View source for Boško Balaban

{{Short description|Croatian footballer (born 1978)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Boško Balaban
| image = Boško Balaban 10052008.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = Balaban playing for [[NK Dinamo Zagreb|Dinamo Zagreb]] in 2008
| fullname = Boško Balaban<ref name="Hugman2002-03 27">{{Cite book | editor-first = Barry J. | editor-last = Hugman | title = The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2002/2003 | year = 2002 | publisher = Queen Anne Press | isbn = 9781852916480 | page = 27 }}</ref>
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1978|10|15}}
| birth_place = [[Rijeka]], [[Socialist Republic of Croatia|SR Croatia]],<br>[[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|SFR Yugoslavia]]
| height = 1.83m
| position = [[Striker (association football)|Striker]]
| currentclub = 
| clubnumber = 
| youthyears1 = 
| youthclubs1 = 
| years1 = 1995–2000
| clubs1 = [[NK Rijeka|Rijeka]]
| caps1 = 97
| goals1 = 21
| years2 = 2000–2001
| clubs2 = [[NK Dinamo Zagreb|Dinamo Zagreb]]
| caps2 = 27
| goals2 = 14
| years3 = 2001–2003
| clubs3 = [[Aston Villa F.C.|Aston Villa]]
| caps3 = 8
| goals3 = 0
| years4 = 2002–2003
| clubs4 = → [[NK Dinamo Zagreb|Dinamo Zagreb]] (loan)
| caps4 = 24
| goals4 = 15
| years5 = 2003–2007
| clubs5 = [[Club Brugge KV|Club Brugge]]
| caps5 = 118
| goals5 = 58
| years6 = 2007–2009
| clubs6 = [[NK Dinamo Zagreb|Dinamo Zagreb]]
| caps6 = 37
| goals6 = 17
| years7 = 2009–2012
| clubs7 = [[Panionios F.C.|Panionios]]
| caps7 = 54
| goals7 = 13
| years8 = 2012–2015
| clubs8 = [[Selangor F.C.|Selangor]]
| caps8 = 30
| goals8 = 12
| totalcaps = 398
| totalgoals = 150
| nationalyears1 = 1994
| nationalteam1 = [[Croatia national football team|Croatia U-15]]
| nationalcaps1 = 3
| nationalgoals1 = 0
| nationalyears2 = 1995
| nationalteam2 = [[Croatia national football team|Croatia U-16]]
| nationalcaps2 = 1
| nationalgoals2 = 0
| nationalyears3 = 1995
| nationalteam3 = [[Croatia national football team|Croatia U-17]]
| nationalcaps3 = 2
| nationalgoals3 = 1
| nationalyears4 = 1996
| nationalteam4 = [[Croatia national football team|Croatia U-18]]
| nationalcaps4 = 1
| nationalgoals4 = 0
| nationalyears5 = 1996–1997
| nationalteam5 = [[Croatia national football team|Croatia U-19]]
| nationalcaps5 = 4
| nationalgoals5 = 0
| nationalyears6 = 1996–1997
| nationalteam6 = [[Croatia national football team|Croatia U-20]]
| nationalcaps6 = 1
| nationalgoals6 = 1
| nationalyears7 = 1997–2000
| nationalteam7 = [[Croatia national football team|Croatia U-21]]
| nationalcaps7 = 17
| nationalgoals7 = 4
| nationalyears8 = 2000–2007
| nationalteam8 = [[Croatia national football team|Croatia]]
| nationalcaps8 = 35
| nationalgoals8 = 10
}}
'''Boško Balaban''' (born 15 October 1978) is a Croatian former [[Association football|footballer]] who played as a [[Striker (association football)|striker]]. Balaban also played for the [[Croatia national football team|Croatia national team]].

