Ivica Vastić

Ivica Vastić

Vastić in 2015
Personal information
Date of birth	(1969-09-29) 29 September 1969 (age 55)
Place of birth	Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder, striker
Team information
Current team	HNK Šibenik U19 (Head coach)
Youth career
	NK GOŠK Kaštel Gomilica
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1989–1991	RNK Split	22	(5)
1991–1992	First Vienna FC	23	(8)
1992–1993	VSE St. Pölten	34	(18)
1993	Admira Wacker Mödling	18	(7)
1994	MSV Duisburg	10	(0)
1994–2002	Sturm Graz	250	(125)
2002–2003	Nagoya Grampus Eight	27	(13)
2003–2005	Austria Wien	67	(14)
2005–2009	LASK	123	(59)
Total		574	(249)
International career
1996–2008	Austria	50	(14)
Managerial career
2009–2010	FC Waidhofen/Ybbs
2010–2011	Austria Wien Amateure
2011–2012	Austria Wien
2012–2013	SV Gaflenz (assistant)
2013	SV Gaflenz
2013–2017	SV Mattersburg
2018–2020	Austria Wien U16
2020–2024	Austria Wien U18 (coach)
2024–	HNK Šibenik U19
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ivica Vastić (German pronunciation: [iˈvɪtsa ˈvastɪtʃ]; born 29 September 1969) is an Austrian retired professional footballer, who played as a midfielder and as a striker, who is currently youth head coach of HNK Šibenik U19.

He played, amongst others ,for FK Austria Wien, SK Sturm Graz and LASK and the Austria national football team.

Born in Split, SR Croatia, then still part of Yugoslavia, Vastić started to play for local club Jugovinil (today GOŠK Adriachem), before joining RNK Split at the time playing in Yugoslav third level. In 1991, he moved to Austria and signed with First Vienna FC. He subsequently also played for other Austrian clubs, such as VSE St. Pölten and Admira Wacker Mödling, and also had a half-season spell with Bundesliga side MSV Duisburg, where he made 10 league appearances without scoring a goal.

Vastić's most notable spell was with Sturm Graz between 1994 and 2002, during which he helped the club win the Austrian Bundesliga two consecutive times in 1998 and 1999, as well as the Austrian Cup in 1996, 1997 and 1999. With the club, he also played in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League in the 1998/1999 and 1999/2000 seasons of the competition.^[1]

Vastić left Sturm for a one-season spell with Japanese club Nagoya Grampus Eight, after which he returned to Austria to spend two seasons with Austria Vienna before joining LASK in the summer of 2005. He performed well for LASK in the Erste Liga, the Austrian second division, and was the top goalscorer of the league in two consecutive seasons, scoring a total of 42 goals in 62 league appearances between 2005 and 2007. After helping LASK win promotion to the Austrian Bundesliga in 2007, he went on to help the club finish sixth in the 2007/2008 Austrian Bundesliga season and himself finished the season as the club's top goalscorer in the league, having netted 13 goals in 32 appearances. Vastić announced his retirement on 18 May 2009, quitting professional football by 30 June 2009.

Vastić became an Austrian national in 1996 and subsequently started to play for the Austria national football team. By 2005, Vastić had won a total of 46 caps and scored 12 goals as an Austrian international.^[2] He then disappeared from the team for a period before making a spectacular comeback in 2008, being a surprise selection in the Euro 2008 squad and scoring Austria's first ever goal in the European Championship, also becoming the oldest goalscorer in the history of the tournament until Luka Modrić broke the record in Euro 2024.

Vastić's first appearance at a major tournament with Austria was at the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals in France,^[3] where he appeared in all of the team's three group matches and scored a last-minute equaliser in their second match at the tournament, a 1–1 draw against Chile. The Austrians were, however, eliminated from the tournament in the first round after recording two draws and one defeat.

On 24 April 2008, Vastić was surprisingly added to Austria's preliminary squad for the UEFA Euro 2008 finals co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland in June. His last appearance for the national team prior to the call-up had been more than two and a half years before, on 17 August 2005 in their 2–2 draw in a friendly match against Scotland.^[4] He then made his international comeback, winning his 47th cap, as a substitute in Austria's friendly match against Nigeria on 27 May 2008 and was eventually added to their final 23-man squad for the Euro 2008 finals, where he was the oldest player.^[5] In Austria's next friendly match three days later, he scored the team's fourth goal in their 5–1 victory over Malta.

