Davor Suker

He then had a spell with West Ham United, then closed his career playing for German side 1860 Munich.

Davor Šuker (born 1 January 1968) is a Croatian football administrator and former professional player who played as a striker.

Šuker began playing football in his home town of Osijek with the club NK Osijek in 1984.

He made the move to sign for Dinamo Zagreb in 1989.

In 1989, he moved to Dinamo Zagreb, where during the following two seasons he scored 34 goals in 60 Yugoslav First League matches.

Šuker made such an impression that he received his first call-up to the Yugoslavia national team.

The Croatian War of Independence halted a promising season for the 21-year-old, eventually resulting in Šuker's move to Spanish club Sevilla in 1991.

In La Liga, Šuker was highly regarded, showing consistent form with Sevilla and being consecutively amongst the division's top goal scorers.

He signed with Real Madrid five years later, and was again amongst the league's top scorers.

While at the Santiago Bernabéu, he helped Madrid claim the Liga and UEFA Champions League titles as well.

His play also attracted several clubs, including Spanish club Sevilla, which he joined in 1991.

Šuker made his Primera División debut for Sevilla on 17 November 1991, coming off the substitutes' bench as a last-minute substitute in Sevilla's 1–1 away draw at Espanyol.

In the following match, at home against Real Sociedad, he made his first start and went on to score two goals in a 2–2 draw.

He finished his first season at the club with 6 goals in 22 appearances.

During Sevilla's first match of the next season away at Albacete, Šuker scored his first Primera hat-trick, which led a 4–3 victory.

He improved his tally from the prior season with 13 goals in 33 matches.

Šuker played with Argentine legend Diego Maradona at the club within the 1992–93 season.

During this and the next season with Sevilla, he scored a total of 33 goals in 64 appearances in the Spanish Primera.

Šuker went on to move to Real Madrid.

In the 1993–94 season, Šuker was the second-highest scorer in the league with 24 goals to Barcelona's Romário.

He made a total of 34 Primera appearances that season and also scored five braces and one hat-trick.

This transfer came prior to the start of the 1996–97 season.

With Los Galacticos, his goalscoring potency continued as he scored 24 goals in 38 appearances.

Šuker ended up as the third-best scorer within the league, behind Barcelona's Ronaldo and Real Betis's Alfonso.

During that season, he scored three hat-tricks in the Primera seeing Madrid to lift the league title.

Along with Raúl and Predrag Mijatović, he formed a dangerous trio that struck fear in the opposing defenses to assure eventual acclaim for the club.

Šuker was again successful with Real Madrid in the following season, which won the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League.

In the Primera, Šuker scored 10 goals in 29 appearances.

The crowning moment of Šuker's career was the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, where he won the Golden Boot by scoring six goals in seven matches.

He also won the Silver Ball as the second-best player of tournament, behind Ronaldo.

His goal-scoring feats proved instrumental in the Croatians winning the bronze medal in their debut World Cup.

Croatia did not lose a single match which Šuker scored in prior to their semi-final loss to eventual champions France.

A move to Arsenal saw him distinguish himself throughout their run to the UEFA Cup final of 2000.

Eventually named as Croatia's Golden Player at the UEFA Jubilee Awards in 2003, Šuker finished third in the 1998 FIFA World Player of the Year award and second in the 1998 Ballon d'Or.

He is also the only Croatian on the FIFA 100 list created by Pelé.

He served as the president of the Croatian Football Federation from 2012 to 2021.

As Croatia's all-time top scorer with 45 goals, Šuker is generally regarded as the greatest Croatian striker of all time, and as one of the greatest strikers of all time.

Šuker began his footballing career in his hometown for local first division team NK Osijek as a 16-year-old.

During his final season with the club, he became the league's top goal scorer.

Under his highly controversial leadership as the president of Croatian Football Federation, Croatia reached runner-up at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the nation's highest achievement since their third-place finish.