Ivica Banović

NK Zagreb

Born in Zagreb, Banović began to play football at NK Zagreb when he was 6 years old and subsequently spent his entire youth career with the club, eventually being added to their first team in the summer of 1997. He went on to play in the Croatian First League with the club during the following three seasons. After making 11 domestic league appearances in his first season as a professional, he went on to find his place as a regular with NK Zagreb. During the following two seasons, he made a total of 52 domestic league appearances and scored a total of nine domestic league goals for the club, eight of which came during the 1999–2000 season.

Werder Bremen

In the summer of 2000, Banović left NK Zagreb for a record outgoing transfer fee of DM 3.7 million (about €1.9 million) for German Bundesliga side Werder Bremen. Banović made his Bundesliga debut in Werder Bremen's 3–3 draw at home to Bayer Leverkusen on 14 October 2000, coming on as a substitute for Dieter Eilts in the 58th minute. He went on to make a total of 17 Bundesliga appearances in his first season with Bremen, without scoring any goals. He eventually scored his first Bundesliga goal in his third league appearance of the 2001–02 season, netting the opening goal in Bremen's 2–1 defeat at 1. FC Kaiserslautern on 9 September 2001. It was his only goal of the season, which he once again finished with a total of 17 Bundesliga appearances on his tally. He went on to make another 15 Bundesliga…

Between 1996 and 2001, Banović won a total of 25 international caps for the Croatian national under-17, under-19 and under-21 teams, scoring a total of three international goals. His first appearance in the finals of an international youth tournament came at the 1998 European Under-18 Championship in Cyprus, where the team reached the third place after beating Portugal in penalty shootout. In the spring of 1999, Banović was part of the Croatian squad at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship in Nigeria, where he appeared as a second-half substitute in all of the team's four matches before they were eliminated by Brazil in the round of 16, also scoring one goal in Croatia's 5–1 victory over Kazakhstan in their second group match. He also played for the Croatian national under-21 team at the final tournament of the UEFA U-21 Championship 2000 in Slovakia. Banović won his first senior international cap for Croatia as a substitute in their friendly match against Israel on 18 August 2004 in Varaždin, which they won 1–0. In October of the same year, he made his only appearance in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying, playing as a substitute in the final 14 minutes of Croatia's third qualifying match, in which they were held to a 2–2 draw by Bulgaria in Zagreb. After that, he was no longer part of the national team.

1. FC Nürnberg

DFB-Pokal: 2006–07