Nikola Kalinić

From Tekken City

Nikola Kalinić (born January 5, 1988) is a Croatian football striker, who plays for FA Barclays Premiership side Tekken City and the Croatian national team. Croatia manager Slaven Bilić has described him as "the future of Croatian football".

Club Career

Kalinic started his career as a teenager in the Prva HNL. At age 18, he played on a loan contract with Pula, where he had a slow but fair start considering his young age. After a short single season with them, he moved to HNK Šibenik where he had an even shorter season, but still managing to make a small impact. He eventually signed a full length contract with league giants Hajduk Split, and enjoyed a season to remember with them, being one of the league's top scorers and rising through the ranks of players to be watched. His 17 goals in his first season with Hajduk was only beaten by league topscorer Zelimir Terkes, who managed 21 goals. However, it was a great achievement for the youngster who had initially set a target of scoring 15 goals, which he ended up exceeding. He finished his 2007/08 season at 5th place with Hajduk in the league, also helping them reach the final of the Croatian Cup in the same season.

On April 3, 2008, Kalinić agreed to sign a 5-year-contract with Tekken City as part of a pre-contract agreement that would see the young striker play for the club in the Premiership next season. Tekken City would need to pay £8.7m to Hajduk Split for the player. They agreed to sign Kalinić on a pre-contract agreement in order to have enough time to grant a work permit for the player.

International Career

He was a key player in the Croatian national under-21 team during his younger youth playing years. He also represented his country at under 17 and under 19 youth level. He first made a name for himself at international level at age 17 during the 2004/05 UEFA European Championship when he finished the attempted campaign as the top scorer with 11 goals. At under 19 level, he managed another 5 goals during his sides preliminary round of the same tournament. He also scored a hat-trick against Moldova in Croatia's 3-0 victory, which secured them a spot in the next elite round of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in 2006.

His impressive abilities earned him a place in Croatia's final squad for the Euro 2008 tournament. He will wear the number 9 jersey while he plays for Croatia. He made his first appearance for the senior national team on May 24, 2008, coming on as a substitute in the 62nd minute of Croatia's 1-0 friendly win against Moldova. He went on to make his first appearance at Euro 2008 in Croatia's final group game against Poland, coming on as a substitute for goalscorer Ivan Klasnic in the 1-0 victory.