Nikola Pokrivač

2016-07-29T21:47:49Z

DinZG1986:

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Nikola Pokrivač
| fullname = Nikola Pokrivač
| image = Nikola Pokrivac.JPG
| image_size = 200
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1985|11|26}}
| birth_place = [[Čakovec]], [[Croatia]]
| height = {{height|m=1.85}}
| position = [[Defensive midfielder]]
| currentclub = [[NK Slaven Belupo]]
| clubnumber =
| youthclubs1 = Bratstvo Jurovec
| youthclubs2 = [[NK Čakovec|Čakovec]]
| youthyears1 = 1995–1997
| youthyears2 = 1997–2001
| clubs1 = [[NK Varteks (1958–2012)|Varteks]]
| clubs2 = [[NK Dinamo Zagreb|Dinamo Zagreb]]
| years1 = 2004–2006
| years2 = 2007–2008
| caps1 = 67
| caps2 = 30
| goals1 = 1
| goals2 = 5
| nationalteam1 = [[Croatia national under-21 football team|Croatia U21]]
| nationalteam2 = [[Croatia national football team|Croatia]]
| nationalyears1 = 2005–2006
| nationalyears2 = 2008–2010
| nationalcaps1 = 8
| nationalcaps2 = 15
| nationalgoals1 = 0
| nationalgoals2 = 0
| youthyears3 = 2001–2004
| youthclubs3 = [[NK Varteks (1958–2012)|Varteks]]
| years3 = 2008–2009
| clubs3 = [[AS Monaco FC|AS Monaco]]
| caps3 = 32
| goals3 = 2
| years4 = 2009–2011
| clubs4 = [[FC Red Bull Salzburg|Red Bull Salzburg]]
| caps4 = 30
| goals4 = 4
| years5 = 2011–2013
| clubs5 = [[GNK Dinamo Zagreb|Dinamo Zagreb]]
| caps5 = 15
| goals5 = 2
| years6 = 2013
| clubs6 = → [[NK Inter Zaprešić|Inter Zaprešić]] (loan)
| caps6 = 12
| goals6 = 0
| years7 = 2013–2014
| clubs7 = [[NK Rijeka|Rijeka]]
| caps7 = 16
| goals7 = 2
| years8 = 2014–2015
| clubs8 = [[FC Shakhter Karagandy|Shakhter Karagandy]]
| caps8 = 22
| goals8 = 0
| years9 = 2016–
| clubs9 = [[Slaven Belupo]]
| caps9 = 1
| goals9 = 0
| pcupdate = 22 June 2015
| ntupdate = 1 August 2011
}}
'''Nikola Pokrivač''' (born 26 November 1985) is a [[Croatia]]n [[Association football|footballer]] who plays as [[midfielder]] for [[Slaven Belupo]].

==Club career==

===NK Varteks Varaždin===
Pokrivač started to play football with amateur side Bratstvo Jurovec, near his hometown.<ref>{{cite web | title=Proizvode vrhunske igrače, a žive samo od uspomena | publisher=24 sata | language= Croatian | url=http://www.24sata.com/sport/clanak/proizvode-vrhunske-igrace-a-zive-samo-od-uspomena/90381/ |date=25 November 2008| accessdate=2008-11-26 }}</ref> He went on to continue his youth career with [[NK Čakovec|Čakovec]] and [[NK Varteks (1958-2010)|Varteks Varaždin]], eventually advancing to the first team at Varteks in the summer of 2004.

Making his [[Prva HNL|domestic league]] debut for Varteks against [[NK Zadar|Zadar]] on 7 August 2004, Pokrivač went on to establish himself as a regular at the club in 2005. He also appeared in some European matches for the club, playing in the [[UEFA Intertoto Cup]] in the summer of 2005 and the [[UEFA Cup]] qualifying a year later. In 2006, he also played for Varteks in the two-legged final of the [[Croatian Football Cup|Croatian Cup]], where they lost to [[NK Rijeka|Rijeka]] on away goals after a 5–5 draw on aggregate.

===GNK Dinamo Zagreb===
His good performances at Varteks eventually secured him a move to Croatia's top club [[Dinamo Zagreb]] in the winter break of the 2006–07 season. He quickly became a regular at his new club and also helped them winning both the Croatian league and cup titles in 2007. He also collected further experience in European competitions with Dinamo, making a total of 10 appearances in both the [[UEFA Champions League]] qualifying and the UEFA Cup during the first half of the 2007–08 season.

===AS Monaco===
On 30 January 2008, Pokrivač moved to French [[Ligue 1]] side [[AS Monaco FC|AS Monaco]] on a four-and-a-half-year contract. He made his league debut on 23 February 2008 in Monaco's 1–1 draw at [[Paris Saint-Germain]], playing the full 90 minutes. He continued to appear regularly for the club over the following two months, until being sent off with a straight red card in the final moments of the club's away match against [[OGC Nice]] on 19 April 2008. He made a total of 9 appearances in the Ligue 1 during his first six months with the club.

Struggling to regain his place as a regular with Monaco during his second season with the club, he scored his first goal in the Ligue 1 in Monaco's 3–1 win at home to [[AS Nancy-Lorraine]] on 29 October 2008, also recording an assist in the same match. A month later, he scored the only goal in Monaco's 1–0 win at [[AJ Auxerre]] in the Ligue 1. He finished the 2008–09 season with a total of 23 appearances in the Ligue 1. On 4 March 2009, he also scored one goal for Monaco in their 2–0 win at [[AC Ajaccio]] in the [[Coupe de France]] round of 16.

