Josip Šimunić

Josip Šimunić

Šimunić in Croatia's chequered jersey
Personal information
Full name	Josip Šimunić
Date of birth	(1978-02-18) 18 February 1978
Place of birth	Canberra, Australia
Height	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Dinamo Zagreb
Number	4
Youth career
1995–1996	Australian Institute of Sport
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1995–1998	Melbourne Knights	30	(3)
1998–2000	Hamburger SV	8	(0)
2000–2009	Hertha BSC	222	(3)
2009–2011	1899 Hoffenheim	41	(1)
2011–	Dinamo Zagreb	62	(3)
National team‡
2001–	Croatia	105	(3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23 August 2013. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 01:04, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

Josip Šimunić (Croatian pronunciation: [jǒsip ʃîmunit͡ɕ]; born 18 February 1978) is a Croatian footballer who plays as a defender for Dinamo Zagreb and the Croatia national football team. He has been playing for Croatia since 2001, including participations in five major tournaments – World Cup 2002, World Cup 2006, Euro 2004, Euro 2008 and Euro 2012 – and is the third most capped player in the history of the Croatia national team.

Club career

Šimunić was born in Canberra, Australia to Bosnian Croat immigrants from the Otigošće village near Fojnica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in what was then Yugoslavia.^[1] 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.^[2]

Hertha BSC

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 centre-half in the Bundesliga by kicker magazine.^[3] Hertha finished in fourth place that season, with a defence that conceded only 41 goals, tied for third in the league with VfL Wolfsburg.

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

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.^[4]

Dinamo Zagreb

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.^[5] Šimunić was signed by the club in order to re-enforce their team for UEFA Champions League matches. He made his official debut in Croatian biggest derby match, between eternal rivals Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split, on Poljud Stadium. During his first season with the club he made only 11 domestic league appearances, as he struggled to find his regular spot in the starting lineup due to injuries and tough competition in team`s defensive lineup that included Tonel, Leandro Cufre, Igor Bišćan and Domagoj Vida. He made his UEFA Champions League debut against Lyon on Stade de Gerland. At the end of the season he won his first double with the club, as Dinamo won both Croatian league and Croatian Cup.

In the beginning of his second season with the club he established himself as the first choice centre-half and regular starter. He played fully 90 minutes in each of six Dinamo's group-stage matches in 2012–13 UEFA Champions League.

International career

Šimunić was educated at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). He was eligible to play for Australia but opted to play for Croatia, even though his parents were from Bosnia and Herzegovina and not Croatia, albeit of Croatian ethnicity in Bosnia. After obtaining dual citizenship in October 2001 he made 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.

Šimunić is known for having great football technique, despite being a centre-half. His national teammate Niko Kranjčar says that, "on a training pitch, he does feints like Ronaldinho."^[6]

Controversies

Salute after Croatia-Iceland game

Šimunić was involved in controversy following a 2–0 win for Croatia against Iceland in Zagreb on 19 November 2013. He was accused of neo-Nazi sympathies having directed the crowd in a chant following the game. The use of the salute Za dom ("For the home"), with the fans responding, Spremni ("Ready!") was reminiscent of the salute used by the fascist Ustaše movement in Croatia during World War II.^[7]

He defended his actions saying that he was driven by "love for his Croatian homeland." After the match Šimunić responded to his critics: "Those who are bothered by those shouts should study history. If it bothers someone, then it's their problem. I'm not afraid."^[8] For this incident Šimunić was fined 25,000 kunas (around 3,000 euros) by the Croatian State Attorney's Office for inciting racial hatred and harassment of other participants of a public gathering.^[9] After an investigation, FIFA has decided to suspend Šimunić for ten official matches, banned him from entering the confines of the stadiums for those ten matches and imposed a fine of CHF 30,000 (around 24,000 euros).^[10] Šimunić's behaviour has been denounced by the Croatian Minister of Sports Željko Jovanović, Association of Anti-Fascist Fighters of Croatia (SABH) and various foreign and domestic media.^[9] The severity of suspension by FIFA has been both criticized and embraced – while Jovanović called it expected and deserving, sending a strong message that Croatians do not want to be perceived by Europe as a backward rightists, and as backward country where minority rights are being violated to promote and glorify fascism,^[11] others such as the Croatian Football Federation and Niko Kovač, manager of the national football team, have described the suspension as excessive and draconian.^[12] All media have emphasized that the severity of suspension reflects FIFA's decision to more strictly punish racism and discrimination at football matches.^[13]

International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	6 September 2003	Comunal, Aixovall	Andorra	2 – 0	3 – 0	Euro 2004 Qualifying
2	18 August 2004	Stadion Varteksa, Varaždin	Israel	1 – 0	1 – 0	Friendly
3	26 March 2005	Maksimir, Zagreb	Iceland	2 – 0	4 – 0	World Cup 2006 Qualifying

References

External links

• Josip Šimunić – FIFA competition record
• Josip Šimunić at National-Football-Teams.com
• Josip Šimunić international stats at the Croatian Football Federation website

Croatia squads v t e Croatia squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Pletikosa 2 Šerić 3 Šimunić 4 Tomas 5 Rapaić 6 Živković 7 Vugrinec 8 Prosinečki 9 Šuker (c) 10 N. Kovač 11 Bokšić 12 Butina 13 Stanić 14 Soldo 15 Šarić 16 Vranješ 17 Jarni 18 Olić 19 Vlaović 20 Šimić 21 R. Kovač 22 Balaban 23 Vasilj Coach: Jozić v t e Croatia squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 Vasilj 2 Tokić 3 Šimunić 4 Tomas 5 Tudor 6 Živković (c) 7 Rapaić 8 Srna 9 Pršo 10 N. Kovač 11 Šokota 12 Butina 13 Šimić 14 Neretljak 15 Leko 16 Babić 17 Klasnić 18 Olić 19 Mornar 20 Roso 21 R. Kovač 22 Bjelica 23 Didulica Coach: Barić v t e Croatia squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Pletikosa 2 Srna 3 Šimunić 4 R. Kovač 5 Tudor 6 Vranješ 7 Šimić 8 Babić 9 Pršo 10 N. Kovač (c) 11 Tokić 12 Didulica 13 Tomas 14 Modrić 15 I. Leko 16 J. Leko 17 Klasnić 18 Olić 19 N. Kranjčar 20 Šerić 21 Balaban 22 Bošnjak 23 Butina Coach: Z. Kranjčar v t e Croatia squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Pletikosa 2 Šimić 3 Šimunić 4 R. Kovač 5 Ćorluka 6 Vejić 7 Rakitić 8 Vukojević 9 Kalinić 10 N. Kovač (c) 11 Srna 12 Galinović 13 Pokrivač 14 Modrić 15 Knežević 16 Leko 17 Klasnić 18 Olić 19 Kranjčar 20 Budan 21 Petrić 22 Pranjić 23 Runje Coach: Bilić v t e Croatia squad – UEFA Euro 2012 1 Pletikosa 2 Strinić 3 Šimunić 4 Buljat 5 Ćorluka 6 Pranjić 7 Rakitić 8 Vukojević 9 Jelavić 10 Modrić 11 Srna (c) 12 Kelava 13 Schildenfeld 14 Badelj 15 Vrsaljko 16 Dujmović 17 Mandžukić 18 Kalinić 19 Kranjčar 20 Perišić 21 Vida 22 Eduardo 23 Subašić Coach: Bilić