Hrvoje Čale (born 4 March 1985) is a Croatian 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 lea ...

who played as a

left-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 ...

Club career

Čale began his career at age nine in the youth ranks of

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

. He made his break into the first team in 2003. However, he was mostly used as a substitute when starters were injured. After his loan to Inter Zaprešić in 2004–05, Čale became a starter for Dinamo, where he played until the end of the 2007–08 season. In May 2008, Čale was transferred to

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional sports club located in the city of Trabzon, located in Black Sea region, northeastern Turkey. Established in 1967 through the merger of several local clubs, Trabzonspor is one of the most prominent A ...

for a fee of €2.5 million. He signed a four-year contract. Before the move, Čale called

Davor Vugrinec Davor Vugrinec (born 24 March 1975) is a Croatian former professional footballer. He primarily played as a striker, but also operated as an attacking midfielder or a second striker. He is all-time top scorer of the Croatian First Football League ...

and asked him about his experience with the club. Vugrinec talked very positively about the club, which Čale said contributed to his decision. He became Trabzonspor's 68th foreigner, and the second Croatian, after Davor Vugrinec. In his first season with Trabzonspor, Čale participated in 36 total matches and cemented his place as the starting left-back. Čale was the starting left-back for the

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

winning side in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, and also started in the 2010 Turkish Super Cup final against league champions

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği, commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkey, Turkish professional sports club based in the city of Bursa. Founded in 1963, the club is best known for its football team, which has a rich history in Football in Turkey, Turk ...

. Čale received a yellow card in a three nil victory for the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

-based Trabzonspor. On 19 July 2011, Čale's contract with Trabzonspor was terminated by mutual consent. Čale moved to

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

side

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

but failed to become regular first team member. After almost two seasons of struggling, Čale finally left Wolfsburg in May 2013 and signed for Belgian club

Waasland-Beveren Sportkring Beveren (SK Beveren) is a Belgian professional association football club based in Beveren, East Flanders. The club is affiliated with the founded number 4068 and has yellow and blue as its colours. The team was founded in 1936 in H ...

. After two seasons for Waasland-Beveren, he left Belgium and signed for Olimpija Ljubljana. He left

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

after only one season in summer of 2016. On 15 February 2017, after being free agent for more than half season he signed with Inter Zaprešić for the rest of the season.

International career

Čale represented Croatia at youth level. He made his senior international debut in a friendly victory against

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 ...

on 11 February 2009 and earned a total of 5 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a May 2010 friendly away against

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

Honours

Dinamo Zagreb *

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establish ...

: 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08 * Croatian Cup:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

* Croatian Super Cup:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Trabzonspor *

: 2009–10 *

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup, known as Turkcell Super Cup () for sponsorship reasons, is a super cup tournament in Turkish football. Founded in 1966 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2025 by four teams: the winners ...

Olimpija * PrvaLiga: 2015–16

References

External links

* * * * *
Hrvoje Čale
at PrvaLiga {{DEFAULTSORT:Cale, Hrvoje 1985 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Men's association football fullbacks Croatian men's footballers 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players NK Inter Zaprešić players Trabzonspor footballers VfL Wolfsburg players S.K. Beveren players NK Olimpija Ljubljana (2005) players Croatian Football League players Süper Lig players Bundesliga players Belgian Pro League players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia