The Croatian players who have played for Borussia Dortmund | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund maintained their perfect home record with an emphatic win over SC Freiburg this past weekend. The story is different in away fixtures, however. Nuri Şahin’s team will look for only their third win on the road when they travel to Dinamo Zagreb for BVB’s first-ever game against a Croatian side.

Yet the country known for its many islands has had a fair share of memorable players in the Black and Yellow colours. We’ll focus on those who made their marks in their spell at the club.

Mladen Petrić (2007-2008)

Mladen Petrić arrived in the Bundesliga after finishing top-scorer and winning Player of the Season in the Swiss Super League with FC Basel. A few weeks after his signing, Dortmund let Ebi Smolarek join Spanish outfit Racing.

Petrić scored on his debut away at Magdeburg in DFB-Pokal, but his Bundesliga introduction was hardly smooth sailing. He played the full 90 minutes when Dortmund started the league season with heavy defeats to newly-promoted MSV Duisburg and arch-rivals Schalke 04.

But, by matchday 10, Petrić had recorded three braces, including his first one at Westfalenstadion against Werder Bremen. With 18 goals in all competitions, he was the club’s outright top-scorer by the end of the season.

Thomas Doll’s side finished 13th in the league, but they went on to reach the DFB-Pokal final, where they lost to Bayern Munich. Including a 92nd-minute equaliser to force extra-time in the final, Petrić scored in all cup games but the Round of 16 tie.

Abruptly, that was it for Petrić’s time in Dortmund. When he caught up with Dortmund’s YouTube channel in January 2023, the Croatian with the most goals for the club put forward two reasons for the short marriage. In the same interview, he said Dortmund was his favorite Bundesliga club back in childhood.

As it’s well documented, BVB were struggling financially at the time. And, the incoming coach, a certain someone who goes by the name of Jürgen Klopp, preferred a reunion with his former Mainz striker Mohamed Zidan.

In a swap deal that saw Dortmund receive around €5 million, the Egyptian signed from Hamburger SV with Petrić going the other way. The duo have played together for the Dortmund Legends team on multiple occasions, including in Indonesia last September.

Although Petrić played four fruitful years at HSV, his solitary campaign with Dortmund produced a personal-best Bundesliga return with 13 goals.