Ivan Vargić was born in Osijek in Croatia on March 15, 1987.
His youth career was spent first at Dakovo and then Osijek.
In 2006-07 Osijek sent him on loan to Vukovar in the Croatian Second Division where he played 33 games (30 in league).
In 2007-08 he was back at Osijek in the top flight but never made any appearances.
In August 2008 he went for his first foreign experience when he joined Honka in the Finnish top flight. He only stayed until December and never made his debut.
He returned to Osijek and stayed until February 2013. He made 36 league appearances, 10 in the Croatian Cup and 4 in the Europa League. The "Bijelo-Plavi" finished 7th, 6th, 8th, 8th and 7th.
In February 2013 he joined Rijeka and stayed three and a half seasons. He played 95 league games, 13 in the Croatian Cup and 23 in the Europa League. The "Nevera s Kvarnera" finished 3nd and then runners-up three times. In 2014 however they won the Croatian Cup and the Super Cup beating Dinamo Zagreb in both matches.
In 2016 Vargić joined Lazio. The manager was Simone Inzaghi and initially Vargic was supposed to be second choice behind Federico Marchetti but when the Italian got injured the Croat found himself leapfrogged by Albanian Thomas Strakosha. In the end Vargić only played 1 league game, a 1-3 home defeat to Inter on May 21. Lazio finished 5th (Europa League) and were losing finalists in the Coppa Italia.
The following year Vargić stayed in Rome. Still under Inzaghi, Lazio finished 5th again. The Biancocelesti triumphed in the Supercoppa Italiana defeating Juventus 3-2. Vargić made no league appearances but played twice in the Europa League (Lazio reached quarterfinals).
In 2018-19 he spent a year on loan with Anorthosis in Cyprus. He played 10 league games and 1 in the domestic cup. The "Old Lady" finished 7th.
In 2019-20 he was back at Lazio but only until February, just before lockdown for Coronavirus. He made no more appearances.
From February 2020 until July, he played for Koper in the Slovenian second flight but only played 1 league game. At 33 he then retired.
Vargic won 3 caps for Croatia in friendlies versus Argentina, Russia and Northern Ireland.
Vargic was a goalkeeper. A tall and imposing one at 1.92 and 93 kilos.
His best years were with Rijeka in his homeland where he played regularly and won two cups.
At Lazio he stayed two and a half years but never really got his chance, only playing a total of 3 games. He did however win an Italian Supercoppa in 2017.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances | Serie A | Europa League |
2016-17 | 1 | 1 | - |
2017-18 | 2 | - | 2 |
Total | 3 | 1 | 2 |
Sources
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