Nikola Blažičko (born 13 September 1977) is žiča former Croatian handball goalkeeper and co-trainer at Nettelstedt-Lübbecke.

Early life

Blažičko grew up in Rijeka. His parents Duško and Nada were also handball players, so him becoming a handball player himself was inevitable.

Nikola Blažičko

Career

Blažičko began his career in his hometown club Zamet in Rijeka. Soon he became a pivotal player and 1st goalkeeper at the club. In 2000 Blažičko moved to Split for 2 seasons before returning to Zamet. In 2004 he went to Croatian powerhouse Zagreb. With Zagreb Blažičko got to the finals of EHF Cup Winners' Cup in 2005.

Nikola Blažičko

The same year he played for the national team in World Championship in Tunis and Mediterranean Games in Almería where Croatia finished second. He also played at the 2006 European Championship in Switzerland where Croatia finished fourth losing the third-place match to Denmark 32:27.

Nikola Blažičko

Since 2007 he's been playing in TuS Nettelstedt-Lübbecke in Germany.

In March 2011 he was called up by Slavko Goluža to play for Croatia in the Euro-qualifiers. Unfortunately in June the same year Blažičko got injured losing his spot in the national team and being replaced with Venio Losert.

In 2015 Blažičko got another injury and didn't play for the vast majority of the season. At the end of the season his club Nettelstedt-Lübbecke was relegated to the 2. Bundesliga.

Honours

Zamet

Croatian Handball Championship U-18

Third (1): 1994

Croatian Handball Championship U-19

Winner (1): 1996

First B League

Winner (1): 1995-96

First A League

Third (2): 1997–98, 1998–99

Croatian Cup

Runner-up(1): 2000

Split

First A League

Third (1): 2000-01

Zagreb

First League

Winner (2): 2004–05, 2005–06

Croatian Handball Cup

Winner (2): 2005, 2006

EHF Cup Winners' Cup

Runner-up (1): 2005

PSG

Coupe de France

Winner (1): 2007

TuS Nettelstedt-Lübbecke

2nd Bundesliga

Winner (1): 2016-17

Croatia

2005 World Championship in Tunis - 2nd

2005 Mediterranean Games in Almería - 2nd

2006 European Championship in Switzerland - 4th

Individual

Best goalkeeper at Croatian Handball Championship U-19 - 1996

RK Zamet hall of fame - 2015

Orders

Order of the Croatian Trefoil - 2005

References

External links

Eurohandball profile

Scoresway profile

1977 births

Living people

Croatian male handball players

Croatian expatriate sportspeople in France

Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany

Handball players from Rijeka

RK Zamet players

Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Croatia

Competitors at the 2005 Mediterranean Games

Mediterranean Games medalists in handball