Gordon Schildenfeld (born 18 March 1985) is a Croatian retired

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 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 ...

. He was capped 29 times for the Croatia national team.

Club career

Šibenik

Schildenfeld began playing football at his hometown club

HNK Šibenik Hrvatski nogometni klub Šibenik ( en, Croatian Football Club Šibenik), better known as HNK Šibenik or simply Šibenik (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Šibenik. It competes in the Croatian Football League, and plays their ...

. The club's then manager Stanko Mršić gave him his senior debut at age 16 against Kamen Ingrad. In the 2005–06 season, Schildenfeld helped Šibenik win promotion to the top flight.

Dinamo Zagreb

Midway through his first season in the Croatian first division, the country's top clubs

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 ...

and

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

became interested in signing Schildenfeld and his Šibenik teammate Ante Rukavina. It first seemed likely that Schildenfeld and Rukavina would move to Hajduk together, but then Dinamo entered the race for the two players. In the end, on 2 January 2007, Schildenfeld moved to Dinamo while Rukavina joined archrivals Hajduk. Despite only having five months of top-flight experience at the time, Schildenfeld quickly managed to establish himself as a regular at Dinamo and helped the club winning both Croatian league and

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

titles, also netting the crucial away goal against

Slaven Belupo Nogometni klub Slaven Belupo ( en, Slaven Belupo Football Club), often referred to as NK Slaven Belupo, Slaven Belupo or simply Slaven, and known internationally as NK Slaven Koprivnica, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city ...

in the second leg of the cup final. In the first part of the 2007–08 season, Schildenfeld was also one of the regulars in Dinamo's

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 ...

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 ...

campaign, appearing in five Champions League qualifying matches and four UEFA Cup matches before the club was knocked out of the latter competition in the group stage. Schildenfeld became an unlucky figure in Dinamo's 2–1 defeat at Norwegian side Brann in their second match in the UEFA Cup group stage, causing a penalty and being sent off for a

professional foul In various sports, a professional foul is a deliberate act of foul play intended to bring about an advantage for the perpetrator's team. Professional fouls are usually committed to prevent an opponent from scoring. Various sports contain provisi ...

in the final moments of the first half. He missed the last two group matches, against

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

and

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 ...

, because of the red card.

Beşiktaş

Although he was initially set to stay at Dinamo Zagreb, Schildenfeld was signed by Turkish top club

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

under unexpected circumstances on 1 February 2008. Beşiktaş were actually ready to sign Schildenfeld's teammate Dino Drpić, but the deal fell through due to Drpić's behaviour after a Croatian league match between Dinamo and Hajduk Split almost two years earlier. Schildenfeld made his

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

debut on 9 February 2008, coming on as a late substitute in Beşiktaş's 2–0 defeat at

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits. The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fini ...

. He played his first full Süper Lig match a week later as Beşiktaş beat

Ankaraspor Ankaraspor Kulübü (), formerly known as Osmanlıspor (), is a Turkish professional football club based in the country's capital Ankara. Founded in 1978, the club competes in the TFF Second League. History Ankaraspor was founded as "Ankara Bele ...

3–2 at home.

Duisburg

In September 2008, Schildenfeld joined

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jers ...

of the German 2. Bundesliga on loan until the end of the season. He made his league debut for the club on 16 November 2008 in a 4–3 defeat at

SpVgg Greuther Fürth Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth (), commonly known as Greuther Fürth (), is a German football club based in Fürth, Bavaria. They play in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of the German football league system, following relegation from the B ...

, entering as a substitute for Olcay Şahan in the 83rd minute. He made just four appearances for the club in the league, all of them as a substitute.

Sturm Graz

In July 2009, Schildenfeld joined

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian f ...

of the

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 ...

on a season-long loan from Beşiktaş. He made his league debut for the club on 26 July 2009 in a 3–0 win at home to Magna Wiener Neustadt, entering as a substitute for Ferdinand Feldhofer in the 89th minute. He later managed to find his place as a regular at the club, appearing in 34 league matches during the season. His only goal in the league during the season came on 27 March 2010 when he netted the opening goal in a 3–0 win at

Kapfenberger SV Kapfenberger SV is an Austrian association football club from Kapfenberg. They won the 2007–08 Austrian Football First League and advanced to the Austrian Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1919 as ''Kapfenberger SC''. The club was renamed ...

