Dario Melnjak

Dario Melnjak arrived at HNK Hajduk Split in September 2021 as a free agent, on a one-year contract with an option to extend. By January 2022 the club had extended it to 2024; by 2026 he had passed 130 matches for Hajduk and scored six goals, and won the Croatian Cup twice, in 2021/22 and 2022/23.

He came up in the academy at NK Nedeljanec, spent two years in the NK Varaždin (Varteks) system, then returned to Nedeljanec, where he turned professional in 2010. At NK Zelina he played 63 matches and scored once, and in 2011/12 helped the club go up to the second division. Roughly 40 appearances for NK Slaven Belupo followed.

In February 2015, Belgian side KSC Lokeren signed him on a three-and-a-half-year contract. It brought 16 matches. A loan to Neftçi in Azerbaijan in 2016 produced ten appearances before the deal was ended by mutual consent, and a second spell at Slaven Belupo, again on loan, brought 13 matches and a goal.

At NK Domžale in Slovenia he scored eight goals in 43 matches across two seasons, and Çaykur Rizespor signed him in January 2019; in Turkey he made 79 appearances and scored seven times.

Croatia gave him his senior debut on 30 March 2021, in a 2022 World Cup qualifier against Malta. He has eight caps and no goals, having also featured in the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League against France, Sweden and Switzerland. He played eight matches for the under-21 side.