Josip Šimunic
Encyclopedia
Josip Šimunić (ˈjɔsip ˈʃimunitɕ) (born 18 February 1978) is a Croatia
n footballer who plays as a defender
for Dinamo Zagreb and the Croatian national team
.
, Australia
to Bosnian Croat immigrants from Kiseljak
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
, then Yugoslavia
. He received early football training at the Australian Institute of Sport
. The defender broke into the Melbourne Knights
first team as a teenager in the 1995–96 season and ended it with a championship medal and 1996 NSL Youth Player of the Year award. Šimunić scored his first goals the following term, three in 14 outings, before moving to Europe to join Hamburger SV
in 1998.
Šimunić moved to Hertha BSC in 2000 after having fallen out with Hamburg coach Frank Pagelsdorf and has since become an integral member of a team which has enjoyed occasional forays in the UEFA Cup
. He expressed on The World Game on SBS television that he wishes to return to Australia to live after concluding his career in Europe
. At the end of the 2008–09 season, Šimunić was named the best central defender in the Bundesliga by Kicker
magazine. Hertha finished in fourth place that season, with a defence that conceded only 41 goals, tied for third in the league with VfL Wolfsburg
.
After nine years with Hertha, he left the club on 30 June 2009 to sign with TSG Hoffenheim on a contract which runs out on 30 June 2012.
On 31 August 2011, the board of Dinamo Zagreb confirmed signing of Šimunić on a free transfer in a contract that expires on 30 June 2013.
in October 2001, making his international debut in Croatia's friendly match against South Korea
on 10 November 2001. Šimunić did not play in any of Croatia's qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup
, but was given a place in the squad for the finals after injury forced Igor Tudor
out. He played all three of Croatia's matches in Korea and Japan. He also played in the Euro 2004, the 2006 World Cup
, and Euro 2008, performing well in the latter tournament.
In a well-publicised incident, Šimunić was sent off in Croatia's final 2006 World Cup match against Australia. Šimunić having picked up a booking in the 61st minute, the referee Graham Poll
took out a yellow card for his tackle in the 90th minute, but did not actually send him off
. At the conclusion of the game three minutes later, however, Šimunić remonstrated with Poll and received a "third" yellow card, this time followed by a red card. FIFA initially noted all three bookings in its match report, before later removing the 90th minute (second) booking. This prompted the removal of Poll from the knockout stages referee pool. Shortly after the World Cup, Poll retired from refereeing international games, citing this game as a direct cause.
Upon the release of his autobiography in 2007, Poll revealed that, upon booking Šimunić for the second time, he had erroneously recorded him as "Australia #3" (who was defender Craig Moore
), due to Šimunić's Australian accent.
He is known for having great football technique, despite being a centre-back. His national teammate Niko Kranjčar
says that, "on a training pitch, he does feints like Ronaldinho
."
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n footballer who plays as a defender
Defender (association football)
Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....
for Dinamo Zagreb and the Croatian national team
Croatia national football team
The Croatia national football team represents Croatia in international football. The team is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in the country, and has been managed since 2006 by former player Slaven Bilić...
.
Club career
Šimunić was born in CanberraCanberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to Bosnian Croat immigrants from Kiseljak
Kiseljak
Kiseljak is a small town and municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, located northwest of Sarajevo and south of Zenica. Kiseljak lies in the valley of the rivers Fojnica , Lepenica and Kreševka, which are a tributary of the Bosna, and it is on the intersection of roads from Visoko, Fojnica,...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, then Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. He received early football training at the Australian Institute of Sport
Australian Institute of Sport
The Australian Institute of Sport is a sports training institution in Australia with world class facilities and support services. The Institute's headquarters is situated in Canberra, the capital city of Australia. The 66.0 hectare site campus is in the northern suburb of Bruce, but some of the...
. The defender broke into the Melbourne Knights
Melbourne Knights
Melbourne Knights Football Club is a football club representing Melbourne, Australia in the Victorian Premier League . The club is one of the most successful football clubs in Australia, being a two-time championship and four-time premiership winner in the now defunct National Soccer League...
first team as a teenager in the 1995–96 season and ended it with a championship medal and 1996 NSL Youth Player of the Year award. Šimunić scored his first goals the following term, three in 14 outings, before moving to Europe to join Hamburger SV
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...
in 1998.
Šimunić moved to Hertha BSC in 2000 after having fallen out with Hamburg coach Frank Pagelsdorf and has since become an integral member of a team which has enjoyed occasional forays in the UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
. He expressed on The World Game on SBS television that he wishes to return to Australia to live after concluding his career in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. At the end of the 2008–09 season, Šimunić was named the best central defender in the Bundesliga by Kicker
Kicker (sports magazine)
kicker Sportmagazin is Germany's leading sports magazine and is focused primarily on football. The magazine was founded in 1920 by German football pioneer Walther Bensemann and is published twice a week, usually Monday and Thursday, in Nuremberg...
magazine. Hertha finished in fourth place that season, with a defence that conceded only 41 goals, tied for third in the league with VfL Wolfsburg
VfL Wolfsburg
VfL Wolfsburg is a professional German association football club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, who play in the Bundesliga football competition. Wolfsburg have won the Bundesliga once in their history, in the 2008–09 season, and were DFB-Pokal runners-up in 1995. The current head coach is Felix...
