Antonio Čolak
Antonio-Mirko Čolak (Croatian pronunciation: [tʃǒlak, tʃôlaːk];[2] born 17 September 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Greek Super League club PAOK. Born and raised in Germany, Čolak plays for the Croatia national team internationally.
 Čolak with 1. FC Kaiserslautern | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Antonio-Mirko Čolak | ||
| Date of birth | 17 September 1993 | ||
| Place of birth | Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | PAOK | ||
| Number | 29 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1997–2000 | SGV Freiberg Fußball[1] | ||
| 2000–2008 | Stuttgarter Kickers | ||
| 2008–2010 | SGV Freiberg | ||
| 2010–2011 | 1899 Hoffenheim | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2011–2012 | Karlsruher SC II | 1 | (1) |
| 2012–2015 | 1. FC Nürnberg II | 59 | (29) |
| 2013–2015 | 1. FC Nürnberg | 7 | (0) |
| 2014–2015 | → Lechia Gdańsk (loan) | 30 | (10) |
| 2015–2019 | 1899 Hoffenheim | 0 | (0) |
| 2015–2016 | → 1. FC Kaiserslautern (loan) | 22 | (5) |
| 2016–2017 | → Darmstadt 98 (loan) | 22 | (4) |
| 2017 | → FC Ingolstadt (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2018–2019 | → Rijeka (loan) | 40 | (18) |
| 2019–2020 | Rijeka | 36 | (20) |
| 2020– | PAOK | 21 | (3) |
| 2021 | → Malmö FF (loan) | 26 | (14) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2011–2012 | Croatia U19 | 14 | (6) |
| 2011–2012 | Croatia U20 | 3 | (1) |
| 2020– | Croatia | 3 | (0) |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 4 May 2022 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 7 September 2021 | |||
Club career
The Čolak family immigrated to Germany in 1992 to avoid the war in the former Yugoslavia, where Antonio was born on 17 September 1993. Born in Ludwigsburg, In 2000 he switched to went Stuttgarter Kickers, where he remained for eight years before returning to Freiburg in 2008. From there he joined the youth academy at Hoffenheim in 2010 for just one year, and in 2011 moved to Karlsruhe, where he made his professional debut in the lower leagues. In 2012 he was signed by 1. FC Nürnberg, initially for the reserve team. Čolak made his debut on 19 October 2013 in a Bundesliga game against Eintracht Frankfurt. He entered the field after 78 minutes for Tomáš Pekhart. He stayed in Nuremberg until 2015, playing in seven games, while for one season he was loaned out to Lechia Gdańsk, where he scored ten goals in 31 games, also contributing two assists.
On summer of 2015 he signed a contract with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, but he did not play with the club throughout his contract. Initially he joined 1. FC Kaiserslautern on a season-long loan. On 25 July 2016, Čolak joined Darmstadt 98 on a season-long loan [3] For the following season he was again sent out on loan, to 2. Bundesliga side FC Ingolstadt.[4] Following the mutually agreed termination of the loan at Ingolstadt, in January 2018, Čolak was loaned to HNK Rijeka in Croatia until June 2019.[5] Following the end of the loan, on 22 June 2019 Čolak officially joined HNK Rijeka on a three-year contract.[6] in the 2019–20 season, he was the top scorer of the Croatian championship with 20 goals, while with Rijeka he also won two Croatian Cups. His performances also saw him win a place in the Croatian national team squad, although he is yet to make his official debut.
