Leon Benko
 Leon Benko 2007 |
|||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Leon Benko | ||
| Date of birth | 11 November 1983 | ||
| Place of birth | Varaždin, SFR Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Slaven Belupo | ||
| Number | 15 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1991–2003 | NK Varteks | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2003–2006 | Varteks | 68 | (18) |
| 2006–2008 | 1. FC Nuremberg | 10 | (0) |
| 2008–2009 | Standard Liège | 14 | (1) |
| 2009–2010 | K.V. Kortrijk | 26 | (5) |
| 2011–2012 | Slaven Belupo | 27 | (15) |
| 2012- | Al-Faisaly (Harmah) | 0 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2003 | Croatia U20 | 2 | (0) |
| 2004–2005 | Croatia U21 | 17 | (0) |
| 2006 | Croatia | 2 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21 July 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
|||
Leon Benko (born 11 November 1983 in Varaždin) is a Croatian football striker, currently playing for Slaven Belupo in the Prva HNL.
Contents |
[edit] Club career
[edit] Varteks
Benko signed his first professional contract with his youth club, NK Varteks, for the 2003–04 season and continued to play for the club in the following three seasons. In his third season at Varteks, he became one of their key players and was also the club's top goalscorer that season, scoring 14 goals in the Croatian First League.
In the summer of 2005, he also performed well for Varteks in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, scoring all four goals in their 4–1 victory over Dinamo Tirana as well as a brace that included the winning goal for Varteks in a 4–3 victory over Inter Turku.[1]
[edit] Nuremberg
On 23 May 2006, it was announced that Benko has signed for German Bundesliga side 1. FC Nuremberg on a three-year contract with an optional one-year extension.[2] He made his Bundesliga debut on 12 August 2006, playing as a substitute in the last five minutes of the club's first league match of the 2006–07 season, a 3–0 away victory at VfB Stuttgart.[3] He finished his first Bundesliga season with only seven appearances, having missed the entire second part of the season due to injury problems.
He scored his first goal for Nuremberg on 29 November 2007 in their UEFA Cup group match against eventual winners of the competition, Zenit Saint Petersburg, securing his team a 2–2 away draw. He made a total of four appearances for Nuremberg in the 2007–08 season of the UEFA Cup.[4]
[edit] Standard Liège
On 4 August 2008, Benko moved to Belgian side Standard Liège for an undisclosed fee, signing a one-year contract with an optional extension.[5] He made his debut for the club on 16 August 2008 in their 3–1 away win at FCV Dender in the first round of the 2008–09 Jupiler League, coming on as a late substitute.[6]
[edit] KV Kortrijk
On 30 June 2009, K.V. Kortrijk signed the Croatian forward from Standard Liege until June 2010.[7]
[edit] Slaven Belupo
On 29 January 2011, Benko signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with Slaven Belupo.[8] In his first game for Slaven, he scored a goal in a 2–1 loss against RNK Split.[9]
[edit] International career
Benko has been capped for the Croatian national under-21 team and he subsequently went on to make his debut for the country's A-team by appearing in both of their two matches at the 2006 Carlsberg Cup in Hong Kong.
[edit] Honours
- Belgian First Division (1):
- 2008–09 Standard de liege
[edit] References
- ^ "UEFA Intertoto Cup appearances 2005/2006" (in German and English). Weltfussball.de. http://www.weltfussball.de/spieler_profil/leon-benko/ui-cup-2005-2006/nk-varteks/3/.
- ^ "Benko potpisao za Nürnberg" (in Croatian). Jutarnji list. 23 May 2006. http://www.jutarnji.hr/clanak/art-2006,5,23,,27531.jl.
- ^ "Bundesliga appearances 2006/2007" (in German and English). Weltfussball.de. http://www.weltfussball.de/spieler_profil/leon-benko/bundesliga-2006-2007/1-fc-nuernberg/3/.
- ^ "UEFA Cup appearances 2007/2008" (in German and English). Weltfussball.de. http://www.weltfussball.de/spieler_profil/leon-benko/uefa-cup-2007-2008/1-fc-nuernberg/3/.
- ^ "Benko vom Club zu Standard Lüttich" (in German). UEFA. 4 August 2008. http://de.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/news/kind=1/newsid=736853.html?cid=rssfeed&att=index. Retrieved 18 August 2008.
- ^ "FCV Dender v Standard Liège : 1-3" (in French). Standard Liège official website. 16 August 2008. http://www.standard.be/fr/n_nouvelle.php?id=10546#. Retrieved 18 August 2008.
- ^ "Leon Benko trekt naar KV Kortrijk" (in Dutch). belgiumsoccer.be. http://belgiumsoccer.be/nieuws/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19785&Itemid=225.
- ^ Rupnik, Borna (30 January 2011). "Leon Benko se vratio u Hrvatsku" (in Croatian). Sportnet.hr. http://www.hrsport.net/vijesti/411752/nogomet-1-hnl/leon-benko-se-vratio-u-hrvatsku. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
- ^ Pavlić, Antonija (26 February 2011). "Split sredio Koprivničane" (in Croatian). Sportnet.hr. http://www.hrsport.net/vijesti/413256/nogomet-1-hnl/split-sredio-koprivnicane. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
[edit] External links
- Leon Benko at nogometni-magazin (Croatian)
- Leon Benko at Transfermarkt.de
- National team profile
