From the tranquillity of his family farm in Bosnia to the demands of Inter Milan, the unassuming midfielder is establishing himself as the Vatreni’s new metronome. Ahead of a historic clash with Portugal, here is a portrait of a pure talent who prefers real life to the spotlight.
He has no Instagram account. No X account. No TikTok, no stories to post, no image to maintain. “I don’t have a social media profile. There’s no particular reason. I don’t like wasting my time on social media. It’s certainly a useful tool, but you can spend up to five hours a day on it. I much prefer real life. We’re constantly in the spotlight, constantly scrutinised by the media and journalists. After a match or a training session, I need to relax, unwind and spend time with my family. That’s the main reason why I’m not on social media.”
At 22, Petar Sučić is nevertheless Croatia’s star, whether he likes it or not, alongside his mate Martin Baturina, and will be the centre of attention as the Vatreni take on a Portuguese side they have never beaten in a competitive match.
The World Cup that put him on the map
Before this tournament, Sucic was known to Serie A followers and Croatian football aficionados. But in America, the Inter midfielder quickly made a name for himself.
In three group-stage matches, he proved decisive on two occasions – scoring one goal and providing one assist – and established himself as the driving force behind a team seeking a new lease of life following the Modrić era. His manager, Zlatko Dalic, is full of praise for him: “Sučić is one of those players who have very quickly become indispensable to the national team - perhaps the quickest of all. He plays very well. He has good technical ability, he’s hard-working, and he’s got character and quality. He won the title with Inter. He helps Luka in defence, and we know what he brings in attack. His hard work has paid off.”
Luka Modric, his long-standing idol, agrees: “He played a phenomenal match. He’s proving that he’s the present of this national team, not just the future. He just needs to carry on like this.”
Sucic shares this rise to prominence in the national team with a long-standing partner: Martin Baturina. The chemistry between the two former Dinamo Zagreb players did not begin with this World Cup.
In October 2024, during a Nations League match between Croatia and Poland that ended in a 3–3 draw, they swapped roles to get the Vatreni off to a flying start: in the 24th minute, Sučić scored his first international goal from a Baturina assist. Two minutes later, Baturina in turn scored his first goal for Croatia from a Sucic assist.
It was a way of cementing their friendship – the pair are still flatmates in the national team to this day.
At the World Cup, they demonstrated their understanding once again: against England, after a clever feint, Sučić laid the ball back for Baturina, who fired a superb shot into the top corner. Against Ghana, he kept the goal for himself this time: an unstoppable strike from outside the box, some 25 metres out, on a waterlogged pitch.
He celebrated the goal by tucking the ball under his shirt, in tribute to his pregnant wife, who was unable to travel to the World Cup in the US: “The goal means a great deal to both her and me. I scored it for her and, God willing, for our future child."
He finished the match as man of the match, with near-perfect statistics: 44 touches, 31 out of 34 successful passes, 7 duels (5 won), and 4 fouls won. In doing so, he became the second-youngest player to score for Croatia at a World Cup, after Gvardiol against Morocco in 2022.
From Kandija to San Siro
A goal that must have held a very special significance in Kandija, a village of around 300 people not far from Bugojno, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “I grew up in a small village with my family. We have a small farm. My dad likes to keep cows – we’ve got a few – and when I was little, I’d sometimes help him milk them in the morning,” he told Inter’s website upon his arrival.“
"It was fun. I loved that way of life; I think I had a happy childhood. I was very happy spending the whole day outdoors. We had other animals too. It’s a part of my life I’ll always remember.”
He played his first games in Bugojno, the neighbouring town, between 2013 and 2019: “I have wonderful memories and so many emotions linked to that place. I learnt a lot about life there. I think it was an important part of my life and I believe I can draw on the spirit of that town as I take my first steps.”
He then joined the Zrinjski Mostar academy later on, the club representing the Croatian community in the city of Mostar - a city itself divided between its three ethnic groups, with Croats and Bosniaks in the majority and Serbs in the minority. Scouts from Dinamo Zagreb spotted him in early 2022.
The choice of this club is no coincidence: Sucic comes from a Croatian family in Bosnia, a Catholic, Croatian-speaking community that has been one of the three constituent peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina since the Dayton Accords. For many of these families, the chequered shirt is not the shirt of a foreign country: it is the shirt of home, even when home lies on the other side of a border drawn by history.
