Ante Rebić (Croatian pronunciation: ; born 21 September 1993) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Besiktas and the Croatia national team. He can play on both wings, as well as a second striker.
He began his senior career at RNK Split, and in 2013 signed for Serie A club Fiorentina for an undisclosed fee. He spent most of his time there out on loan to RB Leipzig, Hellas Verona, and Eintracht Frankfurt, before joining the later permanently in July 2018. In September 2019, he returned to Italian football, joining AC Milan, initially on a two-year loan, before joining permanently a year later.
Rebić made his senior international debut for Croatia in 2013. That same year, he was voted Croatian Football Hope of the Year. He represented them at the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and 2018, reaching the final of the latter, as well as at the UEFA Euro 2020.
On 31 July 2013, Rebić was called up for the first time to the national team, ahead of a friendly away to Liechtenstein. He came on as a 63rd-minute substitute for Ivica Olić in the match, and four minutes later he scored in the 3–2 win. He was praised by manager Igor Štimac after the game.
Upon the arrival of the new national team coach Niko Kovač, his former Croatia U21 coach, Rebić was called up for the decisive World Cup play-off matches against Iceland in November 2013. He came on as a substitute in both games, as Croatia secured their spot in the 2014 FIFA World Cup by winning 2–0 on aggregate.
Rebić was named in Kovač's final 23-man squad for the tournament in Brazil. He took part in the opening match against the hosts in São Paulo, as a late substitute in a 3–1 defeat. He played the same role in the next two matches as the Croatians were eventually eliminated from the group, and lasted only 20 minutes before being sent off versus Mexico in their last match for a studs-up tackle on Carlos Peña.
From June 2015 to November 2017, Rebić was not capped for Croatia. He was named in manager Zlatko Dalić's final squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. In the second group match against Argentina in Nizhny Novgorod, he volleyed after a mistake by opposing goalkeeper Willy Caballero to open a 3–0 Croatian win. In the Round of 16 match against Denmark, he had a chance to score near the end of extra time but was fouled by Mathias Jørgensen; Luka Modrić missed the resulting penalty but the Croats won in the shootout. Rebić started in the final, and was substituted for Andrej Kramarić after 71 minutes of a 4–2 loss to France at the Luzhniki Stadium.
He scored his third international goal on 24 March 2019 in an upset 2–1 defeat to Hungary in Budapest during Croatia's Euro 2020 qualifying campaign. After he had been benched at the club, his drop in form could also be seen in the qualifying games, which caused a public outcry and endangered his spot in the Euro squad.
After missing the majority of Croatia's 2020–21 Nations League campaign due to injuries, Rebić was included in Dalić's final squad for the UEFA Euro 2020. In Croatia's first two group stage games against England and the Czech Republic, Rebić was deployed by Dalić as a striker rather than a winger with poor results, as Croatia lost 1–0 and drew 1–1 respectively. In the Round of 16 match against Spain, Rebić came off the field in the 38th minute to change his boots. At that moment, Croatia were 1–0 up and Spain were in the attack, resulting in Pablo Sarabia's equalizing goal. Croatia would go on to lose the match 5–3 after extra time. Following the intense criticism he received in his homeland for that gesture, part of which came from Dalić himself, Rebić criticized Dalić and the Croatian Football Federation on his Instagram account saying that "it is a fact that have been for the past two, three years" and that he is "personally sorry that they had nobody to make use of this talented generation". He also went on to ironically criticize Croatian pundits (more precisely Robert Prosinečki, Goran Vlaović and Antun Samovojska), telling them to "let go of spritzer before broadcasts" (alluding to Prosinečki's drinking issues) and to "cheer for Croatia instead". Shortly after, he deleted the posts and deactivated his account. Ahead of the September World Cup qualifiers against Russia, Slovakia and Slovenia, Rebić was omitted from the national team.
In June 2018, it was reported that Rebić paid off all of the loans of the residents of Vinjani Donji, his childhood village. In February 2021, Rebić donated €10,000 to help fund the building of a new facility for the rehabilitation and education of children in Slavonski Brod.
Season Stats
2 appearances in the current 2023-2024 Season
Serie A 2021-2022 Milan | DFB-Pokal 2017-2018 Fiorentina |
Serie A Hat-Trick 2021-05-12 |
2010-2011 |
2011-2013 |
2012-2013 |
2013-2018 |
2013 |
2014-2015 (Loan) |
2016 (Loan) |
2016-2018 (Loan) |
2018-2020 |
2019-2020 (Loan) |
2020-2023 |
2020-2025 |
|