Ivan Rakitic

Ivan Rakitic is a Croatian professional football player. He plays as a central or attacking midfielder. Having started his professional football career at FC Basel in 2005, he later went on to play for Schalke 04, Sevilla, and Barcelona. After playing six seasons for Barcelona, Rakitic returned to his former club Sevilla in 2020. He won the 2006-07 Swiss Cup with his first club Basel and Europa League with Sevilla. After winning the Europa League with Sevilla, he transferred to Barcelona, where he achieved more success and won numerous club titles. As a Barcelona player, he won four La Liga titles, four Copa del Rey titles, one UEFA Champions League title, two Supercopa de Espana, one UEFA Super Cup, and one FIFA Club World Cup.

On the international level, he initially represented Swiss youth teams and later chose Croatia. He made his senior international debut with Croatia in 2007. He was a key part of the Croatian team that finished runner-up in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He was named Croatian Footballer of the Year and Croatian Sportsman of the Year in 2015.

He has over 17.5 million followers on his

What is Ivan Rakitic Famous for?

• Named the Croatian Footballer of the Year in 2015.
• Named the Croatian Sportsman of the Year in 2015.
• Won four La Liga titles, four Copa del Rey titles, one UEFA Champions League title, two Supercopa de Espana, one UEFA Super Cup, and one FIFA Club World Cup with Barcelona.
• Won one Europa League with Sevilla.

Where is Ivan Rakitic From?

Ivan Rakitic was born on 10 March 1988. His birthplace is in Rheinfelden in Switzerland. He was born to Croatian parents in Switzerland. Thus, he initially played football for Switzerland’s youth football teams, but later chose Croatia to play senior international football. He holds Croatian nationality. Born in Switzerland, he also holds Swiss nationality. He possesses dual-citizenship. He was born to a mother, Kata Rakitic, and a father, Luka Rakitic. He has two siblings, Nikol and Dejan. He belongs to white ethnicity and his religion is Christianity. His zodiac sign is Pisces.

Source: @galerie

Ivan Rakitic Football Career Timeline

FC Basel

• Ivan Rakitic started playing football when he was a kid.
• He joined FC Basel Academy in 1995. He was only 7 years old when he joined the club.
• Ten years later, he was promoted to the club’s first team.
• He made his professional debut on 29 September 2005 during the UEFA Cup match against Siroki Brijeg.
• He made his Swiss Super League debut on 15 April 2006 against Neuchatel Xamax.
• He played only 2 matches (one in the Swiss Super League and the next in UEFA Cup) in the first season of his professional career.
• He became a regular for his second season and scored 11 goals in 33 league appearances.
• He was named the best young player of the 2006-07 Super League season.
• He also received the Swiss Goal of the Year award for his goal against St. Gallen on 22 October 2006.
• Following his impressive performance, he was pursued by the German club, Schalke 04.
• He signed with Schalke 04 on 22 June 2007 for a transfer fee of 5 million Euro.

Source: @squaka

Schalke 04

• Rakitic made his club debut for Schalke 04 on 21 July 2007 against Karlsruher SC in the Premiere Ligapokal.
• He scored his first competitive goal for Schalke 04 on 5 August 2007 against Eintracht Trier in the DFB-Pokal.
• He made his UEFA Champions League debut on 18 September 2007 against Valencia.
• Rakitic and Mladen Krsajic were temporarily cut from the squad the night before Schalke’s next fixture against Rosenborg after they were caught skipping training and taking part in a late-night partying.
• He missed the crucial Champions League quarter-finals fixtures due to an ankle injury. He was sidelined for a month.
• He helped the club to finish at least third in Bundesliga.
• He scored 3 goals and provided 10 assists in 29 appearances for the club during the season.
• He scored 3 goals in all competitions during the 2008-09 season, 7 league goals in the 2009-10 season, and 2 goals in the 2010-11 season.

Source: @acefootball

Sevilla

• He moved to Spain where he signed with the Spanish club Sevilla in January 2011.
• He signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with the club for a transfer fee of 2.5 million euros.
• He made his club debut on 6 February 2011 against Malaga.
• He scored an own-goal against Racing de Santander. Later in the same match.
• He scored his first goal for Sevilla against Hercules.
• He missed the last four La Liga fixtures due to a fractured foot.
• He scored 5 goals in his first season at the club.
• He provided 6 assists in the 2011-12 season. He did not score any goal during the season as he was deployed as a defensive midfielder. He scored only a goal in the Copa del Rey.
• He scored 9 league goals (12 overall goals) and provided 10 league assists in the 2012-13 season.
• He was named the captain of Sevilla ahead of the 2012-13 season.
• He finished the 2013-14 season with 15 goals and 17 assists.
• He helped Sevilla to win the 2013-14 Europa League.
• He also won the Fair Play Award at the LFP Awards.

