Josip Šimić (born 16 September 1977) is a retired

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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

striker. He is the younger brother of

Dario Šimić Dario Šimić (; born 12 November 1975) is a Croatian former footballer. Šimić was a versatile defender who played as full-back, sweeper or centre back; a physical and hard-tackling defender, he was known in particular for his strength and ...

Club career

Šimić started his professional career with

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 ...

in 1993, when the club was known as Croatia Zagreb. He was also part of the first team when they won four consecutive titles in the Croatian league between 1997 and 2000. In the 1998–1999 and 1999–2000 seasons, he also appeared in a total of 10

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

group matches for the club, memorably scoring the winning goal in their 1–0 away win at

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

on 25 November 1998. In 2000, he left his homeland to play in Belgium for

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,042. They pl ...

before going on to play in the national leagues of

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. He returned to Croatia in 2006, signing for Varteks as a free agent upon the end of his contract with

FC Kärnten FC Kärnten was an Football in Austria, Austrian association football club based in Klagenfurt, Carinthia (state), Carinthia. It was founded in 1920 under the name of KSK Klagenfurt. History Austria Klagenfurt Austria Klagenfurt played success ...

. After an alleged injury problem and only a few appearances, he left Varteks in the summer of 2007.

International career

Šimić was a Croatian youth international between 1993 and 2000, making over 20 international appearances at under-16 to under-21 levels. He also played for the Croatian national under-21 team at the European Under-21 Championship in 2000. In January 1999, he appeared for Croatia B in a friendly match against

France B France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and made his full international debut for

on 13 June 1999 against

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at the

Korea Cup The Korea Cup (, Korea Cup International Football Tournament) was an international Association football, football tournament held annually in South Korea from 1971 to 1999. History The Korea Cup was created with the name ''President of Sout ...

, a friendly international tournament in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. Three days later, he scored his only international goal in a 2–1 win against

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 ...

during the same tournament. Between August and October 1999, he made three appearances as a substitute in Croatia's

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

qualifiers against

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

, the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

and

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. Croatia failed to qualify for the finals after finishing third in their qualifying group. Šimić's final full international appearance came on 26 April 2000 in a friendly match against

. He won a total of 7 full international caps for Croatia.

International goal

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 ...

: 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00 Club Brugge *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 2001–02 Individual * Korea Cup Most Valuable Player:

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

References

External links

*
Josip Šimić
at the Croatian Football Federation
Josip Šimić profile
at Nogometni Magazin * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simic, Josip 1977 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Men's association football forwards Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Club Brugge KV players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players Ulsan HD FC players FC Kärnten players NK Varaždin (1931–2015) players Croatian Football League players Belgian Pro League players Super League Greece players K League 1 players 2. Liga (Austria) players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in South Korea Croatian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea