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Antonio Čolak

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Antonio Čolak
Čolak with 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 2015
Personal information
Full name Antonio-Mirko Čolak
Date of birth (1993-09-17) 17 September 1993 (age 31)
Place of birth Ludwigsburg, Germany
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Spezia
Number 17
Youth career
1997–2000 SGV Freiberg Fußball[1]
2000–2008 Stuttgarter Kickers
2008–2010 SGV Freiberg
2010–2011 1899 Hoffenheim
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2012 Karlsruher SC II 1 (1)
2012–2015 1. FC Nürnberg II 58 (28)
2013–2015 1. FC Nürnberg 7 (0)
2014–2015 → Lechia Gdańsk (loan) 30 (10)
2015–2019 1899 Hoffenheim 0 (0)
2015 → 1. FC Kaiserslautern II (loan) 1 (2)
2015–2016 → 1. FC Kaiserslautern (loan) 22 (5)
2016–2017 → Darmstadt 98 (loan) 22 (4)
2017 → FC Ingolstadt II (loan) 1 (1)
2017 → FC Ingolstadt (loan) 6 (0)
2018–2019 → Rijeka (loan) 40 (18)
2019–2020 Rijeka 36 (20)
2020–2022 PAOK 25 (3)
2021 → Malmö FF (loan) 26 (14)
2022–2023 Rangers 25 (14)
2023–2024 Parma 22 (3)
2024– Spezia 1 (0)
International career‡
2011 Croatia U18 4 (0)
2011–2012 Croatia U19 14 (6)
2011–2012 Croatia U20 3 (1)
2020– Croatia 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 16 September 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 21:28, 2 August 2022 (UTC)

Antonio-Mirko Čolak (Croatian pronunciation: [tʃǒlak, tʃôlaːk];[2] born 17 September 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Italian Serie B club Spezia. Born in Germany, he plays for the Croatia national team.

Čolak began his senior career in the lower divisions of German football and has since gone on to play in the top flights of German, Polish, Croatian, Greek, Swedish and Scottish football. He was the top scorer in the 2019–20 Prva HNL season while playing for Croatian club HNK Rijeka. He won the 2021 Allsvenskan title while on loan at Swedish club Malmö from Greek club PAOK.

Čolak played more than 20 times for Croatia's youth national teams, before making his senior international debut for the country in November 2020, in a friendly against Turkey.

Club career

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Early career

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The Čolak family immigrated to Germany in 1992 to avoid the war in the former Yugoslavia, where Antonio was born on 17 September 1993. Born in Ludwigsburg, in 2000 he signed for Stuttgarter Kickers, where he remained for eight years before returning to Freiburg in 2008. From there he joined the youth academy at Hoffenheim in 2010 for just one year, and in 2011 moved to Karlsruhe, where he made his professional debut in the lower leagues. In 2012 he was signed by 1. FC Nürnberg, initially for the reserve team. Čolak made his debut on 19 October 2013 in a Bundesliga game against Eintracht Frankfurt. He entered the field after 78 minutes for Tomáš Pekhart. He stayed in Nuremberg until 2015, playing in seven games, while for one season he was loaned out to Lechia Gdańsk, where he scored ten goals in 31 games, also contributing two assists.[citation needed]

Hoffenheim and loan spells

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In the summer of 2015 he signed a contract with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, but he did not play with the club throughout his contract. Initially he joined 1. FC Kaiserslautern on a season-long loan. On 25 July 2016, Čolak joined Darmstadt 98 on a season-long loan.[3] For the following season he was again sent out on loan, to 2. Bundesliga side FC Ingolstadt.[4]

Rijeka

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Following the mutually agreed termination of the loan at Ingolstadt, in January 2018, Čolak was loaned to HNK Rijeka in Croatia until June 2019.[5] Following the end of the loan, on 22 June 2019 Čolak officially joined HNK Rijeka on a three-year contract.[6] In the 2019–20 season, he was the top scorer in the Croatian championship with 20 goals, while with Rijeka he also won two Croatian Cups. His performances also saw him win a place in the Croatia national football team.

