Filip Krovinović

Filip Krovinović (born 29 August 1995) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for English club West Bromwich Albion, on loan from Benfica.

Filip Krovinović
Krovinović with NK Zagreb in 2013
Personal information
Full name Filip Krovinović[1]
Date of birth (1995-08-29) 29 August 1995
Place of birth Zagreb, Croatia
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 West Bromwich Albion
(on loan from Benfica)
Number 7
Youth career
2004–2007 Lokomotiva Zagreb
2007–2009 Dinamo Zagreb
2009–2012 NK Zagreb
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2015 NK Zagreb 75 (12)
2015–2017 Rio Ave 35 (5)
2017– Benfica 17 (1)
2019 Benfica B 3 (0)
2019– → West Bromwich Albion (loan) 30 (2)
National team‡
2013 Croatia U19 4 (0)
2014–2016 Croatia U21 11 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 March 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14 March 2019

Club career

NK Zagreb

Krovinović, coming from the NK Zagreb academy, made his Prva HNL debut against GNK Dinamo Zagreb on 5 April 2013, signing a 5-year professional contract with the team soon after.[2] In summer 2015 due to increasing financial problems at NK Zagreb and transfer window moving towards the end, more intensively was media rumor of transfer move to Dinamo Zagreb and especially to Hajduk Split. But compensation fee of €400,000 plus a percentage on future transfer NK Zagreb was seeking were not realized.[3] In the end, both Krovinović and NK Zagreb accepted transfer bid from Portugal.

Rio Ave

On 30 August 2015, Krovinović signed a four-year contract with Portuguese Primeira Liga club Rio Ave.[4] He went to Portugal at the late end of summer transfer window and joined Rio Ave team who by then had a series of positive results. Regular Croatian under 21 national team member made his debut for Rio Ave on 10 October 2015 in starting eleven against Vitória de Guimarães in home league cup match won by Rio Ave 3–2. In next three months Krovinović gathered only seven appearances, one of which was the away league cup match on 29 December 2015 against Leixões that Rio Ave won 2–1. For a second time that season Krovinović played all 90 minutes being one of the match heroes. Young midfielder was in process of adjusting to demands of Primeira Liga and Rio Ave gradually receiving more and more playing time.[5][6] The next two months Krovinović managed to gather 10 more appearances while scoring twice.

His first goal for Rio Ave came on 13 January 2016 in quarter-final national cup match against Estoril in which he scored second goal of the game in 3–0 home victory seeing Rio Ave progress to semi-finals of Portuguese Cup. A week later he scored his second goal in a 1–1 home league cup draw with Belenenses. Last appearance in 2015–16 season, making a total of 17 appearances in his first season with Rio Ave was on 7 March 2016 in round 25 of Primeira Liga against Estoril as a half-time substitute in home defeat 3–1. Since then, Krovinović was oddly removed from starting eleven and even from the bench in most occasions, being so excluded from the squad for the rest of the season and its end. Despite the fact that he did not played in any Rio Ave official match for next three months, Krovinović made a great progress advancing in various technical and tactical segments bracing himself for very fast, technically polished football played in Primeira Liga.

With the end of 2015–16 campaign and replacement of coach Pedro Martins by coach Capucho on 20 May 2016, Krovinović received a number 10 jersey at the beginning of the 2016–17 season, thus acknowledging high expectations the club had for him in becoming one of the more important players for the team in an upcoming season.[7] With the arrival of new coach Luís Castro, Krovinović started to play more scoring two goals this season so far.[8]

Benfica

On 14 June 2017, Krovinović signed a five-year contract with Portuguese champions Benfica.[9] After winning the 2018–19 Primeira Liga title with Benfica, he was loaned out to West Bromwich Albion in the EFL Championship for one season.[10][11]

International career

On 1 September 2016 at Gradski stadion in Koprivnica Krovinović played 90 minutes for Croatia U21 in 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 6 home match against Sweden. Match ended in 1–1 draw with Krovinović missing to complete a goal at the opening when his shot was off target by a thin margin thus failing to gain advantage from Croats better start. Draw was a bit of disappointment and compromised the position and chances to qualify for European Under-21 Championship even though Croatia remained group leader.[12]

Career statistics
As of 7 March 2019[13][14]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
NK Zagreb 2012–13 Prva HNL 2000——20
2013–14 Druga HNL 32721——348
2014–15 Prva HNL 35310——363
2015–16 6200——62
Total 751231——7813
Rio Ave 2015–16 Primeira Liga 904141—171
2016–17 26510402[lower-alpha 1]0335
Total 355518120506
Benfica 2017–18 Primeira Liga 1313130—192
2018–19 4020102[lower-alpha 1]090
Total 171514020282
Career total 127181331214015619
  1. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League

Honours

NK Zagreb

Benfica

References
  1. "Notification of shirt numbers: West Bromwich Albion" (PDF). English Football League. p. 75. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  2. "Krovinović osnažio vjernost Zagrebu" [Krovinović confirmed commitment to Zagreb] (in Croatian). NK Zagreb. 7 August 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  3. "Splićani žele 'pjesnike' Bobana i Krovinovića" [Hajduk Split want 'poets' Boban and Krovinović] (in Croatian). Večernji list. 18 August 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  4. "Filip Krovinovic assina pelo Rio Ave FC" [Filip Krovinovic sign for Rio Ave FC] (in Portuguese). Rio Ave F.C. 30 August 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  5. "U Portugalu me navijači prepoznaju" [Fans in Portugal recognize me] (in Croatian). Večernji list. 1 January 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  6. "U Portugalu me navijači prepoznaju" [Fans in Portugal recognize me] (in Croatian). GOAL Hrvatska. 1 January 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  7. "U Portugalu sam dobio desetku" [I got jersey number 10 in Portugal] (in Croatian). GOAL Hrvatska. 10 October 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  8. "Matheus je nezgodan igrač" [Matheus is a cunning player] (in Croatian). Večernji list. 5 January 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  9. ""Vai ser uma honra vestir esta camisola"" ["It will be a honour to wear this jersey"]. S.L. Benfica (in Portuguese). 14 June 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  10. "Empréstimo oficializado" [Loan officialised]. S.L. Benfica (in Portuguese). 5 July 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  11. "Krovinović joins Albion from Benfica". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 5 July 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  12. "Hrvatska U21 remizirala sa Švedskom" [Croatia U21 drew with Sweden] (in Croatian). GOAL Hrvatska. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  13. Filip Krovinović at Soccerway. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  14. "Football: Filip Krovinović career summary". Football Database. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  15. "São estes os campeões nacionais pelo Benfica em 2018/19" [These are the national champions for Benfica in 2018–19]. Record (in Portuguese). 18 May 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
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