Mate Maleš

Mate Maleš (Croatian pronunciation: [mǎːte mâːleʃ];[1][2] born 11 March 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder in Croatian club Lokomotiva Zagreb.

Mate Maleš
Maleš with Dinamo Zagreb
Personal information
Date of birth (1989-03-11) 11 March 1989
Place of birth Šibenik, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Lokomotiva
Number 4
Youth career
1999–2007 Šibenik
2007–2008 Hajduk Split
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2007 Šibenik 1 (0)
2008 Dinamo Zagreb 1 (0)
2008–2013 Lokomotiva 66 (0)
2011–2012 → NK Zagreb (loan) 21 (0)
2013–2018 Rijeka 90 (2)
2018–2019 CFR Cluj 8 (0)
2019–2020 Sarpsborg 08 1 (0)
2020–2021 Arezzo 5 (0)
2021– Lokomotiva 27 (1)
International career‡
2007 Croatia U18 3 (0)
2006–2007 Croatia U19 4 (0)
2008 Croatia U20 1 (0)
2014 Croatia 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23 January 2021
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 3 November 2015

Club career

Maleš started his football career with HNK Šibenik, debuting for the first team at the age of 17, on 4 August 2006 against Dinamo Zagreb. His teammates in HNK Šibenik included Ante Rukavina and Gordon Schildenfeld.

In 2007, Hajduk Split acquired Maleš and introduced him to their youth system. He was set to sign his first professional contract in February 2008, after a tournament in Hong Kong in which he played for the first team. Instead, he opted to sign a five-year deal with Dinamo Zagreb. After only two matches for his new team in the early stages of the 2008–09 season, he was loaned to Lokomotiva. In the summer of 2010, his contract with Dinamo was cancelled and Maleš signed a three-year contract with Lokomotiva. He spent one of these three seasons on loan with NK Zagreb.

Rijeka

In June 2013, Maleš signed a two-year deal with HNK Rijeka.[3] He was a regular starter during his first season with the club. However, following a serious ankle injury, he had to undergo two surgeries, followed by long recovery periods. As a consequence, he did not play a single match from 26 March 2014 until 2 August 2015, in process missing the entire 2014–15 season, with the exception of one Rijeka II appearance in 3. HNL. Nevertheless, in May 2015, Rijeka renewed his contract for two years, tying him to the club until June 2017.[4] Maleš scored his first ever Prva HNL goal in Rijeka's 2–1 away win against Lokomotiva on 17 October 2015.[5] From the start of the 2016–17 season and until his departure in February 2018 Maleš served as the team captain.

Maleš was signed by Chinese Super League newcomer Dalian Yifang in February 2018.[6] However, after Wanda Group took charge of the club at the end of February 2018 and bought Nicolás Gaitán and Yannick Carrasco from Atlético Madrid, he was excluded from the squad due to the limitation of the numbers of foreign players.[7]

CFR Cluj

On 20 June 2018, Maleš signed a contract with Romanian defending champions CFR Cluj.[8]

Sarpsborg 08

On 30 July 2019, Maleš signed for Sarpsborg 08 on a contract until the end of the 2020 season.[9] On 15 August 2019 Maleš' contract was extended until the end of the 2021 season.[10]

Arezzo

On 17 September 2020, he moved to Italian Serie C club Arezzo.[11] On 29 January 2021, his contract was terminated by mutual consent.[12]

International career

In 2006, Mate Maleš was selected for the national under-21 team, but despite being a regular U19 player, he never got a cap for the U21s. However, he has been called up to the Croatia squad and was in the squad for the 2014 World Cup Qualifying match against Iceland,[13] on 19 November 2013.

He made his international debut on 5 March 2014, aged 24, in a friendly away match against Switzerland,[14] where he was in the starting line-up and eventually replaced by Luka Modrić in 56th minute.[15] The match ended in a 2–2 draw. He missed the 2014 FIFA World Cup due to injury.[16]

Career statistics
Season Club League League Cup Europe Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
2006–07 Šibenik 1. HNL 10––10
2007–08 Hajduk Split –––00
2008–09 Dinamo Zagreb 10–1020
2008–09 Lokomotiva 2. HNL 150––150
2009–10 1. HNL 110––110
2010–11 17020–190
2011–12 20––20
NK Zagreb 21050–260
2012–13 Lokomotiva 21082–292
Lokomotiva total 66010200762
2013–14 Rijeka 1. HNL 22030120370
2014–15 –––00
2015–16 28130–311
2016–17 2514120312
2017–18 15030100280
Rijeka total 9021312401273
Career total 17922832502325
Last Update: 17 December 2017.

Honours

Club

Rijeka

CFR Cluj

References
  1. "Máte". Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 21 March 2018. Máte
  2. "mȃl1". Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 21 March 2018. Mȃleš
  3. "Za Rijeku potpisali Tomečak, Pokrivač, Maleš i Boras – Moja Rijeka". Moja Rijeka. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  4. "HNK Rijeka - Maleš, Ajayi i Collins produžili ugovore". Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  5. "Lokomotiva - Rijeka 1:2 - MAXtv Prva liga". prvahnl.hr. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  6. "曝克甲冠军队长已会合一方 B2B中场身价100万欧". sina. 3 February 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  7. "CHINESE SUPER LEAGUE CLUB BARS NEW SIGNING". fifpro.org. 26 March 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  8. "Bun venit, Mate Males!" [Welcome, Mate Maleš!] (in Romanian). CFR Cluj. 20 June 2018.
  9. "MIDTBANEKRIGER MATE MALES KLAR FOR SARPSBORG 08". sarpsborg08.no/ (in Norwegian). Sarpsborg 08 FF. 30 July 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  10. "MALES FORLENGER MED SARPSBORG 08". sarpsborg08.no/ (in Norwegian). Sarpsborg 08 FF. 15 August 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  11. "Mate Males e Nader Aly sono due nuovi calciatori della S.S. Arezzo" (in Italian). Arezzo. 17 September 2020.
  12. "Rescissione consensuale del contratto con Mate Males" (in Italian). Arezzo. 29 January 2021.
  13. "Kovac calls up uncapped Males for Iceland play-off". Eurosport. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  14. "Player Database". EU-football. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  15. "Drmić and Olić secure draw in Switzerland - Croatian Football Federation". hns-cff.hr. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  16. "Mate Maleš to miss the FIFA World Cup - Croatian Football Federation". hns-cff.hr. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
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