.
After nine years with Hertha, he left the club on 30 June 2009 to sign with TSG Hoffenheim on a contract which runs out on 30 June 2012.
On 31 August 2011, the board of Dinamo Zagreb confirmed signing of Šimunić on a free transfer in a contract that expires on 30 June 2013.
International career
Šimunić was educated at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), but he decided not to play for Australia, instead play his international football for the country of his parents' birth, heritage and dual citizenship of CroatiaCroatia national football team
The Croatia national football team represents Croatia in international football. The team is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in the country, and has been managed since 2006 by former player Slaven Bilić...
in October 2001, making his international debut in Croatia's friendly match against South Korea
Korea Republic national football team
The Korea Republic national football team represents Korea Republic in international football and is controlled by the Korea Football Association. Korea Republic is the most successful Asian football team in the history of the FIFA World Cup having participated in eight World Cup tournaments,...
on 10 November 2001. Šimunić did not play in any of Croatia's qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...
, but was given a place in the squad for the finals after injury forced Igor Tudor
Igor Tudor
Igor Tudor is a Croatian former football defender. He was considered one of Croatia's best defenders in the period between the late 1990s and mid-2000s....
out. He played all three of Croatia's matches in Korea and Japan. He also played in the Euro 2004, the 2006 World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
, and Euro 2008, performing well in the latter tournament.
In a well-publicised incident, Šimunić was sent off in Croatia's final 2006 World Cup match against Australia. Šimunić having picked up a booking in the 61st minute, the referee Graham Poll
Graham Poll
Graham Poll is an English former football referee in the Premier League and is considered the best English referee of the last 25 years in a list maintained by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics...
took out a yellow card for his tackle in the 90th minute, but did not actually send him off
Misconduct (football)
Misconduct in association football is any conduct by a player that is deemed by the referee to warrant a disciplinary sanction in accordance with Law 12 of the Laws of the Game. Misconduct may occur at any time, including when the ball is out of play, during half-time and before and after the...
. At the conclusion of the game three minutes later, however, Šimunić remonstrated with Poll and received a "third" yellow card, this time followed by a red card. FIFA initially noted all three bookings in its match report, before later removing the 90th minute (second) booking. This prompted the removal of Poll from the knockout stages referee pool. Shortly after the World Cup, Poll retired from refereeing international games, citing this game as a direct cause.
Upon the release of his autobiography in 2007, Poll revealed that, upon booking Šimunić for the second time, he had erroneously recorded him as "Australia #3" (who was defender Craig Moore
Craig Moore
Craig Andrew Moore , is a retired Australian soccer defender.Moore is best known for his two spells with Scottish Premier Division / Scottish Premier League club Rangers...
), due to Šimunić's Australian accent.
He is known for having great football technique, despite being a centre-back. His national teammate Niko Kranjčar
Niko Kranjcar
Niko Kranjčar is a Croatian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur and the Croatia national team.He represented two of the biggest clubs in his homeland, playing for Dinamo Zagreb before sparking controversy by making a move to their fierce rivals Hajduk Split in 2005...
says that, "on a training pitch, he does feints like Ronaldinho
Ronaldinho
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira , commonly known as Ronaldinho or Ronaldinho Gaúcho, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Flamengo and the Brazilian national team as an attacking midfielder or forward. He is a two-time winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year, awarded to the best player over the year...
."
International goals
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 September 2003 | Comunal, Aixovall Aixovall The Estadi Comunal d'Andorra la Vella is a small football stadium in Andorra la Vella, the capital of Andorra. The stadium has a capacity of 1,249. The stadium also has a running track. The Estadi Comunal d'Andorra la Vella and the Estadi Comunal d'Aixovall together host all games from Andorra's... |
Euro 2004 Qualifying | |||
| 2 | 18 August 2004 | Stadion Varteksa, Varaždin Varaždin Varaždin is a city in north Croatia, north of Zagreb on the highway A4. The total population is 47,055, with 38,746 on of the city settlement itself . The centre of Varaždin county is located near the Drava river, at... |
Friendly Exhibition game An exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition... |
|||
| 3 | 26 March 2005 | Maksimir, Zagreb Zagreb Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city... |
World Cup 2006 Qualifying 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification A total of 197 teams entered the qualification process for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, competing for a total of 32 spots in the final tournament. Germany, as the host, qualified automatically, leaving 31 spots open for competition... |
External links
- Josip Šimunić international stats at the Croatian Football FederationCroatian Football FederationThe Croatian Football Federation is the governing body of association football in Croatia. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of Zagreb. The organisation is a member of both FIFA and UEFA, and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the game of football in Croatia...
website