Stefan Simić ( cz, Simič; sr-Cyrl, Стефан Симић, ; born 20 January 1995) is a Czech 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 plays as a defender for Spanish club

Eibar Eibar ( eu, Eibar, es, Éibar) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country of Spain. It is the head town of Debabarrena, one of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Gipuzkoa. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eusta ...

Club career

Early career

Simić entered

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in ...

's youth ranks at the age of six. He rose through the ranks and became the youngest player to sign a professional contract with the club, aged 15 years and 11 months. He played his first minutes for the senior side on 12 February 2011 in a friendly match against Croatian side Hajduk Split, as a part of the latter's centenary celebration, in honour of his mother's death. He left the club before making his debut in an official match, joining the youth ranks of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

in Italy in January 2012. The transfer reportedly cost 12 million Kč.

AC Milan

Simić played for a year and a half for Genoa Primavera side before moving to

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 ...

. He was an integral part of the youth team that won the

2014 Torneo di Viareggio This is the 66th edition of Torneo di Viareggio. The 2014 winners of the Torneo di Viareggio (in English, the Viareggio Tournament, officially the Viareggio Cup World Football Tournament Coppa Carnevale), the annual youth football tournament held ...

In the summer of 2014, Simić joined the

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

side

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

on loan and played 17 games for the team during the season. After missing out on the first half of the 2015-16 season due to injury to his right fibula, Simić was supposed to join Hajduk Split in a six-month loan deal in January 2016. While he was already in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertai ...

to sign, he was recalled to Milan due to the injury of his teammate

Philippe Mexès Philippe Mexès (; born 30 March 1982) is a French former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He represented Auxerre, Roma and AC Milan at club level during a career that spanned between 1999 and 2016. A full international bet ...

. For the 2016–17 season, Simić was loaned out to Belgian First Division side

Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz Royal Excel Mouscron (, ), commonly known as Mouscron or familiarly as REM, was a Belgian professional football club based in Mouscron. The team was formed as ''Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz'' in the spring of 2010 as a result of the merging between ...

. On 31 August 2017, he was loaned out again, this time to Serie A club Crotone. On 24 January 2019, Simić joined

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 Cop ...

club

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the ...

on loan until 30 June.

Hajduk Split

On 28 June 2019, Simić joined Croatian First Football League club Hajduk Split on a free transfer. He signed four-year contract.

Eibar

On 12 September 2023, Simić signed a one-year contract with

in the Spanish Segunda División.

International career

Simić chose to represent

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

while having the possibility to play 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 ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

and

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, from which his parents came from, his father's ethnicity and whose passports he holds as well. He accumulated 40 caps and 1 goal between 2011 and 2014 for the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

youth national teams, playing at U16, U17, U19, U20 and U21 levels. He did his debut for the Czechs on 11 November 2017 in a 1–0 win against

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

Personal life

Simić is of

Bosnian Serb The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби у Босни и Херцеговини, Srbi u Bosni i Hercegovini) are one of the three constitutive nations (state-forming nations) of the country, predominantly residing in the politi ...

and Croatian descent. His father Radoje hails from

Prijedor Prijedor ( sr-cyrl, Приједор, ) is a city and municipality located in the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 89,397 inhabitants within its administrative limits. Prijedor is situated in ...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina and his mother Suzana hails from

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

, Croatia. His family fled to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

during the Croatian War of Independence before his birth. He considers himself a fan of Hajduk Split and

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Hajduk Split * Croatian Cup: 2021–22

References

External links

Czech national team statistics
at Fotbal.cz {{DEFAULTSORT:Simic, Stefan Living people 1995 births Czech men's footballers Czech Republic men's youth international footballers Men's association football central defenders Serie A players Serie B players Croatian Football League players AC Milan players FC Crotone players SSD Varese Calcio players Frosinone Calcio players HNK Hajduk Split players SD Eibar footballers Czech expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Czech people of Croatian descent Czech people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Czech expatriate sportspeople in Italy Czech expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Czech expatriate sportspeople in Spain Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers Czech Republic men's international footballers Czech people of Serbian descent Footballers from Prague