==Club career==
===Early career===
Born in [[Rijeka]], he started playing for local club [[NK Rijeka|HNK Rijeka]] and appeared in 97 matches between 1995 and 2000, scoring a total of 21 goals. During the 1999–2000 season, he was the top scorer of his team with 15 goals and attracted the attention of another Croatian club, [[NK Dinamo Zagreb|Dinamo Zagreb]]. Playing for Dinamo, Balaban kept up his goalscoring form and once again became the league's top scorer with 14 goals in 25 games. Two games into the following season, he was signed by [[Aston Villa F.C.|Aston Villa]] for a fee of £5.8 million, earning a £20,000-a-week contract.<ref name="av">{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2003/dec/05/newsstory.sport19?INTCMP=SRCH | title=Balaban's contract terminated by Villa | work=The Guardian | access-date=4 September 2012 | location=London | first=Dominic | last=Fifield | date=4 December 2003}}</ref>

===Aston Villa===
Balaban failed to find any form for Aston Villa, making just nine appearances, seven as a substitute, in two and a half years.<ref name="av" /> He was loaned back to Dinamo Zagreb for the 2002–03 season, scoring 15 times in 24 appearances. In December 2003, Aston Villa released Balaban from his contract and he signed for [[Club Brugge K.V.|Club Brugge]] on a free transfer.<ref name="av" />

Balaban is regularly cited as one of the worst Premier League signings of all time.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2096584.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080727003744/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2096584.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 July 2008 |work=The Times |location=London |title=The 50 worst transfers |first=Bill |last=Edgar |date=18 July 2007 |access-date=7 May 2010 }}</ref> In a 2019 interview with ''[[FourFourTwo]]'', Balaban disputed this, arguing that Aston Villa never gave him an opportunity to play: "If you’re a club that throws big money at signings and then doesn’t let them actually play, the jokes should really be at your expense."<ref>{{cite web |title=What's it like to be a big-money flop? Five players who've been there tell FourFourTwo... |url=https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/whats-it-be-a-big-money-flop-five-players-whove-been-there-tell-fourfourtwo?page=0%2C2 |website=FourFourTwo |publisher=FourFourTwo |date=22 January 2019 |access-date=10 January 2020 |archive-date=26 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126020447/https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/whats-it-be-a-big-money-flop-five-players-whove-been-there-tell-fourfourtwo?page=0%2C2 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Club Brugge===
In the 2004–05 season, Balaban scored 25 goals in 24 appearances for Club Brugge; in the 2005–06 season, he scored 27 goals in 30 games for Brugge. In August 2007, Balaban went back to Dinamo after Brugge had bought the top scorer [[François Sterchele]]. Balaban stated he would miss Brugge very much and he had a wonderful time at the club. He earned the nickname amongst Brugge fans of "Super Bosko", due to him scoring four times in one match and scoring at an average of 0.5 goals per match.

===Dinamo Zagreb===
During Balaban's time at Dinamo Zagreb, he had an incident with fascist salute, which he made to fans after scoring a goal against [[NK Inter Zaprešić|Inter Zapresic]]. He had to pay a fine of 100KN (around €14).<ref>{{cite web|title=JOE's Forgotten Footballers: Boško Balaban|url=https://www.joe.ie/uncategorized/joes-forgotten-footballers-bosko-balaban-46754|website=[[Joe (website)|Joe]]|access-date=6 March 2017}}</ref>

===Panionios===
In June 2009, [[Panionios F.C.|Panionios]] signed Balaban on a three-year contract. Balaban scored eight goals and he was Panionios' first scorer for the [[Super League Greece 2009-10|Super League 2009–10]].

===Selangor FA===
On 29 January 2012, Malaysian Super League team [[Selangor FA]] signed Balaban for an undisclosed fee. He debuted, and scored the winning goal in the game against league leaders [[Kelantan FA]] on 14 February 2012, Selangor winning 2–1.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.goal.com/en-sg/match/73145/selangor-fa-vs-kelantan-fa/report|title=Selangor 2–1 Kelantan: Bosko Balaban proves he is worth the wait |author=Zulhilmi Zainal|publisher=Goal.com|date=14 February 2012 |access-date=21 February 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://football.thestar.com.my/2012/02/15/selangor-striker-balaban-scores-during-debut-to-condemn-leaders-kelantan-to-first-defeat/|title=Bosko starts with a bang|author=K. RAJAN|newspaper=The Star|date=15 February 2012|access-date=21 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218232718/http://football.thestar.com.my/2012/02/15/selangor-striker-balaban-scores-during-debut-to-condemn-leaders-kelantan-to-first-defeat/|archive-date=18 February 2012|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

