Žan Karničnik

Žan Karničnik (born 18 September 1994) is a Slovenian football defender who plays for Slovenian PrvaLiga club Celje, on loan from Ludogorets Razgrad.[2]

Žan Karničnik
Karničnik with Slovenia in 2022
Personal information
Date of birth (1994-09-18) 18 September 1994
Place of birth Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia[1]
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
 Celje
(on loan from Ludogorets Razgrad)
Number 23
Youth career
0000–2013 Dravograd
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2015 Radlje ob Dravi 51 (10)
2015–2017 Maribor 1 (0)
2015–2017 Maribor B 50 (11)
2017–2022 Mura 146 (14)
2022– Ludogorets Razgrad 16 (0)
2022 Ludogorets Razgrad II 4 (0)
2023– → Celje (loan) 16 (0)
International career‡
2021– Slovenia 22 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 4 June 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17 October 2023

Club career

Karničnik played for the youth teams of Slovenian club Dravograd before moving to the Styrian League side Radlje ob Dravi in 2013 to start his senior career.[3] Before the start of the 2015–16 season, he signed with PrvaLiga club Maribor, where he was part of their reserve side, Maribor B, playing in the Slovenian third division.[4] After being a regular starter for Maribor B for two seasons, he made his first and only appearance for Maribor's first team in May 2017, starting in a 3–1 loss against Aluminij.[5]

On 26 July 2017, Karničnik joined Slovenian Second League club Mura.[2] At the end of his first season at Mura, the club won the league and was thus promoted to the PrvaLiga.[2] In the 2020–21 season, Karničnik made 34 appearances as he won the PrvaLiga title with Mura, the first domestic league title in the club's history.[6]

In January 2022, Karničnik moved to Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad.[7] With Ludogorets, he won the national title in the 2021–22 season, making eleven league appearances in the second part of the season.[2] He was set to leave Ludogorets in the summer of 2022 due to a lack of playing time and was on the verge of signing for Norwegian side Lillestrøm SK, but the transfer was cancelled as the paperwork was sent too late after the transfer window had already closed.[8] After only five games played in the first part of the 2022–23 season,[2] he returned to Slovenia and joined Celje on a one-year loan, with the option of making the transfer permanent.[9]

International career

Karničnik made his debut for the Slovenia national team on 8 October 2021 in a World Cup qualifier against Malta.[10]

Honours

Maribor

Mura

Ludogorets Razgrad

References
  1. Žan Karničnik at WorldFootball.net
  2. Žan Karničnik at Soccerway
  3. "Radeljčani že trenirajo s polno paro". golgeter.com (in Slovenian). 27 July 2013. Archived from the original on 29 June 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  4. "NK Maribor B Ponovno osvojiti naslov". golgeter.com (in Slovenian). 18 August 2015. Archived from the original on 21 June 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  5. "Statistika – Prva Liga Telekom Slovenije 2016/17". prvaliga.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  6. "Mura državni prvak Slovenije". nkmura.si (in Slovenian). 22 May 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  7. "Žan Karničnik odhaja v Ludogorec". nsmura.si (in Slovenian). 12 January 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  8. "Kaj se dogaja? Žan Karničnik živi v negotovosti! Časa naj bi imeli 30 sekund?!". Ekipa24.si (in Slovenian). 8 September 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  9. "Žan Karničnik okrepil Celjane; Oliver Bogatinov prevzel Radomlje" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. 22 December 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  10. "Malta v Slovenia game report". FIFA. 8 October 2021. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.