Doni Grdić (born 22 January 2002) is an Australian professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays for

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states o ...

in the NPL NSW. Born in Croatia, he has represented Australia at youth level.

Club career

Grdić started his career with Croatian top flight side

Šibenik Šibenik (), historically known as Sebenico (), is a historic town in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka (Croatia), Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is one of the oldest Croatia, Croatian self-governing cities ...

. In July 2023, Grdić joined Australian club

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in t ...

on a one-year contract. After leaving the Wanderers after making just one league appearance and three appearances in all competitions, Grdić signed for Slovenian side Rudar Velenje.

International career

Grdić has played for the Australia national U-17 and U-20 teams through his father, former Australian soccer player Anthony Grdic. He remains available to represent for the senior team of either

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. In May 2021, he was called to the

Olyroos The Australia national under-23 soccer team represents Australia in international under-23 soccer and at the Olympic Games. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia (FA), which is currently a member ...

by manager

Graham Arnold Graham James Arnold (born 3 August 1963) is an Australian association football, professional football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of the Iraq national football team, Iraq national team. Arnold was first appointed ...

in a string of friendlies preparing for the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, but was unused in all three friendlies as Australia were edged both by

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

.From a Crystal Palace revelation to a Serie C star: The unknown Aussies abroad chasing an Olyroos spot
''sportingnews.com''. He was not included into the final squad of the Olyroos.

References

External links

* 2002 births Living people Footballers from Šibenik Australian people of Croatian descent Men's association football central defenders Croatian men's footballers Australian men's soccer players Australia men's under-20 international soccer players HNK Šibenik players NK BSK Bijelo Brdo players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Croatian Football League players Australian expatriate men's soccer players 21st-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-footy-bio-stub