Dario Šimić (; born 12 November 1975) is a Croatian former
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
. Šimić was a versatile
defender who played as
full-back,
sweeper or
centre back
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
; a physical and hard-tackling defender, he was known in particular for his strength and ability in the air.
A product of
Dinamo Zagreb Academy, he later played for
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
sides
Inter Milan
Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...
and
A.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...
and
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
side
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
, before returning to Dinamo Zagreb in 2010, where he retired from the game during the same year.
Šimić played for
Croatia national football team
The Croatia national football team ( hr, Hrvatska nogometna reprezentacija) represents Croatia in international Association football, football matches. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), the governing body for football ...
between 1996 and 2008. He retired from international football shortly after becoming the first Croatian player to win 100 international caps. He is currently the team's eighth
most capped player. He was a member of Croatia's squad for each of the six major tournaments for which the team qualified during the 1990s and 2000s, which includes three
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
s (11 appearances in
1998,
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
and
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
) and three
UEFA European Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...
s (5 appearances in
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
,
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
and
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
).
Club career
Dinamo Zagreb
Šimić joined
Dinamo Zagreb
Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...
in 1987 at the age of twelve and rose through the ranks of their youth academy before being promoted to the senior squad for the
1992–93 season. His debut for the Blues came under manager
Miroslav Blažević
Miroslav "Ćiro" Blažević (; born 10 February 1935) is a Croatian former professional football manager and player. His professional playing career spanned from 1954 to 1966, during which he played for Dinamo Zagreb, Lokomotiva Zagreb, FK Saraje ...
in the first match of the season, a
Prva HNL
The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva H ...
away game against
Varteks on 23 August 1992, which made him the youngest ever player to debut for the club as Šimić was only three months shy from his 17th birthday. He continued to make five more appearances in his first top-flight season and although was widely regarded as a promising player, he struggled to make a bigger impact in his first season with the squad which eventually won the Croatian title that year.
However, right from the beginning of the
1993–94 season he established himself as a first team regular and was one of the key players of the squad in one of the most successful periods in club's history. In the next six seasons Šimić helped the club win another four titles as well as four
Croatian Cups. In this period Šimić also experienced his first taste of European football when Dinamo (known as ''Croatia Zagreb'' from 1992 to 2000) played
Auxerre
Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...
in a
1994–95 Cup Winners' Cup first round tie as he appeared a 3–1 home win at
Maksimir
Maksimir () is one of the districts of Zagreb, Croatia, population 48,902 (2011 census). Maksimir stadium and Maksimir Park are located in it. It was named for Bishop Maksimilijan Vrhovac.
The urban center of the Maksimir district is located aro ...
on 29 September 1994. He regularly appeared in all of the club's European campaigns over the following four seasons and took part in some of the club's biggest achievements in recent times, such as reaching the
1997–98 UEFA Cup round of 16 (where they were knocked out by
Atlético Madrid
Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...
2–1 on aggregate) and group stage of the
1998–99 Champions League (after knocking out
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
3–1 on aggregate in the second qualifying round).
Other notable Dinamo players and Šimić's teammates from that era were
Silvio Marić,
Dražen Ladić
Dražen Ladić (; born 1 January 1963) is a Croatian professional football coach and former player who is the current assistant manager of the Croatia national team.
Playing career Club
Ladić was born in Čakovec, but grew up in the nearby v ...
,
Igor Cvitanović,
Mark Viduka
Mark Antony Viduka ( ; born 9 October 1975) is an Australian retired football player who played as a centre forward. He captained the Australia national team to the Round of 16 at the 2006 FIFA World Cup which remains their best ever performance ...
and
Robert Prosinečki
Robert Prosinečki (; born 12 January 1969) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder.
Early in his career, he was part of the Red Star Belgrade team that won three Yugoslav First League titles and ...
, as well as
Krunoslav Jurčić
Krunoslav "Kruno" Jurčić (; born 26 November 1969) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player.
Playing career Club
Jurčić started his professional career at Dinamo Zagreb in 1988, before moving to Inker Zaprešić in 1991 ...
and
Goran Jurić
Goran "Goca" Jurić (born 5 February 1963) is a Croatian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender.
During his career, he played for FK Velež Mostar, Velež Mostar, Red Star B ...
with whom he formed a solid defensive partnership. In his six and a half years with the club, Šimić earned a total of 140 league appearances and scored 14 goals.
In the meantime Šimić's former coach at Dinamo, Miroslav Blažević, was appointed
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
manager in 1994. In 1996, impressed by his string of good performances, Blažević called him up and, after playing 16 games for Croatia's youth teams, Šimić earned his first full international cap on 13 March 1996 in a friendly against South Korea, coming on as a substitute for
Igor Štimac
Igor Štimac (; born 6 September 1967) is a Croatian football coach and former player who played as a centre back. He is the current head coach of the Indian national team.
