Mladen Petrić (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈmladɛn ˈpɛːtrit͡ɕ];[lacks tonal diacritics] born 1 January 1981) is a retired professional footballer who played as a forward.

During his career, he played for Grasshopper, Basel, Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger SV, Fulham, West Ham United and Panathinaikos.

In the next season Hans-Peter Zaugg was appointed as new head coach and Petrić came to regular appearances and in his first five games scored three goals.

Basel completed all the 2004–05 Super League season's seventeen home games undefeated, winning thirteen and drawing four.

[8] Subsequently Basel dropped into the 2005–06 UEFA Cup, where against NK Široki Brijeg in the first round, second leg, Petrić scored his first European and the team sealed a 6–0 aggregate win to qualify for the Group stage.

[9] Here Basel were then drawn into Group E, alongside Strasbourg, Roma, Red Star Belgrade and Tromsø.

Petrić scored a hat-trick for the team on 2 October 2005 in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park as Basel won 5–1 against Thun.

A last-minute goal from Zürich's Iulian Filipescu meant the final score was 1–2 in favour of the away team and it gave FCZ their first national championship since 1980–81.

[12] The last minute loss of the Championship and the subsequent riots, the so-called Basel Hooligan Incident, meant that the club would suffer the consequences.

In the second qualifying round they were drawn against FC Vaduz from Liechtenstein, narrowly progressing on the away goals rule after a 2–2 aggregate draw.

At home against AS Nancy the match was drawn 2–2 and the final game ended with a 3–1 defeat against Wisła Kraków.

While originally being intended to act as a playmaker behind the forwards in a 4–4–2 diamond system, it quickly turned out that he was more effective as a striker up front.

[20] He was one of the league's top scorers in his first season in Germany and also made a notable assistance to his side reaching the DFB-Pokal final in which he scored a stoppage time equaliser against eventual winners and champions Bayern Munich.

On 17 August 2008, Petrić's transfer from Dortmund to Hamburger SV was confirmed by both clubs' official websites as part of a deal that also saw Egyptian international Mohamed Zidan moving in the opposite direction, with both players signing four-year contracts.

[23] Petrić made his Bundesliga debut for Hamburg on 23 August 2008 in their 2–1 win at home to Karlsruher SC, coming on as a substitute for Jonathan Pitroipa in the 73rd minute.

On 5 October 2008, he netted a last-minute winner in Hamburg's 2–1 away victory at Energie Cottbus to keep them top of the Bundesliga table.

[26] The Croatian striker made his debut at home to Norwich City on the opening day of the Premier League campaign, along with fellow new signing Sascha Riether.

[32][33] On 8 January 2014, Greek club Panathinaikos announced the signing of Petrić on a one-and-a-half-year deal with "The Greens.

On 16 February 2014, Petrić made his debut with the Greek club, coming from the bench against Panthrakikos in Komotini.

[37] On 12 October 2017, the veteran Croatian international striker has decided to legally demand the €210.000 that Panathinaikos still owe him, almost one and a half years after his official retirement.

Petrić appeared in both of the two matches as a second-half substitute, but was subsequently nevertheless not called up to be part of the Croatian squad at the 2002 World Cup finals.

In early 2006, Petrić made his international comeback with Croatia by appearing as a second-half substitute in the team's friendly matches against South Korea at the Carlsberg Cup in Hong Kong and Argentina in Basel.