Ivan Šunjić
Šunjić with Birmingham City in 2019
Personal information
Full name Ivan Šunjić[1]
Date of birth (1996-10-09) 9 October 1996[2]
Place of birth Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Birmingham City
Number 34
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2015 Dinamo Zagreb 1 (0)
2015–2016 Dinamo Zagreb II 12 (0)
2016–2018 Lokomotiva 51 (4)
2018–2019 Dinamo Zagreb 24 (0)
2018 → Lokomotiva (loan) 11 (3)
2019– Birmingham City 145 (6)
2022–2023 → Hertha BSC (loan) 19 (0)
International career
2012 Croatia U16 6 (0)
2012–2013 Croatia U17 21 (0)
2013–2014 Croatia U18 4 (0)
2014–2015 Croatia U19 8 (3)
2014–2019 Croatia U21 18 (1)
2017 Croatia 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 10:08, 14 January 2024 (UTC)

Ivan Šunjić (born 9 October 1996) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for EFL Championship club Birmingham City. He previously played for Lokomotiva and Dinamo Zagreb, and spent the 2022–23 season on loan to Bundesliga club Hertha BSC. Internationally, he was a regular in Croatia's youth teams from under-16 through to under-21 level, and was capped once for the senior team in 2017.

Club career

Born in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Šunjić made his professional debut with Dinamo Zagreb in the 2013–14 season.

Lokomotiva Zagreb

After appearing only for the reserves, he joined Lokomotiva on 10 February 2016.[3] On 13 May 2017, he scored his first goal for the club in the dying minutes of a 2–0 league victory over Inter Zaprešić.[4] Ahead of the 2017–18 season, Šunjić was made the club captain.[5] On 15 September, he scored the winning goal in the final minutes of a 1–0 league victory against Cibalia.[6]

On 12 February 2018, Šunjić rejoined Dinamo Zagreb and signed a contract until 15 June 2023. However, at the same time, he was loaned to Lokomotiva for the rest of the season.[7]

Dinamo Zagreb

He returned to Dinamo Zagreb for the 2018–19 season and featured 41 times in all competitions. He made 8 appearances in the Europa League, scoring in a 4–1 win over Fenerbahçe on 20 September 2018[2][8] and starting in Dinamo Zagreb's impressive 1–0 first leg win against Benfica in the round of 16 of the Europa League on 7 March.[9] He was suspended for the second leg, in which Dinamo Zagreb were eliminated.[10] Šunjić made 30 league appearances as Dinamo Zagreb finished as champions, and scored a 90th-minute goal in the Croatian Cup semifinal against Osijek that secured a 2–0 win.[11] He started in the final, which Dinamo Zagreb lost 3–1 to Rijeka.[12]

Birmingham City

On 26 July 2019, Šunjić signed a five-year contract with Birmingham City of the English Championship. The officially undisclosed fee was reported as €7 million.[13][14] He made his debut as a second-half substitute in Birmingham's opening fixture of the season, a 1–0 win away against Brentford on 3 August 2019.[15] His "rasping rising 20-yard shot which flew into the net" to tie the scores away to Derby County won him the Championship Goal of the Month award for October,[16] but Birmingham lost the match.[17] Three months into the season, the Birmingham Mail rated his performance at 9/10, describing him as "imposing and dynamic" and suggesting that "the destructive side of his game [had] gone up a level",[18] Interviewed during the first COVID-19 lockdown, Šunjić felt satisfied by his season thus far, despite dips in form which he felt inevitable in a "fast, physical league" with many games, but admitted there were areas in which he could improve.[19] He finished the season with 44 appearances (40 starts).[17]

Hertha Berlin loan

Šunjić joined Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin on loan for the 2022–23 season.[20]

International career

Šunjić was included in Croatia's squad for the 2013 Under-17 World Cup, and played all three group matches.[21]

Šunjić was called up to the senior national team for a friendly match against Mexico in the United States on 28 May. He played the whole of the match, in which an inexperienced Croatia team comprising largely debutants and reduced to ten men secured a 2–1 victory against a relatively strong Mexican side.[22][23]

