Duje Ćaleta-Car (; born 17 September 1996) is a Croatian professional

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 le ...

who plays as a

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 ...

for

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 ...

club

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, on loan from

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, and the Croatia national team. He was a member of the Croatian squad which ended as runners-up to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

Club career

Early career

Ćaleta-Car joined

FC Liefering FC Liefering GmbH is an Austrian association football club, originally from Liefering, a section of Salzburg. It currently plays in the Second League, the second tier of Austrian football. Since 2012, Liefering has been a reserve team for ...

in 2014 from

FC Pasching FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

. He made his

Austrian Football First League The Austrian Football Second League (german: 2. Liga) is the second-highest professional division in Austrian football. It was formerly called the First League (''Erste Liga''), from 2002 to 2018. The division currently contains 16 teams, and t ...

debut with

on 25 July 2014 against

FAC Team für Wien The Floridsdorfer Athletics Sports Club or simply Floridsdorfer AC is a professional football club based in Floridsdorf, the 21st district of Vienna. The club was founded in August 1904. Floridsdorfer AC won the Austrian football championship in ...

Red Bull Salzburg

During the 2017–18 season Salzburg had their best ever European campaign. They finished top of their

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

, for a record fourth time, before beating

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

thus making their first ever appearance in a UEFA Europa League semi-final. On 3 May 2018, he played in the Europa League semi-final as

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

played out a 1–2 away loss but a 3–2 aggregate win to secure a place in the

2018 UEFA Europa League Final The 2018 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, the 47th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 9th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Euro ...

Marseille

On 20 July 2018, Ćaleta-Car joined Marseille on a five-year deal for a transfer fee of €19 million. Upon his arrival, Ćaleta-Car was given the squad shirt number 15. On 29 September 2019, he scored his first goal for Marseille, the equalizer in a 1–1 draw with

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

. At the start of the 2020–21 season, Ćaleta-Car scored a brace against

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

, converting assists of

Florian Thauvin Florian Tristan Mariano Thauvin (born 26 January 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger for Liga MX club Tigres UANL. He made his professional debut for Grenoble in 2011, moving on to Bastia where he won the Ligue 2 t ...

, as Marseille won 3–2. At the end of the January 2021 transfer window,

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

launched a £23 million bid to secure his services but the move failed to materialize as Marseille didn't have enough time to sign a replacement.

Southampton

On 1 September 2022, Ćaleta-Car joined

on a four-year contract. On 1 October 2022, Ćaleta-Car made his

debut in a 1–2 defeat against Everton. In the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

semi-final first leg against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

on 24 January 2023, Ćaleta-Car was given a second yellow card and sent off following a foul on Allan Saint-Maximan. On 1 March 2023, Ćaleta-Car scored his first professional goal for Southampton in a 1–2 shock defeat to

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. He scored his first league goal on 21 April 2023 in a 3–3 away draw at Arsenal.

Lyon (loan)

On 2 August 2023, Ćaleta-Car joined

on a season-long loan. Ćaleta-Car made his debut for the club on 13 August 2023 in a 2–1 defeat to

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

International career

In October 2015, Ćaleta-Car received a first call-up for the senior national team for the Euro 2016 qualifying matches against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

and

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, as a replacement for injured

Jozo Šimunović Jozo Šimunović (; born 4 August 1994) is a Croatian professional footballer who most recently played as a centre back for Prva HNL club Gorica. Club career Early career Šimunović started playing football at age of 7 in his village, Gorn ...

. He was in the first 27 players team called for the

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

but was dropped along with midfielder

Alen Halilović Alen Halilović (; born 18 June 1996) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Croatian SuperSport HNL club Rijeka. As the Prva HNL's youngest ever goalscorer (until May 2021) and the youngest ever debuta ...

and goalkeeper

Dominik Livaković Dominik Livaković (; born 9 January 1995) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe and the Croatia national team. Club career NK Zagreb Livaković became part of NK Zagreb's first t ...

. In May 2018, he was named in Croatia's preliminary 32-man squad for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. On 3 June, he made his international debut in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, coming on as a substitute for

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 Academy, ...

in the 52nd minute. Ćaleta-Car was eventually selected in the 23-man squad that travelled to the

. He made his

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

debut in Croatia's final group game, a 2–1 win over

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. Croatia would go on to finish second in the tournament, losing to

4–2 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

which was played at the

Luzhniki Stadium Luzhniki Stadium ( rus, стадион «Лужники», p=stədʲɪˈon lʊʐnʲɪˈkʲi, ''Stadion Luzhniki'') is the national stadium of Russia, located in its capital city, Moscow. The full name of the stadium is Grand Sports Arena of the ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. In June 2019, he refused to be part of

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 ...

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for 2019 UEFA Under-21 Euro, citing exhaustion and the club's demand to take a rest for the upcoming season as reasons. Soon it was discovered that the real reason was a vacation in the

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

with his club teammate

Nemanja Radonjić Nemanja Radonjić ( sr-cyr, Немања Радоњић, ; born 15 February 1996) is a Serbian professional Association football, footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or Winger (football), winger for Italian club Torino F.C., Torino ...

. As a disciplinary action, he was the only

outfield player Association football (more commonly known as football) was first codified in 1863 in England, although games that involved the kicking of a ball were evident considerably earlier.

who wasn't given even a minute of playing time in senior Croatia squad's June fixtures against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

and was completely dropped ahead of September fixtures against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. In an interview with ''

Sportske novosti ''Sportske novosti'' () is a Croatian daily sports newspaper based in Zagreb. It was established on 9 August 1945 as ''Ilustrirane fiskulturne novine'' weekly newspaper. Several months later, on 10 December 1945, its name got changed to ''Narodn ...

'', he denied going on the vacation and said that the sole reason of not participating in the tournament was suggestion of his club coaches

Andoni Zubizarreta Andoni Zubizarreta Urreta (, ; born 23 October 1961) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. The all-time most capped player for the Spain national team for several years, he played with individual and team succ ...

and

André Villas-Boas Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas (; born 17 October 1977) is a Portuguese football manager, who most recently was the manager of Ligue 1 club Marseille. He is one of a growing number of top-level managers who have never played football ...

to take a rest instead since his previous season wasn't on the level it was expected to be, partially due to his participation in the World Cup the summer before, and that it wasn't his personal wish. He also claimed that the Croatia U21 manager

Nenad Gračan Nenad Gračan (born 23 January 1962) is a Croatian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the coach of the Croatia women's national football team. Club career Born in Rijeka, SFR Yugoslavia, Gračan started playin ...

"had lied and had disappointed him", that "it had hurt him to read the lies of the media" about the vacation, and that he accepted senior Croatia squad manager

Zlatko Dalić Zlatko Dalić (; born 26 October 1966) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of the Croatia national team since 2017 and led them to a runners-up finish at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and third place at the ...

's decision to drop him from the team. He was called up again ahead of Croatia's November fixtures against Slovakia and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

following suspensions of the standard starting defenders

Dejan Lovren Dejan Lovren (; born 5 July 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Russian Premier League club Zenit Saint Petersburg and the Croatia national team. Lovren began his career at Dinamo Zagreb before moving to ...

and

Domagoj Vida Domagoj Vida (; born 29 April 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Super League Greece club AEK Athens and the Croatia national team. He is capable of playing in any defensive position but is mostly deployed ...

. He was a starter in the decisive match against the former opponent, that ended up as a 3–1 win and saw Croatia qualify for

Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

Personal life

In May 2021, Ćaleta-Car married Adriana Đurđević in a ceremony at the top of the Revelin Fortress in Đurđević's native

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

. In August 2021, Ćaleta-Car and Đurđević became parents of a baby son, whom they named Mauro. In June 2022, Ćaleta-Car and Đurđević married in a church ceremony in the St. Ignatius Church in Dubrovnik.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Croatia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ćaleta-Car goal''

Honours

Red Bull Salzburg *

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18 *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (german: ÖFB-Cup), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for 27th t ...

: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17 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 ...

runner-up:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Individual * Austrian Bundesliga Team of the Year: 2017–18 Orders *

Order of Duke Branimir The Order of Duke Branimir ( hr, Red kneza Branimira) is the 7th most important medal given by the Republic of Croatia. The order was founded on April 1, 1995. The medal is awarded for excellence in promoting Croatia in international relations. I ...

: 2018

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Caleta-Car, Duje 1996 births Living people Footballers from Šibenik Men's association football central defenders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players HNK Šibenik players FC Juniors OÖ players FC Liefering players FC Red Bull Salzburg players Olympique de Marseille players Southampton F.C. players Olympique Lyonnais players First Football League (Croatia) players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Austrian Regionalliga players Ligue 1 players Premier League players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in France Croatian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in England Croatian expatriate sportspeople in England