. During his first season with Sturm Graz, he also made ten appearances for the club in the UEFA Europa League and was also a regular feature in their run to the

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 ...

title, making six appearances in the competition. On 15 August 2009, he netted a brace against TSV St. Johann in the Austrian Cup, helping Sturm to grab a 4–2 extra-time win in the first-round match. He also completed the full 90 minutes in the Cup final on 16 May 2010, which Sturm won 1–0 against Magna Wiener Neustadt. On 8 June 2010, he signed a three-year contract with Sturm Graz.

Eintracht Frankfurt

On 7 July 2011, Schildenfeld returned to the 2. Bundesliga to join

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

. He played there in his first season 33 out of 34 possible matches, helping the club earn promotion to the top-flight

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

. He scored one goal during the 2011–12 campaign.

Dynamo Moscow

On 11 July 2012, Schildenfeld signed a three-year contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

side

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

for an undisclosed fee.

PAOK

After struggling to become regular starting center back in Dynamo, Schildenfeld moved on loan to

Superleague Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

side PAOK.

Panathinaikos

On 2 August 2013, Schildenfeld went on a loan to

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

. He stayed for two years being one of the most famous players of the club, winning the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

against his other Greek club PAOK.

Dinamo Zagreb

In the summer of 2015, Schildenfeld returned to Dinamo Zagreb with a contract running until summer 2018. In summer 2016 he was linked with

Anorthosis Famagusta

On 6 July 2017,

Anorthosis Famagusta Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fou ...

officially announced the acquisition of the Croatian international on a year contract for an undisclosed fee.

International career

On 1 March 2006, Schildenfeld won his only international cap for the Croatia national under-21 team, coming on as a substitute in a friendly match against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. Schildenfeld went on to make his full international debut 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 ...

on 14 November 2009, coming on as a substitute for

Darijo Srna Darijo Srna (; born 1 May 1982) is a Croatian former professional footballer and current director of football of Ukrainian Premier League club Shakhtar Donetsk. During most of his career he played as a right wing-back. He began his career at Haj ...

in the 58th minute of a friendly match against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

Vinkovci Vinkovci () is a city in Slavonia, in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The city's registered population was 28,247 in the 2021 census, the total population of the city was 31,057, making it the largest town of the county. Surrounde ...

. In 2010, he made a total of six international appearances, of which four were in friendlies. His competitive international debut came on 9 October 2010 in a UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier at

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, in which he played the full 90 minutes. In November 2011, he played the full 90 minutes in both play-off matches 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 ...

, helping Croatia to qualify for the finals after a 3–0 aggregate win. He went on to play in all three Croatian matches at

Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

. Ten days after his 30th birthday, on 28 March 2015 coming in as a second-half substitute for midfielder

Ivan Rakitić Ivan Rakitić (; born 10 March 1988) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a central or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Sevilla. Rakitić started his professional career at Basel and spent two seasons with them before he was s ...

in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualification match against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, Schildenfeld scored his first goal for the national side with a header off of a

corner kick to make the score 4–1 in the 87th minute. Croatia went on to win the match 5–1. After

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 o ...

finished, he had not received any further call ups for the national team.

Personal life

Schildenfeld's family on his father's side is originally from Slovenia and is of Austrian origin. Schildenfeld met his wife Christina Marsellou in 2014 in Athens. On 22 March 2017, their son Alexander Marsellos Schildenfeld was born. Two years later, on 9 September 2019, they welcomed their second child, Bella Marsellou Schildenfeld . He has two daughters from his previous marriage with Ivana Škugor.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Club

Šibenik *

Druga HNL The Prva nogometna liga ( en, First football league), commonly Prva NL or 1. NL, is the second tier of the football league system in Croatia. The league was formed in 1991 with the breakup of Yugoslavia and the dissolution of the Yugoslav Second ...

(South): 2005–06 Dinamo Zagreb *

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 ...

: 2007–08, 2015–16 * Croatian Cup:

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; ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Sturm Graz *

: 2010–11 *

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Eintracht Frankfurt * 2. Bundesliga Promotion: 2011–12 Panathinaikos *

: 2013–14

Individual

* Croatian First Football League Team of the Year: 2015–16 *

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

Team of the Year: 2017–18 2021–22

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schildenfeld, Gordon 1985 births Living people Footballers from Šibenik Croatian people of Austrian descent Croatian people of Slovenian descent Men's association football central defenders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2012 players 2014 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2016 players HNK Šibenik players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers MSV Duisburg players SK Sturm Graz players Eintracht Frankfurt players FC Dynamo Moscow players PAOK FC players Panathinaikos F.C. players Anorthosis Famagusta FC players Aris Limassol FC players Croatian Football League players Süper Lig players 2. Bundesliga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Russian Premier League players Super League Greece players Cypriot First Division players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus