Sanel Kuljić (born 10 October 1977) is an Austrian former professional footballer who played as a striker.
 Kuljić with Wiener Neustadt in 2008 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 10 October 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Salzburg, Austria | ||
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| SV Grödig | |||
| 1995–1996 | BNZ Salzburg | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1996–1997 | Austria Salzburg | 1 | (0) |
| 1997–2000 | PSV Salzburg | ||
| 2000–2001 | BSV Bad Bleiberg | 32 | (11) |
| 2001–2002 | Pasching | 46 | (14) |
| 2003 | LASK Linz | 14 | (10) |
| 2003–2006 | SV Ried | 92 | (64) |
| 2006–2007 | Sion | 22 | (12) |
| 2007–2008 | Austria Wien | 34 | (11) |
| 2008–2009 | Wiener Neustadt | 37 | (18) |
| 2010 | Neuchâtel Xamax | 12 | (2) |
| 2011 | Larissa | 5 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | Kapfenberger SV | 20 | (3) |
| International career | |||
| 2005–2007 | Austria | 20 | (3) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Personal life
editKuljić is of Bosnian descent; his father emigrated to Austria from SR Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1970s.[1] He spent his childhood in Salzburg and Grödig.
Club career
editBorn in Salzburg, Kuljić started his professional career in Salzburg but made his name at Austrian Football First League side SV Pasching with whom he won promotion to the Austrian Football Bundesliga in 2002. He repeated that feat with SV Ried in 2005, when he also became 2nd division top goalscorer. In 2006, he became league top goalscorer[2] and subsequently moved abroad to join Swiss side FC Sion but controversially[3] returned to Austria after one year when he signed for Vienna club Austria Wien.
Kuljić left FK Austria Wien for newly formed Austrian second-division side FC Magna Wiener Neustadt[4] – who acquired the playing licence of SC Schwanenstadt for the 2008–09 campaign – and was joined by Austria Wien team-mates Yüksel Sariyar and Sašo Fornezzi.
On 25 November, Kuljić scored four goals and his team Wiener Neustadt beat LASK Linz 4–1.
International career
editKuljić was eligible to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina and Austria.
He made his debut for the Austria national team in an August 2005 friendly match against Scotland and has earned 20 caps, scoring three goals. He became a regular in the national team squad but was surprisingly overlooked for Euro 2008.[5]
Extortion
editIn November 2013, Kuljić was taken in custody after former Kapfenberger teammate Dominique Taboga claimed he was blackmailed by Kuljić to manipulate match results.[6] After being accused of trying to manipulate 18 matches in the first two Austrian tiers, Kuljić was sentenced to five years in prison in autumn 2014.[7] He was released early in March 2017 for good conduct.[7]
Drug dealing
editIn September 2019 Kuljić was arrested for drug dealing. In December he was handed a one-year prison sentence with Kuljić stating that he had only been involved with drug dealing because of a cocaine addiction he was suffering from.[7]
Honours
editClub
editAustria Salzburg
SV Pasching
- Erste Liga: 2001–02[8]
SV Ried
- Erste Liga: 2004–05[8]
SC Magna Wiener Neustadt
- Erste Liga: 2008–09[8][9]
Individual
edit- Erste Liga top scorer: 2004–05[11]
References
edit- ^ "Sanel Kuljic spricht mit dem Ballesterer". Der Standard (in German). 5 February 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
- ^ "Österreichs Torschützenkönige". www.oberliga-a.at. Archived from the original on 15 September 2007. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Soccer-Austria's Kuljic caught up in new transfer dispute". Reuters. 5 July 2007. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
- ^ FC Magna Wiener Neustadt Archived 28 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Austria boss axes experienced duo". BBC Sport. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
- ^ Klinger, Nikolaus (13 November 2013). "Grödig-Spieler Taboga erpresst: Sanel Kuljic bleibt in Haft". Salzburger Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 10 December 2019.
- ^ a b c d Tardent, Yves; Rey, Claudia (6 December 2019). "Sanel Kuljic und andere gefallenen Spitzensportler". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 10 December 2019.
- ^ a b c "Bundesliga.at - Sanel Kuljic". Bundesliga.at.
- ^ "Kader - KM Profis - Saison 2008/09 - Mannschaften". Austrian Football Federation - oefb.at.
- ^ "Bundesliga.at - Torschützenliste". Bundesliga.at.
- ^ "2Liga.at - Torschützenliste". 2Liga.at.
External links
edit- Player profile – FC Magna Wiener Neustadt
- Profile – Austria Archiv
- Sanel Kuljić at National-Football-Teams.com