Veldin Karić

Club

Born in Slavonski Brod in present-day Croatia, Karić started playing football at nearby Bosanski Brod, a town across the river Sava in today's Bosnia and Herzegovina, coming from the village of Gornje Kolibe. He was brought to the club in 1986, alongside his cousins Edin Mujčin and Zemir Mujčin by coach Miroslav Buljan. As a youngster he was picked up by the Sarajevo-based Yugoslav First League club FK Željezničar, where he played at youth levels for two years before having his professional debut at 17 years of age, in the squad which featured the Croatian international Mario Stanić. He then signed a four-year contract with the club, but his career took an unpredictable turn due to the outbreak of the Bosnian War. According to Karić, he had been arrested at gunpoint by the JNA in 1992 and was taken to Pale, the Serbian stronghold during the Siege of Sarajevo, where he was delivered as a prisoner to Serbian paramilitary forces., believing he was to be executed. Karić claims that his coach at Željezničar Nenad Starovlah had personally intervened to save Karić from execution, but on the condition that he signed a two-year contract with Serbian club FK Vojvodina based in Novi Sad. Karić then spent the following six months playing at Vojvodina. He was seen as a talented young forward and there was some interest from Serbian powerhouse FK Partizan to sign him, but the deal never materialised as Vojvodina turned down the offer. Karić later claimed that he tried to…

In September 2011, Karić started his managerial career at the Croatian sixth tier side Drava Kuršanec. He was registered as a player for the club for the spring part of the season. He joined the Slovenian amateur side NK Ljutomer that summer, leaving the club in the winter period. In the summer of 2013 he joined seventh-tier Dinamo Apatija, achieving promotion at the end of the season. His club emerged champions of their 6th tier league the following season, but weren't promoted, so Karić remained at that level for the 2015/2016 season. In 2017, he played for Drava Kuršanec. In 2018, he returned to play for the club founded in 2011 by fans, NK Varteks, which is not associated with the Varteks club, which folded in 2015, that he played for earlier in his career.