Mladen Petrić

Grasshopper Club

Petrić signed for Grasshopper Club ahead of the 1999–2000 Nationalliga A season. At that time GC was the clear number one in Switzerland, and foreign players were often brought in for positions up front. This was particularly pronounced under head coach Roy Hodgson, therefore Petrić had a difficult time. In the next season Hans-Peter Zaugg was appointed as new head coach and Petrić came to regular appearances and in his first five games scored three goals. At the end of the 2000–01 Swiss Football League season Petrić won the championship with GC. In the 2001–02 season GC were runners-up behind FC Basel and reached the Swiss Cup final. In the final Petrić scored the equaliser, after Basel had taken an early lead. The match went into extra time, but FCB won 2–1 and thus the trophy. At the end of the 2002–03 Nationalliga A season, Petrić won his second championship with GC. But he received much criticism because of an action during the Swiss Championship celebrations, in which he burned a Basel scarf. In the 2003–04 season GC again reached the cup final, this time they were defeated 3–2 by Wil. Petrić left the club in the summer of 2004. During his time playing for GC, he made a total of 114 domestic league appearances and scored 30 league goals for the club.

Basel

Petrić was acquired for a transfer fee of approximate €3 million and he signed a four-year contract until June 2008. He joined Basel's first team during their 2004–05 season under…

In 2001, Petrić was spotted in Switzerland by Mirko Jozić, head coach of the Croatia national team at the time, and made his international debut for Croatia during the team's South Korean tour in November 2001, where they played two friendly matches against the South Korean national team. Petrić appeared in both of the two matches as a second-half substitute, but was subsequently nevertheless not called up to be part of the Croatian squad at the 2002 World Cup finals. He scored his first goal for Croatia in their friendly match against Wales on 21 August 2002 in Varaždin, which ended in a 1–1 draw. He subsequently made his competitive international debut as a second-half substitute in Croatia's opening match of the Euro 2004 qualifying against Estonia, but did not play any international matches at the A-team level for three and half years following this match. In early 2006, Petrić made his international comeback with Croatia by appearing as a second-half substitute in the team's friendly matches against South Korea at the Carlsberg Cup in Hong Kong and Argentina in Basel. He was eventually omitted from the final 23-man squad for the 2006 World Cup finals, but received a pre-invitation. In early August 2006, he was called up by Croatia's new coach Slaven Bilić to be part of the team in their friendly match against Italy on 16 August 2006 in Livorno and appeared in the match as a second-half substitute. He was an active member with his national side in their Euro 2008…

Club

International

Scores and results list Croatia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Petrić goal.

Petrić was born in the village of Dubrave near Brčko, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia. Petrić moved with his family to Vinkovci and then later to Neuenhof, Switzerland, where he started to play football at the local club FC Neuenhof before moving to FC Baden and starting his professional career at the club in the summer of 1998. He left Baden after one season and went on to sign with Grasshopper Club Zürich in the summer of 1999.