Former Croatian youth international and centre-back Franjo Prce has put pen to paper on a one-year contract with SC East Bengal.
Born in the city of Čapljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Prce spent his formative years at Croatian clubs NK Omladinac and Hajduk Split between the years 2006 and 2014 following which he moved to the U-19 setup at Italian club Lazio. During his developmental years, he also represented Croatia at U-16, U-17, U-18, U-19 & U-21 level.
While he was at Lazio, Franjo initially played in the Italian youth leagues before being sent out on loan to clubs in Serie B. He made seven appearances in around two and a half seasons in the Italian second tier. The defender finally made his debut for Lazio in Serie A against Torino in October 2016 in what would turn out to be his only appearance for the club at the senior level.
Early in 2018, Prce was on the move again – this time on loan to Croatian club NK Istra who compete in the Croatian top tier Prva HNL. Then, later in the year, he moved to Cyprus-based AC Omonia and played a season of top flight football with the club. He spent the next two seasons – 2019-20 and 2020-21 in the Croatian top-tier with NK Varazdin and Slaven Belupo.
After featuring in 20 matches for Slaven Belupo in the Prva HNL last season, Prce joins SC East Bengal on a free transfer. The 25-year-old 6’0″ left-footed defender has over a 100 club appearances under his belt and is the third foreign signing the club have made this season behind Australian centre-back Tomislav Mrcela and Slovenian midfielder Amir Dervišević.
For a look at SC East Bengal’s domestic signings this season, please click here.
Franjo Prce, Stats, Prva HNL 2020-21
| Total | Position | Minutes played | Goals | Assists | Shots / on target | xG | Passes / accurate | Long passes / accurate | Crosses / accurate | Dribbles / successful | Duels / won | Aerial duels / won | Interceptions | Losses / own half | Recoveries / opp. half | Yellow card | Red card |
| Franjo Prce | LCB | 1383 | 1 | 0 | 4/25% | 1.09 | 621/83.9% | 140/62.9% | 5/20% | 3/100% | 229/61.1% | 80/66.3% | 81 | 122/44.3% | 163/12.9% | 4 |
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