Tonci Kukoc

Tonci Kukoc-Petraello (born 25 September 1990) is a Croatian football defender who plays for Kisvarda.

He is the nephew of the former NBA player Toni Kukoc.

Club Career

Born in Split, Kukoc started his career playing in youth level for his hometown club Hajduk Split. At the age of 18 he passed the trial with the Russian club Saturn, but Hajduk refused to release him as they had a scholarship contract with him until June 2009.

After signing a four-year contract with Hajduk, Kukoc was loaned to Istra 1961 for the first part of 2009–10 season. The rest of the season he spent on loan in the second division side Mosor. He made his professional debut for Hajduk the following season, when he replaced Ante Vukusic in the final minutes of the home match against NK Zagreb. In the midseason Kukoc was again loaned, this time to the last placed Hrvatski Dragovoljac in Prva HNL. He played five games for Dragovoljac, and scored his first goal in Prva HNL, after coming on as a substitute in a 3–2 defeat against Inter Zapresic.

Hajduk decided to keep him for the 2011–12 Prva HNL season and has worked as a rotational player, playing in a few different positions. He scored his first goal for the club in a 4–0 win against NK Zagreb on 21 August 2011.

After spending one season at Italian side Brescia Calcio in Serie B, Kukoc joined CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria on 7 August 2014. He made his league debut for CSKA on 16 August, in a 2–0 away loss against Ludogorets Razgrad, playing the full 90 minutes as a left-back. Kukoc netted his first goal on 22 August, in the 5–0 home rout against Marek Dupnitsa. On 1 November 2014, he went close to opening the scoring in the 0–0 home draw against Slavia Sofia, hitting the crossbar with a powerful long-distance effort, but subsequently received a two-match ban following a post-match altercation with Georgi Petkov.