Marko Livaja remains at Hajduk: the captain returns for preparations and removes the biggest uncertainty at Poljud
Marko Livaja has decided to remain at Hajduk for the 2026/2027 season as well, resolving at Poljud one of the most important questions ahead of the start of summer preparations. According to a report by Dalmatinski portal from 9 June 2026, which was also carried by other sports media, the captain of the Split club will appear on the first day of preparations and make himself available to coach Gonzalo Garcia. This has, at least for the next season, closed the possibility of his departure during the summer, although in recent months, according to the same information, there had been enquiries from abroad. Livaja’s current contract with Hajduk is valid until the summer of 2027, and the question of a possible extension of the cooperation has not yet been officially concluded.
The decision carries considerable sporting weight because it concerns not only the status of one player, but also the direction in which Hajduk wants to build the team for the new season. Livaja is the captain, the most recognisable individual in the Split squad and the player around whom a large part of the attacking play has been shaped over the past five years. According to the official club profile, in the white shirt he has played 202 matches, scored 104 goals and recorded 61 assists, which shows why his decision had a special place in the plans of the coaching staff and management. In a club that finished the 2025/2026 season in second place in the league table, Livaja’s stay means continuity in a period in which other squad issues are also being resolved at the same time.
The decision was made before the squad gathered
According to Dalmatinski portal, Livaja will appear at the first gathering of the first team and will be available to coach Garcia from the start of preparations. Hajduk’s official website announced on the same day that the first team will begin preparations for the 2026/2027 season on Monday, 15 June 2026. In the first week, the players will train at Poljud, and then on 22 June they will travel to Bled, where Hajduk will carry out the central part of preparations until 1 July. The club also stated that three friendly matches have currently been arranged in Slovenia, with the possibility of agreeing one more opponent.
Such a schedule means that Garcia will have to define the basic outlines of the team relatively quickly, and Livaja’s status is one of the key questions in that respect. In football terms, the captain’s early presence at preparations allows the coach to work from the first day on models of play in which attacking responsibility will not depend on later market decisions. Hajduk enters the new season with European ambitions as well, so preparations will be shorter and more intense than in periods without early qualifying obligations. In that context, the absence of uncertainty surrounding Livaja reduces the pressure on the coaching staff and the club’s sporting policy.
The contract runs until the summer of 2027, but the question of an extension remains open
Livaja has a contract with Hajduk until the summer of 2027, which the club officially announced back on 14 July 2022, when it was confirmed at the Torcida Cup that the then contract had been extended to five years. At the time, Management Board president Lukša Jakobušić announced that a new contract had been signed, while Livaja said he was proud to be part of the team and hoped for an even more successful season. That contract is now entering its final year, which naturally opens the question of whether Hajduk can find a new model of cooperation with the captain after 2027. According to available information, such an agreement has not yet been officially confirmed.
The topic of a new contract is not new. After the match against Lokomotiva in March 2026, when he scored his 100th goal for Hajduk, Livaja briefly commented on the negotiations for Dalmatinski portal and said that the club should state its position, adding that he had already reached agreements several times. That statement showed that extending the cooperation is not merely a formality, but a matter involving sporting, financial and organisational assessments. In football circumstances in which a player enters the final year of his contract, clubs usually have to choose between an extension, a sale or accepting the risk that the player leaves a year later without compensation. According to current information, Hajduk has obtained at least short-term stability: Livaja remains for the 2026/2027 season, while the longer-term outcome is still awaited.
Garcia gets his most experienced attacking pillar
Gonzalo Garcia has been in charge of Hajduk since the summer of 2025, when the club officially announced that a contract had been signed with him until the summer of 2028. Born in Montevideo, Garcia spent the greater part of his football life in Spain, and he arrived at Poljud as a coach who was already well known in the Croatian league. His first full cycle on the Hajduk bench brought changes in the style of play, but also periods in which there was much discussion about the role of certain more experienced players. Livaja’s stay therefore means not only retaining quality in attack, but also continuing work on the relationship between the coach, the captain and the rest of the dressing room.
At the end of the season, answering a question about Livaja’s statement after one match, Garcia said he did not perceive it as an attack on himself and emphasised that the team shares both good and bad things. According to Dalmatinski portal’s report from the press conference, the coach at the time also spoke about the need for a winning mentality, team spirit and a clear vision. Those messages are important because the new season for Hajduk begins not only with the question of who stays, but also with the question of how a hierarchy of responsibility is established in the dressing room. Livaja is a player who can decide a match with one move, but also a player whose status must fit into the collective game plan if Hajduk wants to be more stable over time.
The statistics confirm his role in modern Hajduk
Livaja’s influence at Hajduk is measured both by numbers and by context. According to the club’s official data, by June 2026 he had accumulated 202 appearances, 104 goals and 61 assists. In the 2024/2025 season, Hajduk announced that Livaja had been named the best player of the SuperSport HNL, that with 19 goals he was the league’s top scorer and that he had become the first player in the history of the elite tier of Croatian football to win three league top-scorer titles. Although the 2025/2026 season had a different dynamic, such a background explains why every piece of information about his future is received as an important club matter.
