Ante Rebić leaves Hajduk: contract will not be extended after one season at Poljud
Ante Rebić is leaving Hajduk after no agreement was reached with the club on continuing cooperation. The Split club announced on June 11, 2026, that the contract of the 32-year-old forward, which is valid until June 30, 2026, will not be extended. According to Hajduk's official announcement, Rebić was offered a new contract, but the former Croatian international did not accept it. This brings to an end his spell in the white shirt, which began in the summer of 2025 and lasted one season. In its farewell message, the club stated that Rebić played 30 matches for Hajduk, scored seven goals and recorded six assists.
Rebić's departure comes at a time when Hajduk is already assembling its squad for the 2026/2027 season and preparations under coach Gonzalo García. According to an earlier club notice on the status of first-team players, Rebić had already been offered a new contract after the end of the season, and at that time he was expected to make a decision in the near future. After today's update to that notice, it became clear that the cooperation would not continue. Given that the current contract expires at the end of June, Rebić should become a free agent after that date unless a different agreement is announced in the meantime. Hajduk did not state in its official announcement the reasons why the offer was not accepted.
Hajduk confirmed the end of negotiations
The club announced the decision as part of an official notice on the status of first-team players, in which it had already previously presented several squad decisions for the period after the end of the 2025/2026 season. The update of June 11 stated that Ante Rebić's contract would not be extended and that a new contract had been offered, but was not accepted. Such wording shows that the club wanted to leave open the possibility of continuing the cooperation, but the negotiations did not end in an agreement. Hajduk said goodbye to the player with thanks and wishes for success in the rest of his career, without additional explanations about the course of the negotiations. According to available information, at the time of the announcement it had not been officially confirmed where Rebić could continue his career.
This decision is not an isolated move, but part of a broader reshaping of the dressing room. In the same announcement at the end of May, Hajduk stated that the contracts of Anthony Kalik and Ismaël Diallo expire on May 31 and would not be extended. The club also announced at that time that Iker Almena's loan would end at the end of the season, with the note that the chances of continuing the cooperation were small due to financial constraints. At the same time, it was communicated that Zvonimir Šarlija, Filip Krovinović and Hugo Guillamón could look for new opportunities in other environments. In that context, Rebić's departure further confirms that Hajduk is entering the summer transfer window with several open questions in the squad.
For the club's sporting policy, it is especially important that the separation concerns a player who had significant minutes in the previous season. According to Hajduk's official player profile, Rebić made 30 appearances in the white shirt, 24 of them in the starting lineup, with an average of 68 minutes per match. The club statistics recorded seven goals and six assists, which means that he directly participated in 13 goals. Such an output does not place him only among rotation players, but among footballers who had a visible attacking contribution. Precisely for that reason, his departure is not only administrative news about the expiry of a contract, but a change that will be reflected in the construction of the attack for the new season.
One season with a concrete impact
Rebić arrived at Hajduk as a player with rich international experience and a pronounced attacking profile. At the beginning of August 2025, the club presented him as the new number nine, along with the information that he had signed a contract until the summer of 2026. In the official announcement of his arrival, Hajduk emphasized his experience from Italy, Germany and Turkey, as well as the national-team status he had acquired in the years before arriving at Poljud. Such a player was expected to bring quality, physical strength, experience from major matches and additional competition in the final third of the attack. Statistically speaking, his only season at Hajduk ended with an output that can be considered relevant in the context of the club's offensive picture.
Seven goals and six assists in 30 appearances show that Rebić had the role of a player who does not depend only on finishing moves. Even before arriving at Hajduk, his career was often marked by the ability to play several attacking roles, from a classic striker to a winger who moves inside and opens space for teammates. In Hajduk's official records, he is listed as a forward, and the number of appearances in the starting lineup indicates that he had the trust of the coaching staff during most of the season. Still, the fact that the contract was not extended shows that the sporting and contractual interests of the club and the player were not aligned. Without an official explanation of the negotiations, it cannot be claimed exactly where the divergence occurred.
For Hajduk, the timing dimension of this decision is also important. The club begins preparations for the new season on June 15, only four days after the confirmation that Rebić will not stay. This gives the coaching staff a relatively clear player status ahead of the start of work, but at the same time opens space for searching for a new solution in attack. If one considers that Rebić directly participated in 13 goals in the previous season, a replacement for that contribution does not necessarily have to be only one player, but may come through a different distribution of minutes and roles. In any case, the decision was made early enough for the sporting department to be able to plan preparations without uncertainty over his stay.
A career that began in Split and led through Italy, Germany and Turkey
Ante Rebić was born in Split on September 21, 1993, and according to Hajduk's data, he took his first football steps in the Imotski area, in Vinjani and NK Imotski. As a teenager, he moved to RNK Split, where he established himself as one of the most interesting forwards in the Croatian championship. When presenting the player, Hajduk stated that in two seasons for the club from Park mladeži he played more than 50 official matches and scored 16 goals. That development opened the way for him abroad, first to Fiorentina, and then through a series of clubs in leagues that shaped him into a physically strong and direct forward. Hajduk's profile lists RNK Split, Fiorentina, Milan, Hellas Verona, Lecce, RB Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt and Beşiktaş as his previous clubs.