In his playing career, Štimac had three spells with Hajduk Split and ...
. Šimić quickly became a first team regular in the national team under Blažević, and went on to play in six
1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...
qualifiers, as well as six matches at the final tournament itself in France, where Croatia eventually won third place.
Internazionale
His good performances at the 1998 World Cup and in the 1998–99 Champions League attracted attention from some of Europe's biggest clubs and he went on to join
Internazionale
Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is t ...
in January 1999 for a fee of 11 million euros, which was at the time Dinamo's all-time transfer record (and to this day surpassed only by outgoing transfers of
Vedran Ćorluka
Vedran Ćorluka (; born 5 February 1986) is a Croatian football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He is an assistant to Zlatko Dalić in the Croatia national team.
Ćorluka graduated from the Dinamo Zagreb Youth Academ ...
and
Eduardo
Eduardo is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the male given name Edward. Another version is Duarte. It may refer to:
Association football
* Eduardo Bonvallet, Chilean football player and sports commentator
* Eduardo Carvalho, Portuguese footba ...
in 2007 and
Luka Modrić
Luka Modrić (; born 9 September 1985) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and captains the Croatia national team. He plays mainly as a central midfielder, but can also play as an a ...
in 2008).
Under coach
Marcello Lippi, Šimić had his
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
debut in a 2–0 win against
Venezia
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...
at
San Siro
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...
on 10 January 1999. By the end of his first season in Italy, Šimić earned a total of 17 appearances and scored 2 goals for Internazionale. In the following couple of seasons Šimić's services were regularly used, until the 2001–02 season, when he had only 12 league and 8 European appearances. and in June 2002 Internazionale and their cross-city rivals
AC Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seaso ...
agreed a player swap with
Ümit Davala
Ümit Aydın Davala (born 30 July 1973) is a Turkish football coach and former player. During his stint at Galatasaray, he won four Süper Lig, three Turkish Cup, one UEFA Cup and one UEFA Super Cup title between 1996 and 2001. He won the 2003 ...
going in the opposite direction, which Šimić was valued €16.5 million, despite it was purely accounting purpose. In his three and a half years with Internazionale he earned a total of 66 league appearances and scored 3 goals. The club failed to win any silverware in this period, and their highest finish was fourth place in the
1999–2000 season, even though this was the time when some of football's biggest stars played there with Šimić, such as
Roberto Baggio,
Ronaldo
Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People
Notable people known as Ronaldo include:
As ...
,
Ivan Zamorano
Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...
,
Diego Simeone
Diego Pablo Simeone González (; ; born 28 April 1970, nicknamed El Cholo (), is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder; he has been the manager of Atlético Madrid since December 2011.
In his cl ...
and
Christian Vieri
Christian "Bobo" Vieri (; born 12 July 1973) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward.
Having been born in Italy, Vieri moved with his family to Australia as a child, before returning to Italy to pursue his p ...
.
Milan
At A.C. Milan, Šimić was immediately made a member of the first-team squad under
Carlo Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti , (born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Real Madrid. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, Ancelotti is the most decorated manager ...
, who changed Šimić's playing position from centre back to right back in a four-men defensive line. His debut for AC Milan came in a
2002–03 Champions League third qualifying round away game against
Slovan Liberec
FC Slovan Liberec (), commonly referred to as Slovan Liberec or simply Slovan, is a Czech football club based in the city of Liberec. The club is one of the most successful in the Czech Republic, having won three league titles and the domesti ...
on 28 August 2002. Šimić went on to make 12 appearances for AC Milan in their run to the UEFA Champions League title in 2003, though he was omitted from both semi-final legs against Inter and the
final match against Serie A rivals
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...
at
Old Trafford
Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...
. He made 29 Serie A appearances for AC Milan in his first season with the club, but in the following three seasons he never regained his place as a first-team regular, making only 27 league appearances over the three seasons. In May 2006, he signed a contract extension until 2009 with AC Milan, just weeks after openly criticising coach Carlo Ancelotti over lack of playing time.
He was more or less able to regain his place as a regular with AC Milan in the Serie A in 2006–07, making 22 league appearances that season. However, his opportunities in the UEFA Champions League, won again by AC Milan that season, were limited as he only made six appearances (including two in the qualifying rounds) until the round of 16. The 2007–08 season saw him making only four Serie A appearances for the club. In his only UEFA Champions League appearance that season, against
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
, he was member of the starting eleven but was forced to leave the pitch due to an injury after spending less than 30 minutes in the game.
Monaco
In August 2008, Šimić moved to
AS Monaco
Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...