After helping Selangor to qualify for the [[2013 AFC Cup]], Balaban's contract was not extended after a mutual agreement.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.bharian.com.my/bharian/articles/IrfanikatbekaspeledakCroatia/Article | title = Irfan ikat bekas peledak Croatia | language = ms | publisher = bharian.com.my | access-date = 9 February 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140221125453/http://www.bharian.com.my/bharian/articles/IrfanikatbekaspeledakCroatia/Article | archive-date = 21 February 2014 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

==International career==
Balaban won 35 international caps for Croatia between 2000 and 2007, scoring ten goals. His debut came in a friendly match against [[Slovakia national football team|Slovakia]] on 16 August 2000,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://eu-football.info/_player.php?id=1121|title=Player Database|accessdate=5 June 2022|website=EU-football}}</ref> after being a regular member of the [[Croatia national under-21 football team|Croatian under-21 team]] for more than a year. His debut proved successful, as he scored Croatia's only goal in a 1-1 draw.

Balaban excelled during Croatia's qualifying campaign for the [[2002 FIFA World Cup]], appearing in all eight matches and scored five goals, including a [[hat-trick]] against [[Latvia national football team|Latvia]] in a 4–1 victory on 24 March 2001. He was also in the Croatia squad at the final 2002 World Cup tournament, but spent all three group matches on the bench. He subsequently did not appear in any matches for Croatia between February 2003 and August 2004, missing the entire [[UEFA Euro 2004|Euro 2004]] qualifying campaign as well as the final tournament. He made his competitive comeback against [[Bulgaria national football team|Bulgaria]] on 9 October 2004 in the Croatia team's qualifying campaign for the [[2006 FIFA World Cup]] and subsequently appeared in another four qualifying matches, scoring a brace against [[Iceland national football team|Iceland]] on 3 September 2005. He was also a squad member at the 2006 World Cup finals, but once again spent all three group matches on the bench.

In early September 2006, Croatia manager [[Slaven Bilić]] dropped Balaban, along with teammates [[Ivica Olić]] and [[Dario Srna]], from the squad for their opening [[UEFA Euro 2008|Euro 2008]] qualifier against [[Russia national football team|Russia]] because of a late-night party in a [[Zagreb]] disco. However, Balaban was the only one of the three players to return to the squad for the very next qualifier against [[Andorra national football team|Andorra]] one month later, which Croatia won 7-0. Coming on as a substitute an hour into the match, and with Croatia 5–0 up, Balaban subsequently scored the fastest-ever goal by a single player for the Croatia national team, scoring just 20 seconds after coming onto the pitch.

==Personal life==
In November 2023, Balaban was jailed for one year after failing to pay child support to his ex-wife.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://talksport.com/football/1642940/bosko-balaban-jail-miss-croatia-iva-radic-aston-villa/ |title=Forgotten Premier League star Bosko Balaban JAILED for failing to pay child support to Miss Croatia ex-wife |publisher=Talksport |date=15 November 2023 |accessdate=16 November 2023}}</ref>

