Hrvoje Kurtović

Hrvoje Kurtović (born 6 October 1983) is a retired Croatian football midfielder, who last played for Osijek in the Prva HNL.^[1]

Hrvoje Kurtović

Personal information
Date of birth	(1983-10-06) 6 October 1983 (age 41)
Place of birth	Osijek, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2003–2005	Grafičar Vodovod
2006	Zadar
2006–2008	Vukovar '91
2008	Grafičar Vodovod
2009–2016	Osijek	167	(1)
International career‡
2001	Croatia U18	2	(0)
2001	Croatia U19	2	(0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 9 November 2014 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 9 November 2014

Club career

Born in Osijek, Croatia, Kurtović got his first opportunity to play for his hometown Prva HNL club, and at the highest level of Croatian football at the beginning of 2009, aged 25, under Tomislav Steinbrückner, after Goran Todorčev got sidelined due to three yellow cards.^[2] He remained a fixture in the first team, ever since - a strongly divisive figure, lauded by some, including his coaches^[3]<, for tenaciousness and his work rate,^[4][5] but dismissed by many for an alleged lack of technical abilities and proneness to errors.^[6][7] He nevertheless became the team's captain in 2014, after Ivo Smoje's retirement from professional football.^[8]