On 20 September 2020, PAOK agreed terms with Rijeka for the purchase of Čolak. The Greek club will pay a fee over €3,000,000, while Čolak will sign a four-year contract, worth €450,000 per year. Fans of PAOK are saying that he is the Goat or simply Greatest of all time. [7]
On 6 March 2021, Čolak moved to Swedish side Malmö FF, on a loan deal until December 2021.[8] At Malmö, Čolak quickly established himself as a prolific goalscorer with ten goals in his first 15 appearances and went on to win the title with Malmö. In December 2021, with Malmö unable to afford the buy out of €3 million that had been set in his loan contract, Croatian newspaper "Sportske Novosti" linked Čolak with a move to Dinamo Zagreb. He returned to PAOK from the beginning of January 2022 as.[9]
On 20 March 2022, he scored a goal after Alexandru Mitriță' assist, helping PAOK to gain a 1–0 away win against rivals AEK Athens for the Play-off round. It was his first goal with the club, after his return from Malmö FF.[10]
International career
On 27 August 2020 Croatia national team head coach Zlatko Dalić included Čolak in the list of players for the Nations League fixtures against Portugal on 5 September 2020 and France on 8 September 2020.[11]
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 20 March 2022[12]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Karlsruher II | 2011–12 | Regionalliga Süd | 1 | 1 | — | — | 1 | 1 | ||
| Nürnberg II | 2012–13 | Regionalliga Bayern | 31 | 12 | — | — | 31 | 12 | ||
| 2013–14 | 26 | 16 | — | — | 26 | 16 | ||||
| 2014–15 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 58 | 28 | — | — | 58 | 28 | ||||
| Nürnberg | 2013–14 | Bundesliga | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | |
| 2014–15 | 2. Bundesliga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | ||
| Total | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 7 | 0 | |||
| Lechia Gdańsk (loan) | 2014–15 | Ekstraklasa | 30 | 10 | 1 | 0 | — | 31 | 10 | |
| Hoffenheim | 2015–16 | Bundesliga | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |
| Kaiserslautern (loan) | 2015–16 | 2. Bundesliga | 22 | 5 | 2 | 0 | — | 24 | 5 | |
| Kaiserslautern II (loan) | 2015–16 | Regionalliga Südwest | 1 | 2 | — | — | 1 | 2 | ||
| Darmstadt (loan) | 2016–17 | Bundesliga | 22 | 4 | 2 | 3 | — | 24 | 7 | |
| Ingolstadt (loan) | 2017–18 | 2. Bundesliga | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 8 | 0 | |
| Ingolstadt II (loan) | 2017–18 | Regionalliga Bayern | 1 | 1 | — | — | 1 | 1 | ||
| Rijeka (loan) | 2017–18 | Prva HNL | 16 | 6 | — | — | 16 | 6 | ||
| 2018–19 | 24 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 31 | 19 | ||
| Rijeka | 2019–20 | Prva HNL | 32 | 20 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 41 | 26 |
| 2020–21 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| Total | 76 | 38 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 92 | 51 | ||
| PAOK | 2020–21 | Super League | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 16 | 1 |
| 2021–22 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 2 | ||
| Total | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 29 | 3 | ||
| Malmö FF (loan) | 2021 | Allsvenskan | 26 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 5 | 41 | 22 |
| Career total | 257 | 104 | 18 | 17 | 30 | 7 | 300 | 128 | ||
References
- "Colak, Antonio-Mirko". kicker (in German). Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- "čȍlāk". Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 19 March 2018.
Čòlak (Čȍlāk)
- "Fix! Colak bei den Lilien gelandet". kicker (in German). 25 July 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- "Neuzugang: Antonio Colak verstärkt den FC Ingolstadt 04". FC Ingolstadt (in German). 3 July 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- "Antonio Čolak: Dolazak u Rijeku prava je odluka za mene". HNK Rijeka (in Croatian). 11 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
- "Antonio Mirko Čolak potpisao trogodišnji ugovor s Rijekom i najavio još golova". Novi List (in Croatian). 22 June 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- "Οριστικό: Έκλεισε ο Τσόλακ στον ΠΑΟΚ, έρχεται σήμερα στη Θεσσαλονίκη" (in Greek). Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- "Colak joins Malmo". PAOK FC Official Website. 6 March 2021. Archived from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- "ΠΑΟΚ: Ο Τσόλακ, η Ντιναμό Ζάγκρεμπ και η Μάλμε". www.sport24.gr (in Greek). 11 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
- "ΑΕΚ – ΠΑΟΚ 0-1: Όπως θέλει, όποτε θέλει!". www.sportime.gr (in Greek). 20 March 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- "Antonio Čolak pozvan u reprezentaciju Hrvatske: 'Ovo je priznanje za mene i Rijeku'". HNK Rijeka (in Croatian). 27 August 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- "A. Colak". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
- "Antonio-Mirko Čolak profile". eu-football.info. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
External links
- Antonio Čolak at Soccerway
- Antonio Čolak at the Croatian Football Federation
- Antonio Čolak at WorldFootball.net