Josip Šimunić

Josip Šimunić

Playing for Hoffenheim
Personal information
Date of birth	18 February 1978 (1978-02-18)
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	AIS
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	6	(0)
National team‡
2001–	Croatia	92	(3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:52, 28 November 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 3 December 2011

Josip Šimunić (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈjɔsip ˈʃimunitɕ]) (born 18 February 1978) is a Croatian footballer who plays as a defender for Dinamo Zagreb and the Croatian national team.

Club career

Šimunić was born in Canberra, 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.

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 Croatia 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."

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

External links

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