Early career Marin began his footballing career as a
youth player, first with
SG 01 Hoechst and then with
Eintracht Frankfurt.
Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2007 In 2005, Marin moved to the
Borussia Mönchengladbach youth academy. After a year at Mönchengladbach's academy, he was promoted to the reserve team; he was offered a three-year contract which he signed and later went on to make his professional début with the club on 31 March 2007 against
Eintracht Frankfurt. On 9 August 2008, Marin scored a hat-trick within the first 16 minutes of Mönchengladbach's 8–1 thrashing of seventh division club
VfB Fichte Bielefeld in the first round of the
DFB-Pokal.
Werder Bremen in 2009 On 24 June 2009, Marin was sold for €8.2 million from
Borussia Mönchengladbach to
Werder Bremen. He was a part of Bremen's attack comprising
Aaron Hunt and
Mesut Özil, which lit up the
Weserstadion. In the
2010–11 season, he showed his quality, scoring four league goals and providing 11 assists. Following the departure of Özil to
Real Madrid in August 2010, however, Marin's form dropped noticeably, as he notched only one goal and five assists during Bremen's
2011–12 Bundesliga campaign. Marin did show his skill in Bremen's eight goal game against
SC Freiburg on 20 August 2011. He provided assists for
Claudio Pizarro,
Marko Arnautović and
Wesley as Bremen secured a 5–3 win. Marin's only goal of the Bundesliga campaign came on 18 February 2012, when he opened the scoring in the ninth minute of a 3–1 derby victory over
Hamburger SV at the
Imtech Arena. In Marin's final game for Bremen, he provided the telling ball for
Markus Rosenberg's goal, but this was not enough as his side succumbed to a 4–1 away defeat to
VfB Stuttgart on 13 April. Marin ended his time with the Bremen club after scoring eight goals in 87 Bundesliga appearances.
Chelsea On 28 April 2012, Marin agreed a deal with English
Premier League club
Chelsea. He signed a five-year deal with Chelsea, keeping him at the club until 2017. Marko Marin was given the number 21 shirt, previously worn by
Salomon Kalou, who left Chelsea for
Lille OSC.
2012–13 season On 18 July, Marin made his début for Chelsea in a pre-season friendly against
Major League Soccer side
Seattle Sounders FC, scoring Chelsea's third goal in a 4–2 win. Marin missed the
Community Shield with a hamstring injury. Marin made his competitive debut for Chelsea in a
League Cup match against
Wolverhampton Wanderers on 25 September, coming on as a substitute as Chelsea cruised to a 6–0 victory. He made his
Premier League debut on 28 November, replacing
Eden Hazard in the 82nd minute of a 0–0 draw in the
West London derby at home to
Fulham. On 2 January 2013, Marin made his first start for Chelsea in a 0–1 loss to local rivals
Queens Park Rangers. On 9 February 2013, Marin scored his first
Premier League goal for Chelsea, coming on in the 91st minute and scoring on his first touch with a header in the 92nd minute; as a substitute in a 4–1 home victory over
Wigan Athletic.
Loan to Sevilla On 28 June 2013, Chelsea confirmed that they had reached an agreement for the season-long loan of Marin to
Sevilla, subject to the completion of legal documentation and a medical. Marin scored his first goal for Sevilla in a 3–1 friendly win over
Manchester United during
Rio Ferdinand's testimonial. He netted two goals in Sevilla's first-leg
Europa League play-off tie against
Śląsk Wrocław, a 4–1 home win on 22 August. Marin started on the bench in the
Europa final, coming on late in the second half, and then substituted in extra-time as Sevilla beat
Benfica 4–2 in penalties. With this win, Marin won the Europa League in back to back seasons, winning it the year before with his home-club Chelsea.