Rebić achieved the largest part of his international affirmation at Eintracht Frankfurt and Milan. In the announcement of his arrival, Hajduk recalled that he played 100 matches for Eintracht and scored 25 goals, while for Milan he recorded 123 official matches, 29 goals and 17 assists. It was precisely the period in Germany that was crucial for his rise toward the status of a regular Croatian international. After that, he returned to Italy, played for Milan until 2023, and then continued his career at Beşiktaş and Lecce. His arrival at Hajduk in 2025 represented a return to Croatian club football after a long period abroad.
According to data from the Croatian Football Federation, Rebić played 42 matches for the Croatian senior national team and scored three goals. The HNS states that he made his first appearance for the national team on August 14, 2013. His international career is remembered above all for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where Croatia won the silver medal. In its official archive, FIFA particularly highlights his goal against Argentina in the 53rd minute of the group-stage match, while the HNS stated in its report from the final that Rebić was part of the team that lost 4:2 to France in Moscow and won historic silver. That national-team context was an important part of the perception of his arrival at Hajduk.
What the departure means for Hajduk's summer plan
Hajduk enters the new season with a clearly defined preparation schedule. According to the club's official announcement, the first team begins preparations on June 15, 2026, at Poljud, under coach Gonzalo García and his staff. After the first week of work in Split, the team travels on June 22 to Bled, which will be the base for the central part of preparations until July 1. The club announced that three friendly matches have so far been arranged in Slovenia: against Shkendija on June 23, LNZ Cherkasy on June 27 and Celje on July 1. Given Rebić's departure, that preparation cycle will be the first opportunity to test new attacking solutions and different tactical relationships.
The schedule of the new season further emphasizes the importance of assembling the team on time. Hajduk announced that it will open the 2026/2027 league season away to Varaždin, after the draw of competition numbers conducted by the Croatian Football Federation. The first matches of the new SuperSport HNL season will be played on July 31, August 1 and August 2. This means that the coaching staff has a little more than a month and a half from the start of preparations to the first league test. In such a framework, the departure of a player with Rebić's experience and output is not an insignificant detail, especially if the other squad changes already announced by the club are also taken into account.
The sporting impact of Rebić's departure will depend on how Hajduk distributes roles in attack and whether it brings in a replacement of a similar profile during the summer. The club did not announce any concrete arrival connected to that position in its official statement, so at the moment it is reasonable to speak only of an open space in the squad. If Hajduk opts for internal solutions, greater responsibility could fall on players who are already in the team and who will get the chance during preparations to show whether they can take over part of the goalscoring and assisting output. If the club turns to the market, the replacement profile will depend on financial possibilities and the tactical requirements of the new coaching staff. In both cases, the decision on Rebić accelerates the need to define the attacking structure before the start of the league.
Rebić's next step has not yet been officially confirmed
For Rebić, the separation from Hajduk opens a new chapter in his career. Since his contract expires on June 30, 2026, his status after that date should be that of a free agent, unless a new contractual arrangement is announced before then. Given his experience in Serie A, the Bundesliga, Turkish football, the Croatian national team and Hajduk, he is a player whose next move will attract attention. Still, at the moment of the official confirmation of his departure from Poljud, his new club was not announced. Therefore, at this stage one can speak only about the end of the cooperation with Hajduk, and not about a new destination.
Hajduk, on the other hand, closed one important issue before the start of preparations with the announcement. Rebić's season in Split will not be remembered as long, but it was eventful enough to leave a statistical mark. Thirty matches, seven goals and six assists make up a concrete contribution, especially for a player who arrived at the club with great expectations and a recognizable name. The departure without a contract extension shows that in professional football even short spells can have an important impact on planning the next period. For Hajduk, a preparation cycle now follows in which new solutions will be sought, while for Rebić comes the search for an environment in which he will continue his career after the expiry of his contract with the club from Poljud.
Sources:
- HNK Hajduk Split – official notice on the status of first-team players and confirmation of Ante Rebić's departure (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – official announcement of Ante Rebić's arrival at the club in August 2025 (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – official profile of Ante Rebić and statistics of appearances in the white shirt (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – schedule for the start of preparations for the 2026/2027 season (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – announcement of the schedule for the start of the league season and the away match in Varaždin (link)
- Croatian Football Federation – official profile of Ante Rebić in the Croatian national team (link)
- Croatian Football Federation – report on the 2018 World Cup final and Croatia's silver medal (link)
- FIFA – official archive of Ante Rebić's goal against Argentina at the 2018 World Cup (link)