Jozo Izaija Matovac (born 22 May 1970) is a Swedish former 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 ...

who played as defender. He represented

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Formed on 2 August 1940, Häcken has p ...

Örgryte IS Örgryte Idrottssällskap, commonly referred to as Örgryte IS, Örgryte () or (especially locally) ÖIS or Öis, is a Swedish sports club based in Gothenburg. It consists of four departments, namely bowling, football, athletics and wrestling. H ...

Aalborg BK Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but cur ...

, and

Helsingborgs IF Helsingborgs IF (full name Helsingborgs Idrottsförening), commonly referred to as HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish first tier, Allsvenskan, following promotion in the 2021 Superett ...

during a career that spanned between 1992 and 2002. A full international between 1997 and 2001, he won nine

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the Sweden national team.

Club career

Matovac played youth football for

Gunnilse IS Gunnilse IS is a Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, t ...

before signing with

. In 1995 he signed with

where he was considered one of Allsvenskan's best centre backs. He signed with the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...

club

in 1998, before returning to Swedish football in 2000 as a replacement at

for the departed

Andreas Jakobsson Bo Janne Andreas Jakobsson (born 6 October 1972) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a defender and defensive midfielder. Starting off his professional career with Landskrona BoIS in 1990, he went on to also represent He ...

. In 2000, Matovac helped the team qualify for the 2000–2001 UEFA Champions League in which he participated in all six

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

games. In 2002, he retired from professional football following a hip injury.

International career

Matovac made his full international debut for Sweden on 9 February 1997 in a

King's Cup __NOTOC__ King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King Cup (sometimes named King's Cup), Saudi Arabian men's football nati ...

game against

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in which he also scored his first international goal as Sweden won 2–0. He made his competitive international debut for Sweden in a 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, playing the full 90 minutes as centre back alongside

Patrik Andersson Patrik Jonas Andersson (; born 18 August 1971) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a defender. Starting off his career with Malmö FF in the late 1980s, he went on to play professionally in England, Germany, and Spain, an ...

as Sweden won 1–0. He won his ninth and final

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

, again playing alongside Patrik Andersson at centre back.

Personal life

Matovac was born in Sweden to Croatian parents.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Matovac goal''.

Honours

Aalborg BK *

: 1999–2000 Sweden *

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

References

Living people 1970 births Swedish footballers Sweden men's international footballers Swedish expatriate footballers Men's association football defenders Allsvenskan players Danish Superliga players Helsingborgs IF players AaB Fodbold players Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Örgryte IS players BK Häcken players {{sweden-footy-defender-stub