Loan to Fiorentina On 18 August 2014,
Fiorentina confirmed that they had reached an agreement for the season-long loan of Marin from
Chelsea with an option to buy. On 23 October, Marin made his début for Fiorentina in a Europa League match against
PAOK. Marin scored his first goal for the Italian side on 27 November 2014, in a Europa League match against
Guingamp. In the sixth minute, Marin was able to pick up
Aquilani's pass and clipped home the opening goal, as Fiorentina edges out the French side in a 2–1 win. On 11 December 2014, Marin scored in a 2–1 loss against
Dinamo Minsk. Although Marin was on the bench 12 times, he failed to make a single appearance in the league before ending his loan early in January. Five days after moving to Belgium, Marin made his debut coming off the bench, replacing
Maxime Colin in the 75th minute in a 2–0 loss to
Standard Liège. Marin was in the starting line-up of the
Belgian Cup Final, although he was substituted in the second-half after suffering a hamstring injury as Anderlecht lost 2–1, with
Lior Refaelov scoring a late volley. Anderlecht decided to pass on the option to buy Marin at the end of the season after he suffered a hamstring injury during the Belgium Cup final which ruled him out for several weeks.
Loan to Trabzonspor On 25 August 2015, Marin joined
Trabzonspor on a season-long loan, with an option to buy. On 30 August, Marin made his début for
Trabzonspor in a 2–2 draw against
Akhisar Belediyespor coming on as a second-half substitute. On 26 September 2015, Marin scored his first goal with the Turkish side in a 3–1 loss against
Osmanlıspor. On 15 February 2016, Marin scored in a 2–1 win over
Kayserispor. In an interview with
kicker, Marin showed his appreciation towards Chelsea for taking care of him since his move to London and also expressed no regrets with his move to Chelsea even though he acknowledge that his future is most likely going to be elsewhere.
Olympiacos On 23 August 2016, Marin joined Greek side
Olympiacos on a three-year deal. On 11 September 2016, he made his debut in a 6–1 victory against
Veria. After being sidelined for about two months due to manager
Paulo Bento not featuring him in his first-team plans, he returned to action on 5 January 2017, netting the winning goal in a 2–1 home comeback win over
Asteras Tripolis. On 17 December 2017, thanks to an impressive long-range effort by Marin,
Olympiacos won 1–0 against
PAS Giannina. It was the sixth consecutive victory for team of experienced manager
Takis Lemonis and the Reds climbed at first
Super League position, with 32 points after 15 matches, one more than rivals
AEK and
PAOK. On 7 January 2018, he opened the score in a 3–0 away win game against
AEL, helping his club to achieve the 7th successive win in his rally to gain the eighth consecutive title.
Red Star Belgrade After
Red Star Belgrade qualified for the
2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage (their first ever appearance in its current format), Marin signed a three-year contract with the club for an estimated transfer fee in the range of €700,000 and was registered in the last hour of the summer transfer window in Serbia. Marin scored a goal on his debut with Red Star on 15 September 2018, in a 6–0 home victory against
Radnik Surdulica. Marin became the club's first ever goal scorer in the
Champions League after giving Red Star a consolation goal in the 6–1 loss against
PSG On 18 October 2018. Almost three weeks later, on 6 November 2018 to be exact, Marin was once again involved in Red Star's first ever Champions League campaign, this time by assisting
Milan Pavkov's first goal in their historic 2–0 win against
Liverpool. On 13 March 2019, Marin agreed to extend his contract with Red Star to the summer of 2021. Marin was voted MVP in the
2018–19 season and was also therefore included in the team of the season. Before the start of the
2019–20 season, Red Star's general director
Zvezdan Terzić confirmed that Marin would become the new club captain.
Al-Ahli On 5 January 2020, Marin signed for the Saudi Arabian club,
Al-Ahli a €6 million contract until the summer of 2022, for an estimated transfer fee in the range of €2.5 million.
Ferencváros In September 2021, Marin transferred to
Ferencváros. The Hungarian league became his ninth top-flight league (in the Serie A, he didn't feature when on loan at Fiorentina) in his career which ended in 2022. ==International career==