Nikica Jelavić

Nikica Jelavić (born 27 August 1985) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a forward.

Jelavić began his career with Croatian side Hajduk Split of the Prva HNL in 2002, before moving to Belgian Pro League club Zulte Waregem in 2007.

A year later, he moved to Austrian Bundesliga club Rapid Wien.

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.

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.

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.

Jelavić is a former Croatian international, debuting in 2009 and retiring in 2014.

In 2009–10, he played in 33 games (as first squad in 31 and as substitute in two) and scored 18 goals with five yellow cards and one red card.

In the Europa League, he played six games and scored four goals with one assist.

In 2010, he was signed by Rangers, with whom he won the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish League Cup in his first season.

In the summer of 2010, Jelavić was linked with a transfer to Rangers.

A fee was originally agreed between the two clubs on 26 July, but the transfer was delayed by a dispute between the player and Rapid Wien over a payment Jelavić claimed the club owed him.

On 19 August, Rapid announced that Jelavić would be signing for Rangers, after the player announced he would not play in Rapid's Europa League qualifying match against Aston Villa.

On 20 August 2010, Jelavić completed a £4 million move to Rangers on a four-year-deal.

He made his debut in a home match against St Johnstone on 28 August 2010.

Due to his former club Rapid Wien qualifying for the UEFA Europa League, Jelavić was ineligible to participate in Rangers' Champions League campaign, after becoming cup tied after appearing for the Austrian side in the earlier rounds.

On 11 September, Jelavić scored his first Rangers goal against Hamilton Academical at New Douglas Park after he headed in a Kyle Lafferty cross.

On 21 September, Jelavić played against Dunfermline Athletic in the League Cup, scoring two goals in the game including an overhead kick in a 7–2 win for Rangers.

In Rangers next away match to Aberdeen at Pittodrie, Jelavić scored what the winning goal in a 3–2 Rangers win.

Rangers were 2–0 down before coming back to win the match with Jelavić scoring the third Rangers goal.

The next week Jelavić was injured in a match against Hearts at Tynecastle, suffering ankle ligament damage due to a tackle by Hearts midfielder Ian Black.

Jelavić claimed that Black had intended to injure him, a charge denied by his opponent, who apologized for the challenge.

He scored two goals in a match against Dundee United in October 2011.

After making his comeback off of the bench, Jelavić started his first match since his injury on 26 January 2011, scoring away from home against Hibernian in the first half.

Jelavić's first hat-trick for Rangers came in a 6–0 win over Motherwell on 12 February 2011 at Ibrox Stadium.

In Rangers' 4–0 victory against St Johnstone on 27 February 2011, Jelavić scored two goals and assisted a third with a backheel pass.

On 20 March 2011, Jelavić scored the winning goal in extra time in Rangers' 2–1 win over Celtic in the 2011 Scottish League Cup Final.

He then scored in consecutive away 1–0 victories over Hamilton Academical and Aberdeen.

Jelavić rounded off the season by scoring five goals in the last six matches of the season including a goal and two assists in Rangers' 5–1 title winning victory against Kilmarnock on the last matchday of the season.

Jelavić received the SFA goal of the season award for his goal against Aberdeen.

He moved to England with Everton in January 2012, and Hull City two years later.

He represented the country at UEFA Euro 2012 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

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.

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.