Ivan Rakitić

Ivan Rakitić ( born 10 March 1988) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Saudi Pro League club Al-Shabab.

Born in Switzerland, he played for the Croatia national team

Rakitić started his professional career at Basel and spent two seasons with them before he was signed by Schalke 04.

After spending some short time in the youth teams, Rakitić went on to make his first-team debut for Basel on 29 September 2005 during the UEFA Cup away match at Široki Brijeg.

He made his first Swiss Super League appearance on 15 April 2006 in Basel's away match against Neuchâtel Xamax.

Although these two matches were the only ones he played during his first professional season with Basel, he went on to establish himself as a regular contributor in his second season, scoring 11 goals in 33 Super League appearances.

Also making nine UEFA cup appearances during this time, he was named the best young player of the 2006–07 Super League season along with receiving the Swiss Goal of the Year award for an impressive goal he scored against St. Gallen on 22 October 2006.

After an impressive showing as a teenager, Rakitić was again sought by large European clubs.

He made his debut for the Croatia national team in 2007 and has since represented the country at UEFA Euro 2008, 2012 and 2016, and the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup, reaching the final of the latter.

Subject to such, he was eventually signed by German side Schalke 04 on 22 June 2007, for €5 million.

Rakitić made his debut for Schalke on 21 July 2007 in the Premiere Ligapokal fixture against Karlsruher SC and eventually appeared in the remaining two matches as Schalke finished as league runners-up.

On 5 August 2007, Rakitić scored his first competitive goal for his new club in their 0–9 away win over Eintracht Trier in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.

On 10 August 2007, the new Bundesliga season was commenced with a clash between champions VfB Stuttgart and Schalke.

Rakitić came on as a second-half substitute and scored his first Bundesliga goal within just seven minutes on the field as his side played out a 2–2 draw.

On 15 September 2007, he managed to make impressions again by scoring the only goal for Schalke in their 1–1 away draw at Bayern Munich.

Three days later, Rakitić made his UEFA Champions League debut in the 0–1 home defeat to Valencia.

He then went on to make a total of seven appearances in the 2007–08 Champions League season, including a strong and very impressive midfield role in Schalke's home fixture against Chelsea in the group stage.

He and former teammate Mladen Krstajić were temporarily cut from the squad the night before Schalke's next fixture against Rosenborg due to being caught skipping training and taking part in a late-night partying.

Helping his side Prevail in the penalty shootout against Porto to reach the quarter-finals for the first time, Rakitić had to miss both the fixtures of such against Chelsea due to an ankle injury sustained in training.

He was kept out of action for a month as Schalke were eliminated from the tournament without him.

Shortly upon his returning from injury, Rakitić discovered top form as he scored a goal and assisted another two in the vital 0–3 victory at VfL Bochum, which made sure Schalke finished at least third in league table and secured a place in the next Champions League.

He continued such form in the next fixture against Eintracht Frankfurt, assisting Mladen Krstajić for the only goal of the match to conclude with Schalke a positive home season.

In total, he finished his first Bundesliga season with 3 goals and 10 assists in 29 appearances.

After spending three-and-a-half seasons in the Bundesliga, he was signed by Sevilla in January 2011.

Two years later, Rakitić was confirmed as the club captain and captained the team to UEFA Europa League triumph.

In June 2014, Barcelona and Sevilla reached an agreement on the transfer of Rakitić.

In his first season with Barça, he won the treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League.

He scored the first goal of the 2015 Champions League final and became the first player ever to win the Champions League a year after winning the Europa League while playing for two clubs.

After appearing in 310 games and winning ten more trophies with Barcelona, Rakitić returned to Sevilla in 2020 and won the Europa League again in the 2023 UEFA Europa League final.

Born in Switzerland to Croatian parents from Yugoslavia, Rakitić played for Switzerland at youth level, but decided to represent Croatia at senior level.

He retired from international duty in September 2020, having made 106 appearances.

At the time of his retirement, he was the fourth most capped player in the history of Croatia.

Rakitić was born in Rheinfelden in the Swiss canton of Aargau to Croat parents.

His father Luka Rakitić is a Šokac from Sikirevci in Croatia, while his mother Kata (Papić) is a Bosnian Croat from Ponijevo near Žepče.

He grew up in Möhlin, canton of Aargau.

He has a brother, Dejan, and a sister, Nikol.

Rakitić has a tattoo bearing his brother's name on his right arm.

Rakitić spent his childhood and early career in Switzerland.

His father and older brother were also footballers.

At age 16, his potential was noticed by top European scouts, and went for trials with clubs such as Arsenal, but he and his family decided to stay at Basel to allow him to play more regularly in a smaller league instead.