Fran Karačić (; born 12 May 1996) is a 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 as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

. Born in Croatia, he plays for the Australia national team.

Club career

On 14 January 2021, Karačić joined

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as 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 b ...

side

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

on a two-and-a-half-year deal. After departing Brescia at the end of the 2022–23 season which ended with relegation to

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

, Karačić spent the rest of 2023 without a club before signing with Rudeš on 31 January 2024. Karačić would leave Rudeš at the end of the 2023–24 season to rejoin his first professional club Lokomotiva, eventually becoming captain of the side after six months. On 8 July 2025, Karačić joined

until the end of the 2027–28 season.

International career

Karacic was eligible to represent

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 ...

due to his father being born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. In May 2018, Karačić was named in

's preliminary 26-man squad for the

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

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. On 25 May 2018, he was officially cleared by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

to represent Australia. Karačić was later cut from the final squad. Karačić was called up to the Australian squad again for a series of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying games in June 2021, where he made his international debut against

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

. He was named in Australia's squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

in November 2022, making two appearances against

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

and eventual champions

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

as Australia were knocked out by the latter. Karačić would not be called up to the national team after the World Cup for the next two and a half years owing to his club situation before being called up in March 2025 for Australia's crucial World Cup qualifiers against

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, where he came off the bench in both games as Australia took big steps towards qualification by winning both games.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karacic, Fran 1996 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Soccer players from Sydney Australian men's soccer players Australia men's international soccer players Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Australian people of Croatian descent NK Lučko players NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Brescia Calcio players Croatian Football League players Serie B players Men's association football defenders Australian expatriate men's soccer players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Australian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 2022 FIFA World Cup players 21st-century Australian sportsmen