prva HNL | 19 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | 23 | 10 | ||
| 2013–14 | Prva HNL | 21 | 8 | 4 | 1 | – | – | 25 | 9 | |||
| 2014–15 | Prva HNL | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 18 | 2 | |||
| Total | 64 | 22 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 73 | 25 | ||
| Career total | 546 | 196 | 76 | 44 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 10 | 646 | 250 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Croatia | 1996 | 1 | 0 |
| 1997 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1998 | 1 | 2 | |
| 1999 | 4 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2001 | 8 | 4 | |
| 2002 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 28 | 7 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 October 1998 | Ta' Qali,Ta' Qali, Malta |  Malta | 2–1 | 4–1 | UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying |
| 2 | 3–1 | |||||
| 3 | 13 June 1999 | Dongdaemun,Seoul, South Korea |  Egypt | 2–2 | 2–2 | Friendly |
| 4 | 28 February 2001 | Kantrida,Rijeka, Croatia |  Austria | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 5 | 24 March 2001 | Gradski vrt,Osijek, Croatia |  Latvia | 4–1 | 4–1 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 6 | 2 June 2001 | Stadion Varteks,Varaždin, Croatia |  San Marino | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 7 | 15 August 2001 | Lansdowne Road,Dublin, Ireland |  Republic of Ireland | 1–2 | 2–2 | Friendly |
Varteks / Varaždin[14]
Rijeka
Dinamo Zagreb
Individual
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| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