Source: @pinterest

Barcelona

• Following his impressive season at Sevilla, he was pursued by Barcelona.
• He signed a 5-year contract with the club on 16 June 2014.
• Rakitic made his competitive debut for Barcelona on 24 August 2014 against Elche.
• He scored his first goal for Barcelona on 21 September 2014 against Levante.
• He scored the first Champions League goal of his career on 18 March 2015 against Manchester City.
• He scored the opening goal in the Champions League final against Juventus. He became the second Croatian after Mario Mandzukic to score a goal in the Champions League final.
• He won the treble in his first season at Barcelona: La Liga, Copa del Rey, and Champions League. He had scored 8 goals in all competitions during the season.
• He was part of Barcelona that defeated his former club Sevilla to win the 2015 UEFA Super Cup.
• In his second season at Barcelona, he scored 9 goals in all competitions.
• In the 2016-17 season, he scored 9 goals in all competitions.
• He scored 4 goals in the 2017-18 season.
• He scored 5 goals in the 2018-19 season.
• Following the arrival of Frenkie De Jong from Ajax, Rakitic’s playing time at Barcelona was limited. He scored only 1 goal in the 2019-20 season.
• Following Barcelona’s 8-2 defeat against Bayern Munich in the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League, the club manager, Quique Setien was sacked. The new coach Ronald Koeman informed Rakitic that he was not part of his plans for the new season.
• He became the most capped European non-Spanish player in the club’s history.
• La Liga: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19
• Copa del Rey: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18
• Supercopa de España: 2016, 2018
• UEFA Champions League: 2014–15
• UEFA Super Cup: 2015
• FIFA Club World Cup: 2015

Return to Sevilla

• Rakitic returned to Sevilla after he signed a 4-year contract with the club on 1 September 2020.
• He transferred to the club for a nominal fee of 1.5 million euros.

Source: @bleacherreport

International Career

• Ivan Rakitic initially represented Switzerland football teams at various age levels. He represented Switzerland U17, U19, and U21 national teams.
• He later chose Croatia to represent on the senior level.
• He made his full international debut on 8 September 2007 against Estonia in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier.
• He scored the first senior international goal of his career on 12 September 2007 against Andorra.
• He later went on to represent Croatia at Euro 2008, Euro 2012, 2014 World Cup, Euro 2016, and 2018 World Cup.
• He was a key player that helped Croatia to finish runners-up in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. France defeated Croatia 4-2 to win the World Cup.
• He was part of the Croatia team that competed in the inaugural of the 2018-19 UEFA Nations League.

Individual Honors

• Swiss Super League Young Player of the Year: 2006–07
• Swiss Super League Goal of the Season: 2006–07
• BBVA Fair Play award: 2013–14
• La Liga Player of the Month: January 2014
• UEFA Europa League Final Man of the Match: 2014
• La Liga Team of the Season: 2013–14, 2014–15
• UEFA La Liga Team of The Season: 2018-19
• UEFA Europa League Team of the Season: 2013–14
• UEFA Champions League Team of the Season: 2014–15
• Croatian Footballer of the Year: 2015
• Croatian Sportsman of the Year: 2015
• FIFA FIFPro World11 3rd team: 2018
• FIFA FIFPro World11 4th team: 2016
• FIFA FIFPro World11 5th team: 2015
• FIFA FIFPro World11 nominee: 2019 (10th midfielder)
• Order of Duke Branimir with Ribbon

Source: @sportsgalleries

Ivan Rakitic Wife

Ivan Rakitic is a married man. He is married to Raquel Mauri. The couple first met at a hotel bar on the first night Rakitic arrived in Seville in 2010. She was working as a waitress there. They eventually started dating in 2011. They got married in April 2013. Their first daughter Althea was born in July 2013. His second daughter Adara was born in May 2016.

He speaks Croatian, German, Spanish, English, French, and Italian.

Ivan Rakitic Height

Ivan Rakitic stands at a height of 1.84 m i.e. 6 feet and half inches tall. He has a bodyweight of 172 lbs i.e. 78 Kg. He has an athletic body build. His sexual orientation is straight. His eye color is green and his hair color is blonde.

Ivan Rakitic Net Worth

Ivan Rakitic earns from his professional career as a football player. His income comes from contracts, salaries, endorsements, and bonuses. His annual salary at Barcelona was around $12 million. His net worth is estimated at $30 million.