Ivan Rakitić ended his term as Hajduk's technical director and remains the club ambassador
Ivan Rakitić has ended his term in the position of technical director of HNK Hajduk Split, the Split club announced on 07 July 2026, stating that his operational role concluded on 30 June, upon the expiry of his contract. This brings to an end the administrative and sporting chapter that followed his return to Croatian club football, but not his connection with the club. In its official announcement, Hajduk emphasized that the former midfielder will continue to cooperate with the club as an ambassador, representing it in Croatia and abroad. The decision comes at a time when the Split club is entering a new season with an altered sporting structure, European obligations and heightened public expectations regarding the work of the first team. Rakitić's departure from operational duties is therefore not only a staffing news item, but also the symbolic conclusion of a short transitional period in which one of the most decorated players to have played in the SuperSport HNL tried to transfer experience from top-level European football to the work of the club operation at Poljud.
Hajduk confirmed the end of the term and the continuation of cooperation
According to the announcement by HNK Hajduk Split, Rakitić's term as technical director ended on 30 June 2026 due to the expiry of his contract. In its statement, the club thanked Rakitić for his contribution as a player and as technical director, emphasizing his professionalism, international experience, contacts and understanding of football. In the same statement, Hajduk noted that Rakitić remains part of the club family through an ambassadorial role, which means that his connection with Poljud continues outside the first team's day-to-day operational processes. Such wording points to the difference between an executive sporting function, which involves work within the club structure, and a representative role in which public reputation, football biography and international recognition can serve to strengthen the club's identity and visibility.
Hajduk's gratitude referred in particular to the fact that Rakitić first put on the white shirt as the final act of his playing career, and then remained at the club to help the sporting segment. The announcement emphasized that with his approach he quickly became an example to his teammates and that, after leaving the pitch, he continued to contribute to creating foundations for the long-term progress of the first team. In its statement, the club did not provide details about future specific duties in the ambassadorial role, but it clearly indicated that the cooperation would not be interrupted. For Hajduk, such a model is important because it allows the club to maintain a connection with a person whose name carries weight in European football, while the operational management of the sporting sector continues through the existing club functions.
A short but substantial stage in the sporting structure
Rakitić officially took over the role of technical director in July 2025, about ten days after announcing the end of his playing career. Hajduk stated at the time that in his new role he would be one of sporting director Goran Vučević's assistants, responsible for the players and the first team's coaching staff. In the statement published on the occasion of his appointment, Rakitić emphasized that he wanted to help Hajduk and that he was placing his knowledge, experience and acquaintances in the football world at the club's disposal. That wording described well the logic of his engagement: the club did not get a classic administrator, but a former player with very fresh experience of dressing rooms at Sevilla, Barcelona, Schalke, Basel, Al-Shabab and Hajduk. The role of technical director therefore had both a communicative and a professional dimension, especially in the relationship between the players, the coaching staff and the sporting leadership.
Such roles in European clubs often depend on internal organization and are not always defined in the same way, but in Hajduk's case it was officially stated that the focus was on the first team, the players and the staff. Rakitić entered that job after a professional career in which he worked with coaches, teammates and sporting directors from different football cultures. His advantage was not only in his knowledge of the game, but also in his understanding of the demands of big clubs, a dressing room under pressure and the international market. Still, the transition from a playing career to an office and advisory function is always sensitive, especially in an environment where supporters' expectations are traditionally high. For that reason, the end of his term after the expiry of the contract should be seen as the conclusion of one defined phase, and not as a break in relations with the club.
From a spectacular arrival to farewell from the playing career
Rakitić arrived at Hajduk in July 2024, when the club officially announced that he had signed a contract until the end of the season with an option to extend for another season. The arrival of a player with such a biography had a strong impact because he is a footballer who won the Champions League with Barcelona, the Europa League with Sevilla, and played in the 2018 FIFA World Cup final with the Croatian national team. At the time of the signing, Hajduk emphasized that he was one of the greatest players in the history of Croatian football and the most decorated player to have arrived in the SuperSport HNL. Such an assessment was based not only on reputation, but also on the scope of a career that included more than 300 official appearances for Sevilla, 310 for Barcelona, more than 100 for Schalke 04 and beginnings at Basel, according to data published by Hajduk.
For the Split club, his arrival was more than a sporting reinforcement. Rakitić arrived as a player with an international reputation, but also with a clear message that he wanted to end his career in an environment toward which he felt a special connection. On 07 July 2025, Hajduk announced that Rakitić had decided to end his playing career precisely after a season in the white shirt. According to the club announcement, he played 39 official matches for Hajduk, 37 of them in the starting line-up, scored two goals and recorded five assists. In the same announcement, the club emphasized that from that day Rakitić was beginning a new chapter as a football official, thereby presenting his move into the sporting structure as a logical continuation of the cooperation.