. He made his
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
debut on 23 August 2008 in Monaco's 1–1 draw at home to
SM Caen
Stade Malherbe Caen (; commonly known as SM Caen, SMC, or simply Caen) is a French professional football team, based in the city of Caen in Normandy, that competes in the Ligue 2. The club was founded on 17 November 1913 by the merger of ''Clu ...
, playing the entire match and assisting
Frédéric Nimani for the opening goal. He went on to establish himself as a regular at the club, making a total of 26 league appearances before being sent off against
Le Havre
Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...
in April 2009. He lost his place as a regular in the team after that, making no appearances since Monaco's final league match of the 2008–09 season, a goalless draw at
Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...
.
Dinamo Zagreb
On 27 April 2010, Šimić returned to Dinamo Zagreb on a
free transfer after having spent 11 years playing abroad. However, Šimić went on to announce his retirement from active football only three months later on 10 August 2010.
During the short spell Šimić appeared in 3 competitive matches for the Blues, including the 2010
Croatian Supercup
The Croatian Football Super Cup is a football match between the winners of the Croatian national top league and football cup. The Super Cup is always held at the beginning of a new football season, and is only held when different clubs win the tw ...
,
and two European away matches against
Koper
Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...
and
Sheriff Tiraspol
Fotbal Club Sheriff (russian: ФК Шериф Тирасполь), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a Moldovan professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnis ...
,
without ever appearing in the
2010–11 Prva HNL.
In his announcement, Šimić said that he enrolled at the coaching academy and confirmed that his future plans involved staying in football, possibly as a manager.
International career
Between 1993 and 1996, Šimić won a total of 17 international caps for the Croatian under-19 and
under-21 national teams, scoring one goal for the under-21 team. He made his senior international debut on 13 March 1996 in a friendly match against the
Korea Republic
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
, coming on as a substitute for
Igor Štimac
Igor Štimac (; born 6 September 1967) is a Croatian football coach and former player who played as a centre back. He is the current head coach of the Indian national team.
In his playing career, Štimac had three spells with Hajduk Split and ...
in the final 20 minutes.
Šimić only made one appearance for
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
at the
UEFA Euro 1996
The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...
finals in England. However, he established himself as a regular at the
1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...
finals in France, where he appeared in six of Croatia's seven matches in their run to a third-place finish, only missing the third-place match with a yellow-card suspension.
He made two appearances for Croatia at the
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
finals and also featured in all of their three group matches at the
UEFA Euro 2004
The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...
finals. Both these tournaments saw Croatia being eliminated in the group stage, just like the
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, 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 had won the right to host the ...
finals, where he appeared in all of Croatia's three matches. Winning his 82nd international cap in the team's second match at the latter tournament, against
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
on 18 June 2006 in
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
, he dislodged
Robert Jarni
Robert Jarni (born 26 October 1968) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a left winger or wingback and current manager.
Jarni started his professional career with Hajduk Split in 1986, and went on to spend 10 years playin ...
(81 caps) as the Croatian national team's all-time cap leader. In the final group match, a 2–2 draw against
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, he was sent off five minutes from time after receiving his second yellow card.
Šimić also scored three goals for Croatia, with his final international goal coming in a friendly match against
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
on 1 March 2006 in
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, where he netted a last-minute goal to give Croatia a 3–2 victory. Alongside experienced
Robert Kovač
Robert Kovač (; born 6 April 1974) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He was known for his ability with the ball and skill at dispossessing opponents. His older brother is football manag ...
and
Igor Tudor, he is considered one of the best Croatian defenders in recent history.
100th cap and retirement
Šimić came very close to completing the fairy tale and winning his 100th cap for Croatia at the finals of the
UEFA Euro 2008
The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...
. However, he missed the first two games of the tournament, unable to dislodge
Vedran Ćorluka
Vedran Ćorluka (; born 5 February 1986) is a Croatian football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He is an assistant to Zlatko Dalić in the Croatia national team.
Ćorluka graduated from the Dinamo Zagreb Youth Academ ...
,
Robert Kovač
Robert Kovač (; born 6 April 1974) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He was known for his ability with the ball and skill at dispossessing opponents. His older brother is football manag ...
or
Josip Šimunić
Josip "Joe" Šimunić (; born 18 February 1978) is a Croatian retired footballer and current manager of the Croatia national under-19 team.
Born in Australia to Bosnian Croat parents, Šimunić started his career at Melbourne Knights then mov ...
from their berths in the first team. With a place in the quarter-finals secured after the first two games, Croatia coach
Slaven Bilić
Slaven Bilić (; born 11 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of EFL Championship side Watford.