PAOK and loan to Malmö

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On 20 September 2020, PAOK agreed terms with Rijeka for the purchase of Čolak. The Greek club paid a fee over €3,000,000, while Čolak signed a four-year contract worth €450,000 per year.[7]

On 6 March 2021, Čolak moved to Swedish side Malmö FF, on a loan deal until December 2021.[8] At Malmö FF, Čolak quickly established himself as a prolific goalscorer with ten goals in his first 15 appearances and went on to win the title with Malmö. In December 2021, with Malmö FF unwilling to pay the buy out of €3 million that had been set in his loan contract, Croatian newspaper "Sportske Novosti" linked Čolak with a move to Dinamo Zagreb. He returned to PAOK from the beginning of January 2022.[9]

On 20 March 2022, he scored a goal after an Alexandru Mitriță assist, helping PAOK to gain a 1–0 away win against rivals AEK Athens for the Play-off round. It was his first goal for the club after his return from Malmö FF.[10]

Rangers

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On 7 July 2022, Čolak joined his eleventh club Rangers, signing a three-year deal with the Scottish Premiership team.[11] He made his debut for the club against Scottish Premiership side Livingston, starting the match on 30 July.[12] Čolak scored his first goal for Rangers in Scottish Premiership match against Kilmarnock on 6 August[13] then followed this by netting in the next two consecutive matches verse Union Saint-Gilloise[14] and St Johnstone.[15]

On 24 August, Čolak scored the winning goal in the Champions League play-off second leg against PSV Eindhoven to send Rangers to the group stage for the first time since 2010.[16]

Parma

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On 15 July 2023, Čolak left Rangers to join Italian side Parma for an undisclosed fee,[17] reported to be £2.5 million.[18]

Spezia

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On 30 October 2024, Čolak moved to Spezia in Serie B on a two-year contract.[19]

International career

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Čolak played youth international football for Croatia at under-18, under-19 and under-20 levels.[20] On 27 August 2020 Croatia national team head coach Zlatko Dalić included Čolak in the list of players for the Nations League fixtures against Portugal on 5 September 2020 and France on 8 September 2020.[21]

On 31 October 2022, Čolak was named in Croatia's preliminary 34-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup,[22] but did not make the final 26.[23]

Career statistics

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Club

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As of match played 14 September 2024[24]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Karlsruher II 2011–12 Regionalliga Süd 1 1 — — — — 1 1
Nürnberg II 2012–13 Regionalliga Bayern 31 12 — — — — 31 12
2013–14 Regionalliga Bayern 26 16 — — — — 26 16
2014–15 Regionalliga Bayern 1 0 — — — — 1 0
Total 58 28 — — — — 58 28
Nürnberg 2013–14 Bundesliga 6 0 0 0 — — — 6 0
2014–15 2. Bundesliga 1 0 0 0 — — — 1 0
Total 7 0 0 0 — — — 7 0
Lechia Gdańsk (loan) 2014–15 Ekstraklasa 30 10 1 0 — — — 31 10
Hoffenheim 2015–16 Bundesliga 0 0 0 0 — — — 0 0
Kaiserslautern II (loan) 2015–16 Regionalliga Südwest 1 2 — — — — 1 2
Kaiserslautern (loan) 2015–16 2. Bundesliga 22 5 2 0 — — — 24 5
Darmstadt (loan) 2016–17 Bundesliga 22 4 2 3 — — — 24 7
Ingolstadt II (loan) 2017–18 Regionalliga Bayern 1 1 — — — — 1 1
Ingolstadt (loan) 2017–18 2. Bundesliga 6 0 2 0 — — — 8 0
Rijeka (loan) 2017–18 Prva HNL 16 6 0 0 — 0 0 — 16 6
2018–19 Prva HNL 24 12 5 7 — 2[c] 0 — 31 19
Rijeka 2019–20 Prva HNL 32 20 4 4 — 4[c] 2 1[d] 0 41 26
2020–21 Prva HNL 4 0 0 0 — 0 0 — 4 0
Total 76 38 9 11 — 6 2 1 0 92 51
PAOK 2020–21 Super League Greece 10 1 0 0 — 6[e] 0 — 16 1
2021–22 Super League Greece 15 2 2 1 — 6[f] 0 — 23 3
Total 25 3 2 1 — 12 0 — 39 4
Malmö FF (loan) 2021 Allsvenskan 26 14 1 3 — 14[g] 5 — 41 22
Rangers 2022–23 Scottish Premiership 25 14 3 1 1 0 10[g] 3 — 39 18
Parma 2023–24 Serie B 22 3 0 0 — — — 22 3
Spezia 2024–25 Serie B 1 0 0 0 — — — 1 0
Career total 323 123 22 19 1 0 42 10 1 0 389 152
  1. ^ Includes Polish Cup, DFB-Pokal, Croatian Football Cup, Greek Football Cup, Svenska Cupen, Scottish Cup
  2. ^ Includes Scottish League Cup
  3. ^ a b Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  4. ^ Appearance in Croatian Football Super Cup
  5. ^ One appearance in UEFA Champions League, five in UEFA Europa League
  6. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League
  7. ^ a b Appearances in UEFA Champions League