A career that shaped his weight at Hajduk
The broader significance of Rakitić's engagement at Hajduk stems from his career outside Split. According to data from the Croatian Football Federation, Rakitić made 106 appearances for the Croatia senior national team and scored 15 goals, with his first appearance on 08 September 2007. HNS data also show that he was part of the national team in the key matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, including the semi-final against England and the final against France. His national-team career remained especially remembered for his role in the generation that won the silver medal in Russia, which is one of the greatest achievements of Croatian football. It was precisely that biography that gave additional weight to his presence at Poljud, because he brought into the dressing room the experience of playing the biggest matches under extreme pressure.
In its biography of Rakitić, the UEFA Foundation states that he is one of the most accomplished midfielders of his generation, born in Switzerland on 10 March 1988, with a career that includes Basel, Schalke 04, Sevilla and Barcelona. The same source states that Rakitić, as captain of Sevilla, won the UEFA Europa League in 2014, and with Barcelona the UEFA Champions League in 2015, in whose final he scored the opening goal. The UEFA Foundation also points out that in 2020 Rakitić became the first official ambassador of that foundation for children, which shows that ambassadorial and social roles are not a new field of activity for him. This fact gives additional context to Hajduk's decision to retain him as club ambassador: such a role relies on recognizability, communicative credibility and the ability to represent an institution beyond an exclusively sporting framework.
Changes in the sporting sector and the beginning of the new season
The end of Rakitić's term is taking place within a broader period of changes in Hajduk's sporting sector. In April 2026, Hajduk announced that Robert Graf was the club's new sporting director and that he was replacing Goran Vučević in that position. In its official announcement, the club stated that Graf arrives after working in Polish football, including roles at LKS Lodz, Warta Poznań and Rakow from Czestochowa, with whom, in the period from 2021 to 2023, as sporting director he was one of the architects of the greatest club success in Rakow's history. Such a context shows that in recent months Hajduk has been changing and upgrading its sporting hierarchy, so Rakitić's departure from the technical position comes at a moment when sporting responsibility is being directed toward new sector leadership.
At the same time, the first team is entering the competitive season with European obligations. UEFA, in the Europa League schedule for the 2026/27 season, lists the tie between Hajduk and Žilina in the first qualifying round, while Hajduk announced on its official website that the match at Poljud Stadium will be played on Thursday, 09 July 2026, at 8 p.m. That schedule adds additional weight to the timing of the announcement about Rakitić because the change is taking place immediately before the first official European test of the new season. Still, since the club stated that the contract expired on 30 June, this is an administratively concluded relationship before the beginning of the European matches, and not a sudden change in the middle of a competitive cycle. For the public and supporters, the key information remains that Rakitić is not leaving Hajduk completely, but is changing the form of cooperation.
The ambassadorial role as a continuation of the relationship with Poljud
An ambassadorial role in modern football can have several levels: from representing the club at international events and meetings with partners, to participating in projects that connect sport, the community, young players and the global visibility of the brand. Hajduk did not describe in detail the scope of Rakitić's future duties in its official statement, so at this moment it is most precise to say that he will represent the club in Croatia and abroad. Given his career, linguistic and cultural ties and status in Spanish, German, Swiss and Croatian football, such a role can be useful in situations in which the club wants to emphasize international recognition. During his career, Rakitić worked in several football environments, and precisely such a network of contacts was one of the elements because of which Hajduk included him in the sporting structure after the end of his playing career.
For Rakitić, this change means a step back from day-to-day operational responsibility, but not a complete exit from Hajduk's environment. For the club, it makes it possible to retain the symbolic and communicative value of his name, while the sporting sector continues to work through formal functions and the current leadership. The story that began with his arrival in Split in July 2024, continued with his farewell from the playing career in July 2025 and the technical role in the season after that, is now entering its third phase. Hajduk officially stated that Rakitić's dedication and connection with the club remain written into the club's history, and his new role will show how much playing greatness and international reputation can be transformed into long-term value off the pitch.
Sources:
- HNK Hajduk Split – official announcement on the end of Ivan Rakitić's term in the position of Hajduk's technical director and the continuation of cooperation through an ambassadorial role (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – official announcement on the appointment of Ivan Rakitić as Hajduk's technical director in 2025 (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – official announcement on the end of Ivan Rakitić's playing career and his appearances for Hajduk (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – official announcement on Ivan Rakitić's signing for Hajduk in July 2024 (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – official announcement on the appointment of Robert Graf as Hajduk's sporting director (link)
- Croatian Football Federation – official profile of Ivan Rakitić with national-team appearances, goals and match data (link)
- UEFA Foundation for Children – biographical data on Ivan Rakitić, his international career and ambassadorial work (link)
- UEFA – official information on the Hajduk Split - Žilina match in the first qualifying round of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League (link)