==Career statistics==

===Club===
:Source:<ref name="Dinamo Zagreb statistics">{{cite news|url=http://povijest.gnkdinamo.hr/popis-igra%C4%8Da/bo%C5%A1ko-balaban.html|title=Boško Balaban Dinamo statistics|publisher=povijest.gnkdinamo.hr|access-date=8 October 2017|archive-date=9 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009042011/http://povijest.gnkdinamo.hr/popis-igra%C4%8Da/bo%C5%A1ko-balaban.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="3"|League
!colspan="2"|Cup
!colspan="2"|League Cup
!colspan="2"|Continental
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan=6|[[HNK Rijeka]]
|[[1995–96 HNK Rijeka season|1995–96]]
|[[Croatian First League|Prva HNL]]
|3||0||0||0||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||3||0
|-
|[[1996–97 HNK Rijeka season|1996–97]]
|Prva HNL
|19||1||1||0||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||20||1
|-
|[[1997–98 HNK Rijeka season|1997–98]]
|Prva HNL
|26||1||2||0||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||28||1
|-
|[[1998–99 HNK Rijeka season|1998–99]]
|Prva HNL
|23||4||2||0||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||25||4
|-
|[[1999–2000 HNK Rijeka season|1999–2000]]
|Prva HNL
|29||16||3||1||colspan="2"|–||2||0||34||17
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!100||22||8||1||0||0||2||0||110||23
|-
|rowspan="3"|[[Dinamo Zagreb]]
|[[2000–01 Croatian First Football League|2000–01]]
|Prva HNL
|25||14||3||5||colspan="2"|–||4||0||32||19
|-
|[[2001–02 NK Dinamo Zagreb season|2001–02]]
|Prva HNL
|2||1||0||0||colspan="2"|–||0||0||2||1
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!27||15||3||5||0||0||4||0||34||20
|-
|[[Aston Villa F.C.|Aston Villa]]
|[[2001–02 Aston Villa F.C. season|2001–02]]
|[[Premier League]]
|8||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|–||8||0
|-
|Dinamo Zagreb
|[[2002–03 NK Dinamo Zagreb season|2002–03]]
|Prva HNL
|24||15||2||3||0||0||4||0||30||18
|-
|rowspan="5"|[[Club Brugge KV|Club Brugge]]
|[[2003–04 Belgian First Division|2003–04]]
|[[Belgian First Division A|Belgian First Division]]
|0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0
|-
|[[2004–05 Belgian First Division|2004–05]]
|Belgian First Division
|22||9||3||0||1||0||8||4||34||13
|-
|[[2005–06 Belgian First Division|2005–06]]
|Belgian First Division
|30||13||1||0||1||1||8||3||40||17
|-
|[[2006–07 Belgian First Division|2006–07]]
|Belgian First Division
|29||16||6||4||colspan="2"|–||5||3||40||23
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!83||40||10||4||2||1||21||10||116||55
|-
|rowspan="3"|Dinamo Zagreb
|[[2007–08 NK Dinamo Zagreb season|2007–08]]
|Prva HNL
|18||11||4||2||colspan="2"|–||6||1||28||14
|-
|[[2008–09 NK Dinamo Zagreb season|2008–09]]
|Prva HNL
|13||6||3||4||colspan="2"|–||9||2||25||12
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!31||17||7||6||0||0||15||3||53||26
|-
|rowspan="3"|[[Panionios F.C.|Panionios]]
|[[2009–10 Super League Greece|2009–10]]
|[[Super League Greece]]
|24||8||3||1||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||27||9
|-
|[[2010–11 Super League Greece|2010–11]]
|Super League Greece
|26||4||1||0||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||27||4
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!50||12||4||1||0||0||0||0||54||13
|-
|[[Selangor FA]]
|[[2012 Liga Super|2012]]
|[[Malaysia Super League|Liga Super]]
|20||12||2||1||8||4||colspan="2"|–||27||9
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!343||133||35||21||10||5||46||13||434||172
|}

===International appearances===
:Source:<ref name="Croatia statistics">{{cite news|url=http://hns-cff.hr/en/players/110121/bosko-balaban/|title=BOŠKO BALABAN|publisher=hns-cff.hr|access-date= 8 October 2017}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!colspan="3"|[[Croatia national football team|Croatia]]
|-
!Year!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|2000||3||1
|-
|2001||9||5
|-
|2002||2||0
|-
|2003||1||0
|-
|2004||3||0
|-
|2005||6||2
|-
|2006||6||2
|-
|2007||5||0
|-
!Total||35||10
|}