International

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As of match played 7 September 2021[25]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Croatia 2020 1 0
2021 2 0
Total 3 0

Honours

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Rijeka

Malmö FF

PAOK

Rangers

Parma

Individual

References

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  1. ^ "Colak, Antonio-Mirko". kicker (in German). Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  2. ^ "čȍlāk". Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 19 March 2018. Čòlak (Čȍlāk)
  3. ^ "Fix! Colak bei den Lilien gelandet". kicker (in German). 25 July 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  4. ^ "Neuzugang: Antonio Colak verstärkt den FC Ingolstadt 04". FC Ingolstadt (in German). 3 July 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  5. ^ "Antonio Čolak: Dolazak u Rijeku prava je odluka za mene". HNK Rijeka (in Croatian). 11 January 2018. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  6. ^ "Antonio Mirko Čolak potpisao trogodišnji ugovor s Rijekom i najavio još golova". Novi List (in Croatian). 22 June 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Οριστικό: Έκλεισε ο Τσόλακ στον ΠΑΟΚ, έρχεται σήμερα στη Θεσσαλονίκη" (in Greek). Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Colak joins Malmo". PAOK FC Official Website. 6 March 2021. Archived from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  9. ^ "ΠΑΟΚ: Ο Τσόλακ, η Ντιναμό Ζάγκρεμπ και η Μάλμε". www.sport24.gr (in Greek). 11 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  10. ^ "ΑΕΚ – ΠΑΟΚ 0-1: Όπως θέλει, όποτε θέλει!". www.sportime.gr (in Greek). 20 March 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  11. ^ "Rangers Confirm Antonio Colak Signing". www.rangers.co.uk. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  12. ^ "Livingston 1-2 Rangers". BBC Sport. 30 July 2022.
  13. ^ "Rangers 2-0 Kilmarnock". BBC Sport. 6 August 2022.
  14. ^ "Rangers 3-0 Union Saint-Gilloise". BBC Sport. 10 August 2022.
  15. ^ "Rangers 4-0 St Johnstone". BBC Sport. 13 August 2022.
  16. ^ "Rangers will play at European football's top table for the first time in more than a decade after stunning PSV Eindhoven to reach the Champions League group stage". BBC. 24 August 2022.
  17. ^ "Antonio Colak: Rangers striker joins Parma for undisclosed fee after year at Ibrox". BBC Sport. 15 July 2023.
  18. ^ "Scottish Gossip: Rangers, Colak, McCrorie, Celtic, Rieder, Hibs, Doig, Hearts, Dundee, Aberdeen, St Johnstone, Ross County". BBC Sport. 14 July 2023.
  19. ^ "Ufficiale | Antonio Čolak è un nuovo calciatore dello Spezia" [Official | Antonio Čolak is a new Spezia player] (in Italian). Spezia. 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  20. ^ "Antonio Mirko Čolak". hns-cff.hr. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  21. ^ "Antonio Čolak pozvan u reprezentaciju Hrvatske: 'Ovo je priznanje za mene i Rijeku'". HNK Rijeka (in Croatian). 27 August 2020. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  22. ^ "Dalić objavio prošireni popis za Svjetsko prvenstvo: Evo tko ima šansu putovati u Katar". Gol.hr (in Croatian). 31 October 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  23. ^ "Zlatko Dalić objavio popis igrača za SP, ovo su 26 imena koje vodi u Katar". Večernji list (in Croatian). 9 November 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  24. ^ "A. Colak". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  25. ^ "Antonio-Mirko Čolak profile". eu-football.info. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  26. ^ Moffat, Colin (26 February 2023). "Kyogo strikes twice as Celtic beat Rangers in final". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
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