Ivan Čović

In February 2023, Ivan Čović produced the display that Slaven Belupo supporters still bring up: a performance described as colossal. It was the kind of afternoon that keeps a side in a game they have no business winning.

Čović came through at Inter Zaprešić, joining the club's youth ranks in 1998 and staying almost a decade, with a single season at Dinamo Zagreb in between. He signed his first professional contract at Zaprešić in July 2009.

The move that shaped him arrived a year later, when he left for Hrvatski Dragovoljac as a free agent. He spent four seasons there and wore the captain's armband. In 2013 he was named best goalkeeper of the 14th Gojko Šušak Memorial Tournament, and the Dragovoljac president said publicly that season that Čović was possibly the best goalkeeper in the First League.

He returned to Inter Zaprešić in September 2014 for an undisclosed fee. What followed was a stretch abroad: Apollon Smyrnis in Greece from June 2017, then Sepsi OSK in Romania from June 2018. He was back in Croatia by February 2019, signing for Gorica.

Čović joined Slaven Belupo as a free agent in August 2020. He has not played for the senior national team, and his career has not brought league titles or an individual award such as Goalkeeper of the Season.