As it happens, he is a Bosnian Croat, just like his manager Zlatko Dalic, who was born in Livno, just like him. Born in 1966, Dalic spent his entire playing career at Croatian clubs before turning to management; he carries a rosary in his pocket before every match and makes pilgrimages to the shrine at Medjugorje.
Sucic followed a similar path: after 24 matches for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s youth teams, he chose to join the Vatreni in early 2024: “It wasn’t an easy decision. However, as a Croat, my greatest wish is to represent Croatia, which is my homeland.” The midfielder has been living a dream come true and never misses an opportunity to proclaim his love for the Vatreni: “I really love the national team and I’m the happiest man in the world when I play for Croatia. I savour every moment.”
In Zagreb, things moved quickly: a few months in the reserves at Dinamo, a rapid promotion to the first team, then a loan spell at Zrinjski, where he won the cup and league double.
It was in that shirt that he made his Champions League debut: “My first Champions League match was against Sheriff Tiraspol. It was raining so heavily that I thought the match wouldn’t go ahead. But in the end, we took to the pitch. It was my first time in Europe. I was happy and excited, and I scored one of the best goals of my life. An unforgettable evening.”
After two seasons with Dinamo, the club close to his heart, during which he made 51 appearances and scored four goals, Inter paid €14 million to sign him. On the advice of Brozovic, Perisic, Kovacic and Fabio Cannavaro – who had briefly been his manager at Dinamo – he chose San Siro over Juventus.
Petar and Luka
Sucic describes himself as a classic number 6 - “That’s the position where I feel most comfortable, with my composure on the pitch and stamina as my strengths” – but can also play as a number 8 or out wide. His role models in this position?
“Busquets, but he’s nearing the end of his career. Today, Rodri, Kimmich and Brozović are at the top of their game. However, we’re not all the same kind of player, so I try to draw inspiration from each of them to improve.”
In Croatia, he is naturally and quickly compared to Marcelo Brozovic, who also played for Dinamo Zagreb, for his impact and tireless work rate. Sucic admits as much himself, saying he runs “at least 12 to 13 kilometres per match”. But he doesn’t like being compared to his elders, pointing out that Brozović and Modrić have lived through war and faced far more turbulent paths to the top than he has.
In the Sucic family, he is not the only one to have caught the eye. His cousin Luka, the son of his father’s brother, plays in midfield for Real Sociedad and also represents Croatia. Together, the two cousins are living a dream come true: “We speak every day. Especially before matches, we wish each other good luck. He grew up in Austria, but as soon as he has a bit of free time, he comes to see me, and we play just like we did when we were kids – back when we’d never have imagined playing together for the national team.
"We can be proud of ourselves, and our families are too. When we were little, we used to watch the national team’s matches on the telly, and now we’re playing together for Croatia. For me, it’s a very special family story.”
The two cousins meet up at Christmas or New Year, always in Bosnia, just to have a bit of a squabble over which is the best club in Croatia – Petar has supported Dinamo since he was a child, whilst Luka backs their great rivals, Hajduk Split.
It’s also surely a time to analyse each other’s careers: Petar had such an extraordinary 2025–26 season that he earned a place in Inter’s starting XI, despite Chivu finding him “a bit frail”, whilst Luka has played just 1,351 minutes for Real Sociedad and is watching his cousin’s World Cup performances from the bench.
The midfield challenge
This Thursday evening in Toronto, however, Petar Sucic is set to face what looks like the biggest challenge of his career. Dalic warned at a press conference: “Portugal have players who are very good tactically and technically. Among the best in the world. That’s why, given our style of play, I’m expecting a battle in midfield. We’re not going to change the way we play, but we’ll have to be aggressive and disciplined against a fantastic side.”
On the other side, Vitinha paid tribute to the Croatian midfield: “It’s clear they have a great midfield, a great team and a huge role model for me in Luka Modric. I’ve spoken about him before; he’s a huge role model for everyone, and for me as a midfielder, even more so. I’ve played against him before and we swapped shirts. I can say it’s a pleasure to play against him; I hope he’ll be a bit sadder than me tomorrow.”
It’s in midfield that everything will be decided. And that’s where Sucic will have his say. The man who was still just a boy from Kandija when Croatia were cruelly knocked out by Portugal in the round of 16, after watching Perisic hit the post in the 116th minute before Quaresma scored the only goal of the match on the counter-attack in the 117th minute, surely dreams of securing a much better fate for the Vatreni.