Bilić, who played as a defender, began his career in 1988 with his hometown c ...
gave many of his second-string players a chance to play in the final group match against
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, with Šimić starting the match and captaining the side on the occasion of his 99th cap. Croatia went on to win the match 1–0, finishing the group stage with 3 wins in 3 matches. However, he was once again left an unused substitute in the quarter-finals against
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, which Croatia lost in
penalty shootout
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
.
On 20 August 2008, Šimić finally won his 100th international cap in a friendly match against
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
in
Maribor
Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...
, becoming the first Croatian player to win 100 international caps. He started the match and captained the team in the first half, before being replaced by debutant
Ivica Križanac
Ivica Križanac (born 13 April 1979) is a Croatian retired professional footballer who played as a defender.
Club career
Križanac was born in Split. He played for Górnik Zabrze of Poland where he became one of Polish league's best players. ...
at half-time. Croatia won the match 3–2.
Šimić was subsequently also called up for Croatia's opening two qualifiers for the
2010 FIFA World Cup
, image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg
, size = 200px
, caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
in early September 2008, at home to
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
and
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, being an unused substitute in the former and completely left out of the latter. Following the 4–1 defeat to England, Croatia's first competitive defeat at home, rumours about Šimić being set to retire from international football appeared in the Croatian media. On 16 September 2008, it was eventually confirmed that Šimić has announced his retirement from international football after being a Croatian international for years.
Personal life
Šimić is a devout
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and organizes
pilgrimages
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
. He is the owner of Aquaviva company. He married Jelena Medić in 2000 with whom he has sons
Roko, Viktor, Nikolas and David, the latter of whom has
Down syndrome
Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...
.
He is the older brother of
Josip Šimić
Josip Šimić (born 16 September 1977) is a retired Croatian football striker. He is the younger brother of Dario Šimić.
Club career
Šimić started his professional career with Dinamo Zagreb in 1993, when the club was known as Croatia Zagre ...
and a distant relative of
Herzegovinian hajduk
A hajduk ( hu, hajdúk, plural of ) is a type of irregular infantry found in Central and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries. They have reputations ranging from bandits to freedom fighters depending on time, p ...
Andrijica Šimić
Andrija "Andrijica" Šimić (1833 – 5 February 1905) was a Herzegovinian hajduk.
Biography
Andrija Šimić (Andrijica is a diminutive form) was born in Grude, into an ethnic Croat family of seven children: he had a brother and five siste ...
.
Career statistics
Club
:
1 Played in Croatian Cup and Croatian Super Cup
The Croatian Football Super Cup is a football match between the winners of the Croatian national top league and football cup. The Super Cup is always held at the beginning of a new football season, and is only held when different clubs win the t ...
with ''Dinamo Zagreb
Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...
''.
:
2 Played in UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
, UEFA Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
and UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
with '' Croatia Zagreb'', Internazionale Milano
Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...
and Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
.
International
:Source:
International goals
Honours
Club
Dinamo Zagreb
*
Croatian First League
The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football (soccer), football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, i ...
(5):
1992–93,
1995–96,
1996–97,
1997–98,
1998–99
*
Croatian Football Cup
The Hrvatski nogometni kup ( eng, Croatian football cup), also colloquially known as Rabuzinovo sunce (), is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after th ...
:
1993–94,
1995–96,
1996–97,
1997–98
*
Croatian Super Cup
The Croatian Football Super Cup is a football match between the winners of the Croatian national top league and football cup. The Super Cup is always held at the beginning of a new football season, and is only held when different clubs win the t ...
: 2010
Milan
*
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
:
2003–04
*
Coppa Italia
The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since.
History
The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...
:
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
*
Supercoppa Italiana:
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
*
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
:
2002–03,
2006–07
*
UEFA Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
:
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
*
FIFA Club World Cup
The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...
:
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
International
Croatia
*
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
Third place – Bronze medal:
1998
Individual
*
Croatian Football Hope of the Year: 1995
*
UEFA awards 100 caps: 2011
Orders
*
Order of the Croatian Interlace
The Order of the Croatian Interlace or Order of the Early Croatian three-strand pattern ( hr, Red hrvatskog pletera) is the seventeenth most important medal given by the Republic of Croatia. The order was founded on 1 April 1995. The medal is aw ...
– 1998
See also
*
List of footballers with 100 or more caps
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simic, Dario
1975 births
Living people
Croatian footballers
Croatia international footballers
Croatia under-21 international footballers
Croatia youth international footballers
Croatian expatriate footballers
Inter Milan players
A.C. Milan players
GNK Dinamo Zagreb players
AS Monaco FC players
UEFA Euro 1996 players
1998 FIFA World Cup players
2002 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2004 players
2006 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2008 players
Serie A players
Expatriate footballers in Italy
Expatriate footballers in Monaco
Footballers from Zagreb
Croatian Football League players
Ligue 1 players
FIFA Century Club
Association football defenders
UEFA Champions League winning players