On 8 June, Vastić made his Euro 2008 bow in the 1–0 defeat to his native Croatia, replacing Jürgen Säumel in the 61st minute.^[6]

On 12 June, Vastić appeared in Austria's second match of the tournament, a 1–1 draw with Poland, winning his 50th international cap as he replaced captain Andreas Ivanschitz in the 64th minute. In the match, he scored Austria's first goal in the UEFA European Championship final tournaments by netting an injury-time penalty to equalise, also becoming the oldest goalscorer of the European Championship finals at age 38 years, 257 days, over four years older than Nené who held the record since 1984. This record was broken by Luka Modrić in Euro 2024^[7]

On 16 June 2009, Vastić was named head coach of FC Waidhofen/Ybbs of the Regionalliga Ost.^[8] Coincidently the club began a cooperation with the former Vastic club LASK.^[9] He started his coaching career very well, winning the Regionalliga Ost in 2009/10.

Vastić changed to Austria Wien Amateurs in summer 2010 and was promoted to manager of the first team of Austria Wien in December 2011. He was sacked on 21 May 2012, and his contract was not renewed when it finished at the end of May.^[10]

Vastić became head coach on 20 December 2013.^[11] He is signed to the end of the season with an option for two more years.^[11] He subsequently had his option picked up.^[12] On 23 April 2016, Austria Wien defeated SV Mattersburg 9–0.^[13]

Vastić has been married to his wife Annie for more than 20 years. Together, they have three children. His oldest son Toni also became a professional footballer and is signed to German Regionalliga side VfR Aalen.^[14]

Scores and results list Austria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Vastić goal.

List of international goals scored by Ivica Vastić

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	30 April 1997	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Estonia	1-0	2-0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification	[18]
2	25 March 1998	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Hungary	1-1	2-3	Friendly	[19]
3	17 June 1998	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne, France	Chile	1-1	1-1	1998 FIFA World Cup	[20]
4	19 August 1998	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	France	2-1	2-2	Friendly	[21]
5	14 October 1998	San Marino Stadium, Serravalle, San Marino	San Marino	1-0	4-1	UEFA Euro 2000 qualification	[22]
6	28 April 1999	Arnold Schwarzenegger-Stadion, Graz, Austria	San Marino	2-0	7-0	UEFA Euro 2000 qualification	[23]
7				3-0
8				7-0
9	10 October 1999	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Cyprus	2-0	3-1	UEFA Euro 2000 qualification	[24]
10	23 February 2000	Messiniakos Stadium, Kalamata, Greece	Greece	1-1	1-4	Friendly	[25]
11	26 April 2000	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Croatia	1-0	1-2	Friendly	[26]
12	26 March 2005	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales	Wales	1-0	2-0	2006 FIFA World Cup	[27]
13	30 May 2008	UPC-Arena, Graz, Austria	Malta	4-1	5-1	Friendly	[28]
14	12 June 2008	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Poland	1-1	1-1	UEFA Euro 2008	[29]

As of 25 May 2017

Sturm Graz

• Austrian Bundesliga: 1997–98, 1998–99
• Austrian Cup: 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99
• Austrian Supercup: 1996, 1998, 1999

Austria Wien

• Austrian Cup: 2004–05; runner-up: 2003–04

LASK

• Austrian Football First League: 2006–07

Individual

• Austrian Footballer of the Year: 1995, 1998, 1999, 2007
• Austrian Bundesliga Top Scorer: 1995–96, 1999–2000
• Austrian Football First League Top Scorer: 2005–06, 2006–07

FC Waidhofen/Ybbs

• Regionalliga Ost: 2009–10

SV Mattersburg

• Austrian Football First League: 2014–15

• Ivica Vastić at Soccerway.com
• Ivica Vastić at WorldFootball.net
• Ivica Vastić at National-Football-Teams.com
• Ivica Vastić at kicker (in German)
• Ivica Vastić at FBref.com
• Player profile – EURO2008
• Profile – Austria Archive
• Profile at Weltfussball.de at the Wayback Machine (archived 27 April 2008) (in German)