Darko Matić
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Darko Matić | ||
| Date of birth | 26 September 1980 | ||
| Place of birth | Domaljevac, SFR Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team |
 China Beijing Guoan | ||
| Number | 5 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1992–2000 | Tennis Borussia Berlin | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2000–2002 | FC Thun | 34 | (3) |
| 2002–2003 | NK Orasje | 38 | (2) |
| 2004 | 1. FC Eschborn | 17 | (2) |
| 2004–2005 | NK Orašje | 32 | (4) |
| 2005–2006 | FC Senec | 54 | (3) |
| 2007–2008 |
China Tianjin Teda | 58 | (1) |
| 2009– |
China Beijing Guoan | 102 | (2) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 2 December 2011 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 7 March 2011 | |||
Darko Matić (born September 26, 1980) is a Croatian professional football player who plays as a defensive midfielder for Beijing Guoan in the Chinese Super League.[1]
Club career
Originally Yugoslavian Matić left his country because of the Yugoslav Wars and would move to Germany to begin his football career with Tennis Borussia Berlin's youth team and Tennis Borussia Berlin first team . He played his first game in the first team (in the second division in Germany) when he was 17, under the coach Winfried Schaefer. Unable to break into the first team he would join second tier Swiss football club FC Thun in year 2000. Matic would help FC Thun winning the promotion after 50 years. In 2002, he returned to Bosnia and played for NK Orasje in the Bosnian Premier League. In 2004, Matić joined German third league team 1. FC Eschborn for a short period. In the 2004–05 league season he would join once again top tier side NK Orašje and play in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina, helping them finish third and win the Bosnian Cup.[2] Once again moving on to this time Slovakian football club FC Senec in the 2005–06 league season he would help them win promotion to the Slovak Superliga. He was captain of his team Senec and he got the invintation of the Slovakian Football Federation to play for the Slovakia national football team.
He transferred to Chinese Super League club Tianjin Teda in 2007 and would quickly become an integral member of the team by playing in all 28 games of the season.[3] The following season when he aided the team to a fourth place finish and had a chance to play AFC Champions League football. At the beginning of the 2009 league season Beijing Guoan were interested at his defensive abilities and signed him, this was to prove a successful signing when Matić once more quickly became an integral member of the team and aided Beijing to win their first league title. Matić was voted the best midfield player of the Chinese Super League four times (2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011). Matić signed a new three-year deal with Beijing Guoan in 2011.Darko Matic is now the foreigner with the most caps ( 161 ) in the CSL ( Chinese Super League ).
Honours
Beijing Guoan
References
- ^ "马季奇：昨天的故事已在行囊 明天的希望在路上". Tianjin Teda FC. 2007-05-18. Retrieved 2009-01-18.
- ^ "Bosnia-Hercegovina 2004/05". rsssf.com. 2005-09-01. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
- ^ "Player Darko Matić". sohu.com. 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-28.