Bruno Petković


Bruno Petković is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a forward for the Turkish Süper Lig club Kocaelispor and Croatia national team.
IG brunopetkovicofficial

Early career

Petković was born in Metković, Croatia. His father Jakov Petković hails from Metković and his mother Ruža Nižić is a Herzegovinian Croat from Crveni Grm near Ljubuški. His childhood football idols were Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimović.
He began his youth career with his hometown clubs ONK Metković and NK Neretva, before he went to Dinamo Zagreb in 2007. He remained there until 4 September 2009, when he transferred across town to the youth academy of city rivals NK Zagreb. In the next two seasons, he represented NK HAŠK and Hrvatski Dragovoljac, prior to his transfer to Italy, with Serie A side, Catania.

Club career

Calcio Catania

On 27 August 2012, Petković officially transferred to Calcio Catania. The transfer fee involved was undisclosed, though Petković was inserted directly into the club's youth academy following his arrival. His first call-up to the senior squad arrived on 27 January 2013, in a 2–1 home victory over Fiorentina in league play. His league debut came on the final matchday of the 2012–13 Serie A campaign, when he appeared as an 89th minute substitute in a 2–2 away draw with Torino. Ahead of the 2013–14 Serie A season, Petković was officially promoted to the first team, and assigned the number 32 jersey.

Trapani and Bologna

In January 2016, Petković moved to Serie B side Trapani. He scored seven goals in the second round of the Serie B season, as the Sicilian team nearly gained promotion to Serie A, failing only in the final play-off match against Pescara. The following season he scored three goals in the first round of the 2016–17 Serie B season. On 12 January 2017, Petković was purchased by Serie A team Bologna, for 1.2 million euros. He made a total of 21 Serie A appearances for the team before being loaned to Hellas Verona on 11 January 2018.

Dinamo Zagreb

2018–19 season

On 6 August 2018, he joined Dinamo Zagreb on a season-long loan with Dinamo holding an obligation to buy his contract out at the end of the loan if certain conditions are met. On 25 August, he scored his first hat trick for Dinamo in a 3–0 home win over Lokomotiva. As the season wore on, Petković became more important to the squad and played the starring role in the peak of Dinamo Zagreb season, the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League Round of 32 home fixture against Viktoria Plzeň, when he assisted the first goal and scored the third in the 4–0 win. In the Round of 16 home fixture against Benfica he scored the only goal in the 2–0 win. However, Benfica came back beating Dinamo 3–0 at Estádio da Luz after extra time. He finished his first season in the club with 7 goals and 3 assists in 34 matches in all competitions.

2019–20 season

Petković was instrumental to Dinamo Zagreb's successful Champions League [2019–20 UEFA 2022–23 UEFA Champions League|Champions League 2019–20 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round|qualifying phase and play-off round|qualifying] campaign, scoring four goals against Saburtalo Tbilisi home and away, Ferencváros away, and Rosenborg home. His performances earned him a new contract with Dinamo, signed on 13 September 2019, which keeps him in the club until 2024.
He made his Champions League debut on 18 September 2019 in a 4–0 home win over Atalanta and scored his debut goal on 6 November in a 3–3 home draw with Shakhtar Donetsk.
On 17 June 2020, he scored a last minute goal in a 3–2 home victory over Slaven Belupo, the first home game of Dinamo's new manager Igor Jovićević. On 27 June, he suffered an injury in a goalless draw with Osijek that ruled him out for the rest of the season.

2020–21 season

After missing the first Dinamo's game of the season against Lokomotiva due to the injury, Petković returned on 21 August for a game against Istra 1961, coming off the bench and scoring the only goal in the 1–0 victory. During the season, Petković was the target of criticism from the media and fans due to his inconsistency and poor form. However, on 18 February 2021, in the Europa League Round of 32, he scored a brace and provided Luka Ivanušec with a pre-assist for Iyayi Atiemwen's third goal as Dinamo defeated Krasnodar 3–2 away.

2021–22 season

On 30 September 2021, he scored two goals from the penalty spot in a 3–0 away win over Genk in the Europa League.

2022–23 season

On 2 November 2022, he scored a goal in a 2–1 away defeat against Chelsea in the Champions League.

International career

Youth

At youth level, he was not capped as he was not good enough for Croatia U21.

Senior

Petković received his first senior Croatia call-up as a replacement for the injured Marko Livaja, for UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers against Azerbaijan and Hungary in March 2019. On 21 March, he debuted in a 2–1 victory against the former opponent. Petković scored his first goal for the national team on 11 June in a friendly loss to Tunisia.
Petković turned out to be instrumental to Croatia's successful UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying campaign, scoring four goals and assisting one. However, following the tournament's postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Petković was heavily criticized for his inefficiency in the national team during Croatia's disappointing 2020–21 Nations League campaign where they managed to win only three points in six games.
In the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarter-final on 9 December, Petković scored the equalizing goal against Brazil to take the game to penalties.

Personal life

On 3 April 2021, Petković and his partner Iva Šarić became parents of a baby boy, whom they named Adrian.
Petković is an active amateur chess player and he regularly participates in humanitarian chess tournaments organised by Croatian chess grandmaster and Vice President of European Chess Union, Alojzije Janković.
Petković was an inspiration for a scene in the first episode of RTL Televizija's comedy drama show San snova, where Marko Braić's character's reaction to being interviewed by reporters was identical to that of Petković from the Zagreb Airport in 2022.

Career statistics

International

No.DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition
111 June 2019Stadion Varteks, Varaždin, Croatia31–11–2Friendly
26 September 2019Anton Malatinský Stadium, Trnava, Slovakia43–04–0UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
310 October 2019Stadion Poljud, Split, Croatia62–03–0UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
410 October 2019Stadion Poljud, Split, Croatia63–03–0UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
516 November 2019Stadion Rujevica, Rijeka, Croatia82–13–1UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
65 September 2020Estádio do Dragão, Porto, Portugal91–31–42020–21 UEFA Nations League A
79 December 2022Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar271–11–1 2022 FIFA World Cup
814 June 2023De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands303–24–2 2023 UEFA Nations League Finals
98 September 2023Stadion Rujevica, Rijeka, Croatia321–05–0UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying
108 September 2023Stadion Rujevica, Rijeka, Croatia323–05–0UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying
1127 March 2024New Administrative Capital Stadium, New Administrative Capital, Egypt362–14–22024 FIFA Series

Honours

Dinamo Zagreb
Croatia
Individual