EURO 2016 gets underway in France on Friday. It’s the biggest football tournament of the summer. Three Werder players will be at the heart of the action, when 24 countries battle to be crowned champions. WERDER.DE is profiling the Green-Whites involved - today: Zlatko Junuzovic.
It all started in Kühnsdorf. During the war in Bosnia, the Junuzovic family moved to Austria and the tranquil state of Carinthia. The then seven-year-old played for local clubs SK Kühnsdorf and VST Völkermarkt. Werner Gregoritsch, father of HSV player Michael Gregoritsch and current head coach of the Austrian U21s, brought the then eleven-year-old "Zladdi" to Graz, where he began his football career in the Grazer AK youth academy.
At the age of 17 and after six years in the GAK youth set-up, he got his first taste of first-team football at the Austrian Bundesliga side. The then head coach of GAK, Walter Schachner, was aware of Juno and let the up-and-coming talent train with the first team. Junuzovic celebrated his debut in Austria’s top division in the derby against Sturm Graz on 11.05.2005. He made three further appearances for the side between then and the end of the campaign. In the following season, the midfielder developed into a regular in Graz and also made his debut in the UEFA Cup. In the second round of qualifying for the competition, he was handed his debut against Moldovan club Nistru Otaci. In the return leg, Junuzovic netted the only goal of the game - his first goal. He scored for the first time in the domestic league in the 3-1 home win against Red Bull Salzburg in November.
Just a few months after his league debut, he received his first cap for Austria. In a friendly against Canada, which took place on 01.03.2006, the then 18-year-old was substituted on after 60 minutes. He made three further appearances under head coach Josef Hickersberger. Canada remained a good stomping ground for Junuzovic because in summer 2007, Junuzovic and the U20s celebrated their first international success there at the World Cup. Austria finished in an impressive fourth place. Zlatko Junuzovic, Sebastian Prödl, Martin Harnik, Markus Suttner and Rubin Okotie were all involved back then and have been included in the Austria squad for this summer’s European Championship. After a spell with Austria Kärnten, Junuzovic joined FK Austria Wien. The free-kick specialist finished second in the league with the Violets and was crowned Austrian "Footballer of the Year" in 2010.
Junuzovic has featured regularly for the Austrian national team since 2010. He netted his first international goal in the 4-1 away victory against Azerbaijan on 07.10.2011. Several appearances as well as goals later, Junuzovic and Austria qualified for the EURO 2016 finals as group winners ahead of Russia and Sweden. With two goals and four assists, he played a key role in the greatest success of his country’s football association and qualifying for the tournament in France.
After a short training camp in Switzerland, Austria played friendlies against Malta and the Netherlands as part of their European Championship preparation. A day before departing to their tournament base, the team was bid farewell by the Austrian government. Subsequently, they had lunch with the Federal Chancellor Christian Kern, amongst other guests. On Tuesday afternoon, they set off for France and moved into their team base in Mallemort a week before their opening group game against Hungary on 14.06.2016 (18:00 CEST) in Bordeaux.
