Vlatko Đolonga (born 30 September 1976) 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 ...

defender. He made his debut for the

Croatia national football team The Croatia national football team () represents Croatia in men's international Association football, football matches. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), the governing body for football in Croatia. It is a member of UEF ...

in a friendly match against South Korea on 10 November 2001. He has a total of three international caps.

Club career

Đolonga started his career at his hometown club

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 ...

. In the 1994/1995 season, he was loaned out to

NK Uskok Nogometni Klub Uskok (English: Football Club Uskok), commonly referred to as "NK Uskok" or "Uskok", is a Croatian professional football club based in Klis Klis is a Croatian village and a municipality located around a mountain fortress bearin ...

, that won the

Druga HNL The Prva nogometna liga (), 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 League. The 1. NL is ope ...

. However, he got injured and Hajduk did not want to offer him a senior contract. He moved to Solin Građa for the 1995/1996 season, and in the 1996/1997 season made his

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 ...

debut with

NK Orijent HNK Orijent is a football club from Sušak, the eastern part of the city of Rijeka, Croatia. The club was established under the name ''Orient'' in 1919. They currently compete in the 1. NL, the second tier of the Croatian football league syst ...

. The following year he moved, this time to Hrvatski Dragovoljac, where he played 87 games in three seasons before moving to Spain to play for

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually known as Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Basque ...

. After playing just three games, he returned to Croatia to play for

. After his contract ended in June 2007, Đolonga joined

NK Mosor NK Mosor, also known as HBDNK "Mosor – Sveti Jure", was a Croatian football club from Žrnovnica, settlement which is part of the city of Split on the Croatian coast. The club was founded in 1929. It existed until World War II when most of its ...

, but decided to retire from football in September 2007, after playing just two games for the club.

International career

He made his debut for

in a November 2001

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

away against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, coming on as a 46th-minute substitute for

Josip Šimunić Josip "Joe" Šimunić (; born 18 February 1978) is a retired footballer and current president of NK Rudeš. Born in Australia to Bosnian Croat parents, Šimunić started his career at Melbourne Knights then moved to Germany where he spent ...

, and earned a total of 3 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a November 2002 friendly away 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 ...

References

External links

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Vlatko Đolonga
at the Croatian Football Federation 1976 births Living people Footballers from Split, Croatia Men's association football fullbacks Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers NK Uskok players NK Solin players HNK Orijent players NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac players Deportivo Alavés players HNK Hajduk Split players NK Mosor players First Football League (Croatia) players Second Football League (Croatia) players Croatian Football League players La Liga players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Spain {{Croatia-footy-defender-stub