===Red Bull Salzburg===
On 24 August 2009, it was announced that Pokrivač signed a three-year contract with [[Austria]]n side [[FC Red Bull Salzburg|Red Bull Salzburg]]. He made his debut for the club on 29 August 2009 in their [[Austrian Football Bundesliga|Bundesliga]] match against [[SV Kapfenberg|Kapfenberg]], coming on as a substitute for [[Simon Cziommer]] in the 55th minute and scoring his first goal for the club when he netted the final goal in Salzburg's 4–0 win six minutes later.

On 26 September 2009, he scored his second Bundesliga goal for Salzburg in their 2–1 win at [[SK Austria Kärnten|Austria Kärnten]] and delivered a superb performance in a 7–1 home win against the same club on 4 October 2009, participating in all of Salzburg's three goals in the first half. He first set up the opening goal of the match for [[Christoph Leitgeb]] in the 3rd minute, then scored the second goal in the 34th minute, before setting up the third goal of the match for [[Marc Janko]] in the 41st minute.

===GNK Dinamo Zagreb===
On 16 August 2011, Pokrivač signed a four-year contract with [[GNK Dinamo Zagreb|Dinamo Zagreb]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Nikola Pokrivač potpisao za Dinamo | publisher=GNK Dinamo Zagreb | language= Croatian | url=http://www.gnkdinamo.hr/nikola-pokriva%C4%8D-potpisao-za-dinamo.html#anchor |date=16 August 2011| accessdate=2011-08-24 }}</ref>

===NK Inter Zaprešić===
During the 2012-13 winter transfer window, Pokrivač was loaned out to [[NK Inter Zaprešić|Inter Zaprešić]] for the remainder of the season.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nikola Pokrivač završio na posudbi u Interu|publisher=tportal|language=Croatian|url=http://prvaliga.tportal.hr/236171/Nikola-Pokrivac-zavrsio-na-posudbi-u-Interu.html|date=9 January 2013|accessdate=2013-06-25}}</ref>

===HNK Rijeka===
On 7 June 2013, Pokrivač signed a two-year contract with [[NK Rijeka|Rijeka]].
===FC Shakhter Karagandy===
In the summer of 2014, Pokrivač signed for Shakhter Karagandy.

==International career==
Pokrivač has played for the [[Croatia national under-21 football team|Croatian under-21 national team]] and has also represented the country at both the under-17 and under-19 levels. He won a total of 39 international caps and scored three goals for all Croatian youth national teams between 2001 and 2006.<ref>[http://www.hns-cff.hr/?ln=hr&w=statistike&d=prisutnost&repka=U&id=37437 International matches in the Croatian Football Federation's database] {{hr icon}}</ref>

On 5 May 2008, he received his first call-up for the [[Croatia national football team|Croatian national team]] at senior level, being added to their 23-man squad for the [[UEFA Euro 2008]] finals in [[Austria]] and [[Switzerland]].<ref>[http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/05052008/58/euro-2008-bilic-names-squad.html "Euro 2008 – Bilic names his squad"], [[Yahoo!]] [[Eurosport]] UK, 5 May 2008</ref> He went on to make his international debut on 24 May 2008 in a friendly match against [[Moldova national football team|Moldova]] in [[Rijeka]], coming on as a substitute for [[Niko Kovač]] in the 59th minute. At the UEFA Euro 2008 finals, he only appeared in Croatia's final group match against [[Poland national football team|Poland]], completing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 victory for Croatia.

Pokrivač went on to make five appearances in Croatia's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the [[2010 FIFA World Cup]], appearing in both matches against [[Kazakhstan national football team|Kazakhstan]] and [[England national football team|England]] as well as the away fixture at [[Andorra national football team|Andorra]]. He only started one of the five matches, being in the starting line-up for Croatia in their 5–1 defeat to England at [[Wembley Stadium|Wembley]]. However, he was substituted at half-time after a poor performance in the first half.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Nikola Pokrivac}}

{{Croatia Squad 2008 Euro Cup}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pokrivac, Nikola}}
[[Category:1985 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Čakovec]]
[[Category:Croatian footballers]]
[[Category:Croatia under-21 international footballers]]
[[Category:Croatia international footballers]]
[[Category:NK Varaždin players]]
[[Category:GNK Dinamo Zagreb players]]
[[Category:AS Monaco FC players]]
[[Category:FC Red Bull Salzburg players]]
[[Category:NK Inter Zaprešić players]]
[[Category:HNK Rijeka players]]
[[Category:FC Shakhter Karagandy players]]
[[Category:Croatian First Football League players]]
[[Category:Ligue 1 players]]
[[Category:Austrian Football Bundesliga players]]
[[Category:Kazakhstan Premier League players]]
[[Category:UEFA Euro 2008 players]]
[[Category:Croatian expatriate footballers]]
[[Category:Expatriate footballers in Monaco]]
[[Category:Croatian expatriates in Monaco]]
[[Category:Expatriate footballers in Austria]]
[[Category:Croatian expatriates in Austria]]
[[Category:Expatriate footballers in Kazakhstan]]

Kazakhstan Encyclopedia - User contributions [en]

Nikola Pokrivač