He captained Croatia at the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championships and played all three of their matches.[13][12]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 16 January 2024
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[lower-alpha 1] League cup[lower-alpha 2] Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Dinamo Zagreb 2013–14[12] Prva HNL1000—0010
2014–15[12] Prva HNL0000—0000
2015–16[12] Prva HNL0010—0010
Total 1010—0020
Dinamo Zagreb II 2015–16[12] Druga HNL120———120
Lokomotiva 2015–16[12] Prva HNL100———100
2016–17[12] Prva HNL23110—6[lower-alpha 3]0301
2017–18[12] Prva HNL29630——326
Total 62740—60727
Dinamo Zagreb 2018–19[12] Prva HNL24041—13[lower-alpha 4]1412
2019–20[12] Prva HNL00——1[lower-alpha 5]010
Total 24041—141422
Birmingham City 2019–20[17] Championship4034000—443
2020–21[24] Championship4301010—450
2021–22[25] Championship4131020—443
2023–24[26] Championship2201020—250
Total 14667050—1586
Hertha BSC (loan) 2022–23[12] Bundesliga18010——190
Career total 263131715020130515
  1. ↑ Includes Croatian Cup, FA Cup, DFB-Pokal
  2. ↑ Includes EFL Cup
  3. ↑ Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  4. ↑ Five appearances in UEFA Champions League, eight appearances and one goal in Europa League
  5. ↑ Appearance in Champions League

International

Šunjić with Croatia U19 in 2015
As of match played 11 June 2019[27]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Croatia 201710
Total10

Honours

Dinamo Zagreb

References

  1. ↑ "Notification of shirt numbers: Birmingham City" (PDF). English Football League. p. 4. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 "Ivan Šunjić". Dinamo Zagreb. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  3. ↑ Propadalo, Karlo (10 February 2016). "Ivan Šunjić raskinuo ugovor s Dinamom i odmah potpisao za Lokomotivu" [Ivan Šunjić terminated the deal with Dinamo and immediately signed for Lokomotiva]. Nogomet Plus (in Croatian). Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  4. ↑ "PRVA HNL Lokomotiva – Inter 2–0". Nacional (in Croatian). Zagreb. 13 May 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  5. ↑ Škrlec, Silvijo (9 December 2017). "Nakon Šunjićeva izbora Soudanijeva prednost još se povećala" [After Šunjić's election, Soudani's favor has increased] (in Croatian). T Portal. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  6. ↑ Grgić, Antun (15 September 2017). "Vinkovčani imali bod u džepu, a onda se pojavio Šunjić i sve pokvario" [Vinkovci had a point in their pocket, and then Sunjic appeared and everything broke down]. Glas Slavonije (in Croatian). Osijek. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  7. ↑ "Ivan Šunjić potpisao za Dinamo, ostaje u Lokomotivi do kraja sezone" [Ivan Sunjic signed for Dinamo, staying with Lokomotiva until the end of the season]. Nogomet Plus (in Bosnian). 12 February 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  8. ↑ "Fenerbahçe lose to Dinamo Zagreb in UEFA Europa League". Hürriyet Daily News. Anadolu. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  9. ↑ "UEFA Europa League – Dinamo Zagreb–Benfica". UEFA. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  10. ↑ Rogulj, Daniela (14 March 2019). "Dinamo Zagreb exit Europa League after round of 16 loss to Benfica". Total Croatia News. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  11. ↑ Rogulj, Daniela (25 April 2019). "Rijeka and Dinamo to meet in final of Croatian Cup". Total Croatia News. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "I. Šunjić". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  13. 1 2 "Ivan Sunjic: Birmingham City sign Dinamo Zagreb midfielder on five-year deal". BBC Sport. 26 July 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  14. ↑ Husband, Ben (26 July 2019). "Birmingham City have record bid accepted for Leeds United target – reports". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  15. ↑ "Brentford 0–1 Birmingham City". BBC Sport. 3 August 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  16. ↑ "Birmingham midfielder Ivan Sunjic wins Sky Bet Championship Goal of the Month award for September". Sky Sports. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  17. 1 2 3 "Games played by Ivan Šunjić in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  18. ↑ Dick, Brian (15 November 2019). "Camp, Colin and Bellingham – How Birmingham City's players rate this season". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  19. ↑ Chapman, Joseph (24 April 2020). "Birmingham City star nails what we've all been thinking with blunt admission". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  20. ↑ "Ivan Sunjic joins Hertha Berlin on loan". Birmingham City F.C. 5 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  21. ↑ "FIFA Tournaments: Players and coaches: Ivan Sunjic". FIFA. Archived from the original on 11 September 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  22. ↑ Halar, Ivan; Hina (28 May 2017). "Hrvatska s 'D momčadi' i igračem manje senzacionalno pobijedila Meksiko" [Croatia with a 'D team' and a player less sensationally beat Mexico]. Večernji list (in Croatian). Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  23. ↑ Rogulj, Daniela (28 May 2017). "Against all odds: young Croatian side defeats Mexico in Los Angeles!". Total Croatia News. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  24. ↑ "Games played by Ivan Šunjić in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  25. ↑ "Games played by Ivan Šunjić in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  26. ↑ "Games played by Ivan Šunjić in 2023/2024". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  27. ↑ "Ivan Šunjić". Croatian Football Federation. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
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