Nikica Jelavić

Early career

Jelavić was born in Čapljina, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia and started his youth career at his local side GOŠK Gabela, which plays in the Bosnian league system. His career took a more serious turn when he moved to the nearby cross-border club in Croatia, NK Neretva from the town of Metković, managed by Branko Gutić.

Hajduk Split

At the encouragement of Ante Prco, Ivan Gudelj, Dražen Mužinić and Vilson Džoni, Jelavić was brought to Hajduk Split's junior side at the age of 15. He played his first match for Hajduk's senior side in the Prva HNL at the age of 17. During his time at Hajduk, he suffered a lot of injuries which prevented him to make more appearances for the squad. After he recovered from the injuries, he became a first team regular in the 2006–07 Prva HNL season. Despite him playing the whole season, he only managed five league goals and was transfer listed at the end of the season.

Zulte Waregem

In July 2007, Jelavić signed for Belgian First Division club Zulte Waregem. During his one season at the club, he scored three goals in 23 appearances.

Rapid Wien

In July 2008, Jelavić joined the Austrian champions Rapid Wien. In the 2008–09 Austrian Football Bundesliga season, he played 24 games (as first squad in nine and as substitute in 15) and scored seven goals without any yellow or red cards. In 2009–10, he played in 33 games (as first squad in 31 and as substitute in two) and scored 18 goals with five…

In 2007, Jelavić was called up to the Croatia squad for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers, although he did not feature in any of the qualifying matches for the competition. Jelavić eventually made his full international debut in a friendly match against Qatar on 8 October 2009 in Rijeka, coming on as a substitute for Ivan Klasnić in the 64th minute in which he also scored his first international goal to secure his team a 3–2 win in the final moments of the match. On 14 October 2009, he made his first competitive international appearance for Croatia, in the team's final 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan in Astana, again coming on as a substitute for Klasnić, in the 77th minute. In 2010, he made five international appearances, scoring the equaliser in a 1–1 friendly match against Slovakia in Bratislava. Jelavić was selected for Croatia's Euro 2012 squad. He scored his first competitive international goal and his country's second in their first group stage match against Republic of Ireland resulting in a 3–1 win. He also featured in Croatia's group stage matches against Italy and Spain but did not score and Croatia was eliminated after the group stage. Jelavić featured in Croatia's first qualifying match for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil against Macedonia, scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win. He scored later in a friendly match against South Korea at Craven Cottage in early February 2013. In the opening match of the 2014 World Cup, on 12 June against the hosts Brazil…

Club

International

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

Jelavić is married to Dajana Jelavić, whom he had started dating when he was 17 years old. Together they have two daughters.