During his career, Olić played for German Bundesliga clubs such as Hamburger SV, VfL Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich, as well as CSKA Moscow, winning the 2004–05 UEFA Cup for the latter, and also for the Croatia national team.

[4] Named the Croatian Footballer of the Year in 2009 and 2010, Olić appeared with Bayern Munich in two UEFA Champions League finals, in 2010 and 2012.

Olić represented Croatia at three FIFA World Cups–in 2002, 2006 and 2014–and two UEFA European Championships–in 2004 and 2008; earning his 100th cap on 16 November 2014, before retiring from international football in 2015.

He did not see much play there and returned to Marsonia the following year, where he earned promotion to the top flight after winning the Croatian Second League with his team.

It worked out in the end, and Hamburg finished seventh, which even acquired them a UEFA Intertoto Cup place, which they eventually won.

[citation needed] Olić effectively won the 2008 Emirates Cup for Hamburg, with two injury time goals against Juventus, increasing the team's points tally to an unassailable level (due to the points-for-goals system).

[citation needed] On 3 January 2009, Olić signed a three-year contract with Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich.

[10] Initially, he was supposed to be back-up to the likes of Miroslav Klose and Mario Gómez, but due to injury and fitness issues, he began to be preferred as the club's first choice.

He reached new heights upon scoring a crucial goal in the 2010 Champions League quarter-final (first leg) against Manchester United in injury time, to give Bayern a slender 2–1 lead.

He scored another goal in the quarter-final match of the DFB-Pokal against Kickers Offenbach on 26 February 2013, as Wolfsburg secured a spot in the semi-finals.

[citation needed] In September 2006, Olić was dropped from the Croatian squad for a Euro 2008 qualifying match for one game, due to a late-night partying binge together with Darijo Srna and Boško Balaban.

[28] He was named in Croatia's 23-man squad for the final tournament, and scored in their second Group B match against Germany to give the Croats a 2–1 shock win over the pre-tournament favourites.

On 22 March 2013, Olić scored his first goal since November 2011 and assisted Mario Mandžukić in a qualifier for the 2014 World Cup against Serbia.

In the opening game of the finals, on 12 June, his left-wing cross led to the first goal of the tournament, deflected into his own net by Marcelo of Brazil.

[37] In late March 2021, Sport-Express and Sportske novosti published a story about Olić succeeding Viktor Goncharenko at his former club CSKA Moscow.

[49][50] After losing 3–2 to Dynamo Moscow on 16 May, Olić finished the season in sixth place, with CSKA missing out on European competitions for the first time in 20 years.

[51][52] He was unexpectedly sacked on 15 June and succeeded by Berezutski, returning to Zlatko Dalić's team for the UEFA Euro 2020.

[54] Unlike many of his counterparts, he prefers to keep a low media profile and generally lives a quiet private life.