One of the most prolific goalscorers that Croatia has ever produced, Mario Mandzukic won the Croatian Footballer of the Year back-to-back in 2012 and 2013. team, beaten only by retired Davor Šuker.
He has also achieved remarkable feats while playing for some of the biggest clubs in the world. He won his first major UEFA Champions League trophy with Bayern Munich in 2012. With Juventus, Mario advanced to the Champions League finals in 2017, scoring a superb overhead shot that won him the award of the UEFA Goal of the Season. Mandzukic also played for Spanish club, Atletico Madrid.
Mario Mandzukic Bio
Mario Mandzukic was born on May 21, 1986 in Slavonski Brod, SFR Yugoslavia. At the age of 5, his family to flee the war in Yugoslavia moved to Ditzingen, a town near Stuttgart, where Mario began to take an interest in football.
He started his youth career in 1992 with TSFDitzingen. After the war ended, Mario returned to Croatia and continued his career with Marsonia. In 2004, he found himself in the reserves of the senior team. After a season with Marsonia’s senior team, Mario joined NK Zagreb in 2005 and then Dinamo Zagreb in 2007.
Mario’s career really started to take off at Dinamo where he became the top scorer in the Prva HNL, catching the attention of top European teams. VfL Wolfsburg won his heart with a tempting €7m transfer that he would prove every day.
Mario was one of the standout players at Euro 2012 and Wolfsburg lost him to Bayern Munich, who came in with a €13m bid. Again, Mario’s goalscoring prowess hadn’t let him down, as he proved his worth by leading the team to a treble. Moreover, Mandzukic was also the team’s top scorer.
After Pep Guardiola took over as Bayern manager in the 2013/2014 season, Mario struggled to fit into his style but couldn’t. As a result of which, he left the team to join La Liga side Atlético Madrid on a four-year deal with hidden value from the media.
However, Mario didn’t last until the end of the Juventus came for his services with an offer of 19 million euros with a bonus of 2 million euros. Mario opened his doors to Juve and joined the team in July 2015. He struggled in the first season due to injuries, but returned to normal duty in the second season, helping the team to reach the 2016/2017 Champions League final, which was unfortunately defeated by Real Madrid..
His family
The Croatian star was born to parents Mato and Jelica Mandzukic. After his family moved to Ditzingen, Mario’s father, Mato, a professional footballer, played for local club club TSF Ditzingen and would have team-mate future VfB Stuttgart sporting director Fredi Bobic. Mato also played for fourth-tier club Oberliga Baden-Württemberg.
His family was denied permission to extend their stay in Germany and had to move to their home country, which had become uninhabitable and gained its own independence.
Mario has a sister called Ivana. She started living in Germany in 2007, and while Mario played for Bayern, she traveled to Munich every weekend to support Mario. Mario’s sister is married and has a son called Marino. In 2013, a photo of Mario, his sister and his nephew surfaced online via a Twitter post.
Mario Mandzukic is known to lead a very calm life, away from the possible. Thus, few details about his family have been revealed.
It was later discovered that he was in a romantic relationship with a certain Ivana Mikulić (not to be confused with her sister). While some sources claim to have been together since 2008, others claim they only started dating in 2015.
His very private life makes it quite difficult to tell what is true. Although Mario operates social media accounts (Twitter and Instagram), he rarely writes about his personal life.
However, it has been observed that Mario often wears the name of his girlfriend and their dog Lene on his football boots.
Height, weight, measurements
Mandžukić’s body measurements according to his player profile on ESPN are as follows:
Height: 6 feet (1.85m)
Weight: 78 kg (172 lbs)
Although this information is known, his body stats such as chest, biceps and height have yet to be publicly stated. But judging by its appearance, one can easily attest that it is well built.