In tactical terms, Livaja brings Hajduk more than just finishing attacks. His play between the lines, ability to hold the ball with his back to goal, to set up teammates and to finish from different areas of the pitch make him a specific profile of forward in the domestic league. Precisely because of this, his stay can make it easier for younger players and new signings to adapt, because the team retains a recognisable attacking reference point. At the same time, Garcia will have to find the balance between Livaja’s freedom in play and the need for Hajduk to be more aggressive, faster and more stable in both directions. That will be one of the most important sporting challenges of the first part of preparations.
Hajduk is simultaneously shaping the rest of the squad
Livaja’s decision comes at a time when Hajduk is already making changes to the squad. After the end of the 2025/2026 season, the club announced that the contracts of Anthony Kalik and Ismaël Diallo expire on 31 May and will not be extended. The same notice stated that the loan of Iker Almena ends at the end of the season, while the club currently sees limited possibilities for continuing the cooperation because of financial constraints. Anti Rebić has been offered a new contract, while Zvonimir Šarlija, Filip Krovinović and Hugo Guillamón are free to look for new opportunities elsewhere.
Such decisions show that Hajduk is not entering the summer without changes. Keeping Livaja can provide stability at the top of the team, but it does not resolve all questions in midfield, defence and squad depth. At the end of the season, Garcia emphasised that for more serious competition with Dinamo it was not enough to change only a few players, but that the club had to work on a broader process. In that sense, Livaja’s stay can be viewed as a foundation, but not as a complete solution. For a step forward, Hajduk will need clear selection, healthy competition and a squad deep enough for the domestic league, the Cup and European qualifiers.
Preparations in Split and Slovenia as the first test of the new season
According to Hajduk’s official plan, the team will spend the first week of preparations at Poljud, and then from 22 June to 1 July it will stay in Bled. The club announced that it will play its first friendly match on 23 June against Shkendija from North Macedonia, then on 27 June against Ukraine’s LNZ Cherkasy, and on 1 July against Celje, the current champion of Slovenia. Players who took part in national-team activities will begin preparations on 18 June, while Bruno Durdov and Roko Gabrić will join the team after their commitments with Croatia’s U-19 national team at the European Championship in Wales.
Such a preparation plan shows that Hajduk already wants to test the team in June against opponents of different profiles. The matches in Slovenia will give the coach the first answers about the players’ physical condition, the distribution of minutes, the role of young footballers and the form of those entering the season with greater expectations. For Livaja, it is an opportunity to be part of the collective rhythm from the start of preparations, and for Garcia to check without delay how the captain functions with players who remain, those who return and possible reinforcements. The club schedule has also confirmed that Hajduk opens the new league season in Varaždin, with the first round to be played in the period from 31 July to 2 August.
His stay does not close all questions, but it changes Hajduk’s starting position
According to the final table published on the official club website, Hajduk finished the 2025/2026 season second, behind Dinamo, with 68 points. It is a result that provides a European framework and continuity near the top, but at the same time leaves room for discussion about the gap between ambition and final reach. In May, Garcia said that the club must build a winning mentality and team spirit, and such messages are now being carried into the new season. Livaja’s stay is important in that sense because Hajduk retains a player who knows how to carry the pressure of Poljud, but also because the speed with which a new level of demands is established will depend precisely on the team’s leaders.
For the club, it is especially important that one of the biggest questions is being resolved before work on the pitch begins. The summer transfer window always carries the possibility of new departures, arrivals and negotiations, but the captain’s status is no longer open in the way it was during the closing stages of last season. According to currently available information, Livaja remains at least until the expiry of his current contract in the summer of 2027, while it remains to be seen whether the club and the player will find common ground on a possible extension. This gives Poljud a more stable starting point, but also maintains the pressure to build a sufficiently competitive team around the captain for what lies ahead.
Sources:
- Dalmatinski portal – report on Marko Livaja’s decision to remain at Hajduk and appear on the first day of preparations (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – official plan for the start of preparations for the 2026/2027 season, the stay in Bled and friendly matches (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – official 2022 announcement on the extension of Marko Livaja’s contract until the summer of 2027 (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – official profile of Marko Livaja with his overall record in the Hajduk shirt (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – official announcement of the appointment of Gonzalo Garcia as first-team coach and the duration of his contract (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – notice on the status of first-team players after the end of the 2025/2026 season (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – announcement of the first round schedule of the SuperSport HNL and information that Hajduk opens the 2026/2027 season in Varaždin (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – official club website with the table at the end of the 2025/2026 season (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – announcement on Marko Livaja’s individual awards in the 2024/2025 season (link)
- Dalmatinski portal – report from Gonzalo Garcia’s press conference on the season, the team and his attitude toward Livaja’s statement (link)
- Dalmatinski portal – Livaja’s comment on the question of a new contract after the match against Lokomotiva (link)