===International goals===
{| class="wikitable"
! # !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
|-
|1 || 16 August 2000 || [[Tehelné pole]], [[Bratislava]], Slovakia || {{fb|Slovakia}}|| 0–'''1''' || 1–1 || [[Exhibition game|Friendly]]
|-
|2 || rowspan=3 | 24 March 2001 || rowspan=3 | [[Gradski vrt]], [[Osijek]], Croatia || rowspan=3 | {{fb|Latvia}}|| '''1'''–0 || rowspan=3 | 4–1 || rowspan=5 | [[2002 FIFA World Cup qualification]]
|-
|3 || '''2'''–0 
|-
|4 || '''3'''–0 
|-
|5 || 2 June 2001 || [[Stadion Varteks]], [[Varaždin]], Croatia || {{fb|San Marino}}|| '''2'''–0 || 4–0
|-
|6 || 6 June 2001 || [[Skonto Stadions]], [[Riga]], Latvia || {{fb|Latvia}}|| 0–'''1''' || 0–1
|-
|7 || rowspan=2 | 3 September 2005 || rowspan=2 | [[Laugardalsvöllur]], [[Reykjavík]], Iceland || rowspan=2 | {{fb|Iceland}}|| 1–'''1''' || rowspan=2 | 1–3 ||rowspan=2 | [[2006 FIFA World Cup qualification]]
|-
|8 || 1–'''2'''
|-
|9 || 23 May 2006 || [[Ernst Happel Stadion]], [[Vienna]], Austria || {{fb|Austria}}|| 1–'''4''' || 1–4 || [[Exhibition game|Friendly]]
|-
|10 || 7 October 2006 || [[Maksimir Stadium]], [[Zagreb]], Croatia || {{fb|Andorra}}|| '''6'''–0 || 7–0 || [[UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying]]
|-
|}

==Honours==
'''Dinamo Zagreb'''
*[[Prva HNL]]: [[2002–03 Prva HNL|2002–03]], [[2007–08 Prva HNL|2007–08]]
*[[Croatian Football Cup|Croatian Cup]]: [[2000–01 Croatian Cup|2000–01]], [[2007–08 Croatian Cup|2007–08]], [[2008–09 Croatian Cup|2008–09]]
*[[Croatian Football Super Cup|Croatian Super Cup]]: [[Croatian Football Super Cup|2002]]

'''Club Brugge'''
*[[Belgian First Division]]: [[2004–05 Belgian First Division|2004–05]]
*[[Belgian Cup]]: [[2004 Belgian Cup Final|2003–04]], [[2006–07 Belgian Cup|2006–07]]
*[[Belgian Supercup]]: [[2005 Belgian Super Cup|2005]]

'''Individual'''
*[[Sportske novosti Yellow Shirt award|SN Yellow Shirt award]]: 2001
*Fastest goal scored for Croatia
*[[Malaysian League]] top goalscorer: [[2012 Liga Super|2012]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Boško Balaban}}
*{{FIFA player|179051}}
*{{NFT player|1693}}
*{{CFF player|110121/bosko-balaban}}
*{{hrnogomet|id=1009|national_id=1152}}

{{Sportske novosti Yellow Shirt award}}
{{Navboxes colour
| bg=white
| fg=red
| bordercolor=red
| title=Croatia squads
| list1=
{{Croatia squad 2002 FIFA World Cup}}
{{Croatia squad 2006 FIFA World Cup}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balaban, Bosko}}
[[Category:1978 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Footballers from Rijeka]]
[[Category:Men's association football forwards]]
[[Category:Croatian men's footballers]]
[[Category:Croatia men's under-21 international footballers]]
[[Category:Croatia men's international footballers]]
[[Category:2002 FIFA World Cup players]]
[[Category:2006 FIFA World Cup players]]
[[Category:HNK Rijeka players]]
[[Category:GNK Dinamo Zagreb players]]
[[Category:Aston Villa F.C. players]]
[[Category:Club Brugge KV players]]
[[Category:Panionios F.C. players]]
[[Category:Selangor F.C. players]]
[[Category:Croatian Football League players]]
[[Category:Premier League players]]
[[Category:Belgian Pro League players]]
[[Category:Super League Greece players]]
[[Category:Malaysia Super League players]]
[[Category:Croatian expatriate men's footballers]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Greece]]
[[Category:Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Greece]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in England]]
[[Category:Croatian expatriate sportspeople in England]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium]]
[[Category:Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia]]
[[Category:Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia]]
[[Category:21st-century Croatian sportsmen]]