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Dario Šimić
Dario Šimić.jpg
Šimić in 2018
Personal information
Date of birth (1975-11-12) 12 November 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
Height 1.80 m
Playing position Defender
Youth career
1987–1992 Dinamo Zagreb
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1999 Dinamo Zagreb 140 (14)
1999–2002 Inter Milan 66 (3)
2002–2008 AC Milan 82 (1)
2008–2010 Monaco 27 (0)
2010 Dinamo Zagreb 0 (0)
Total 315 (18)
National team
1993 Croatia U17 2 (0)
1993–1994 Croatia U18 2 (0)
1993–1994 Croatia U19 4 (0)
1995 Croatia U20 1 (0)
1994–1996 Croatia U21 8 (1)
1996–2008 Croatia 100 (3)
Honours
Men's football
Representing  Croatia
FIFA World Cup
Bronze 1998 France
  • Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Dario Šimić (born 12 November 1975) is a former Croatian football player. He was a very flexible defender. He could play in many defensive roles, like full-back or centre-back. He was known for being strong and good at heading the ball.

Dario Šimić started his career at Dinamo Zagreb. He later played for famous Italian clubs like Inter Milan and AC Milan. He also played for Monaco in France. In 2010, he returned to Dinamo Zagreb before retiring from football.

Šimić played for the Croatia national football team from 1996 to 2008. He was the first Croatian player to reach 100 international games, which is a huge achievement! He played in six major tournaments for Croatia, including three FIFA World Cups (1998, 2002, 2006) and three UEFA European Championships (1996, 2004, 2008). He helped Croatia win a bronze medal at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Club Career Highlights

Starting at Dinamo Zagreb

Dario Šimić joined Dinamo Zagreb when he was just 12 years old in 1987. He moved up through their youth teams. He made his first team debut in 1992, just before his 17th birthday. This made him one of the youngest players ever to play for the club!

From the 1993–94 season, he became a regular player for Dinamo Zagreb. He was a key part of the team during a very successful time. In six and a half years, he helped the club win four Croatian league titles and four Croatian Cups.

Šimić also played in European competitions with Dinamo. He helped them reach the group stage of the Champions League in 1998. This was a big achievement for the club. He played 140 league games and scored 14 goals for Dinamo Zagreb.

Moving to Inter Milan

After his great performances at the 1998 World Cup, big European clubs noticed Šimić. In January 1999, he joined Inter Milan in Italy. This was a big transfer at the time.

He made his Serie A debut for Inter Milan in January 1999. He played 66 league games and scored 3 goals during his three and a half years there. He played alongside famous players like Roberto Baggio and Ronaldo.

Playing for AC Milan

In 2002, Šimić moved to AC Milan, Inter's city rivals. Here, his coach Carlo Ancelotti changed his position to right-back.

He quickly became an important player for AC Milan. He played 12 games in their journey to win the UEFA Champions League title in 2003. He also helped AC Milan win the Serie A league title in the 2003–04 season. In 2007, he won the Champions League again with AC Milan! He also won the FIFA Club World Cup in 2007.

Time at Monaco and Retirement

In August 2008, Šimić moved to Monaco in France. He played 26 league games for them in his first season.

On 27 April 2010, Šimić returned to his first club, Dinamo Zagreb. However, he announced his retirement from football just three months later, on 10 August 2010. He played only a few matches in his final spell. He said he wanted to stay in football, possibly as a coach.

International Career

Dario Šimić played for Croatia's youth teams before joining the senior national team. He made his first appearance for the Croatia national football team on 13 March 1996.

He became a key player for Croatia at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. He played in six of Croatia's seven matches. Croatia had an amazing tournament and won the bronze medal, finishing third!

Šimić also played in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He played in all three group matches at both the UEFA Euro 2004 and 2006 FIFA World Cup tournaments.

On 18 June 2006, he became the player with the most appearances for the Croatian national team. He broke the record held by Robert Jarni.

100th Cap and Retirement

Dario Šimić was very close to reaching 100 international games at UEFA Euro 2008. He finally achieved this amazing milestone on 20 August 2008. He played his 100th game for Croatia in a friendly match against Slovenia. He was the first Croatian player ever to reach 100 international caps!

After this, Šimić announced his retirement from international football on 16 September 2008. He had been a Croatian international player for over 12 years.

Personal Life

Dario Šimić is married to Jelena Medić. They have four sons: Roko, Viktor, Nikolas, and David. He is the older brother of former footballer Josip Šimić.

Career Statistics

Club

Club performance League Cup1 League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Croatia League Croatian Cup League Cup Europe Total
1992–93 Croatia Zagreb Prva HNL 6 0 1 0 - - 7 0
1993–94 19 2 6 0 - - 25 2
1994–95 22 1 8 0 - 1 0 31 1
1995–96 26 2 8 1 - - 34 3
1996–97 25 6 6 2 - 4 1 35 9
1997–98 29 2 2 0 - 9 1 40 3
1998–99 13 1 - - 8 0 21 1
Italy League Coppa Italia League Cup Europe Total
1998–99 Internazionale Milano Serie A 15 2 6 0 - 6 0 27 2
1999–2000 19 1 3 0 - - 22 1
2000–01 18 0 2 0 - 4 1 24 1
2001–02 12 0 1 0 - 8 0 21 0
2002–03 Milan 29 1 3 0 - 13 0 45 1
2003–04 10 0 6 0 - 2 0 18 0
2004–05 2 0 1 0 - - 3 0
2005–06 15 0 4 0 - 2 0 21 0
2006–07 22 0 6 0 - 6 0 34 0
2007–08 4 0 2 0 - 1 0 7 0
France League Coupe de France Coupe de la Ligue Europe Total
2008–09 Monaco Ligue 1 27 0 2 0 1 0 - 30 0
2009–10 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0
Croatia League Croatian Cup League Cup Europe Total
2010–11 Dinamo Zagreb Prva HNL 0 0 1 0 - 2 0 3 0
Country Croatia 140 14 32 3 - 24 2 164 16
Italy 146 4 34 0 - 42 1 222 5
France 27 0 2 0 1 0 - 30 0
Total 313 18 69 3 1 0 66 3 449 24
1 Played in Croatian Cup and Croatian Super Cup with Dinamo Zagreb.
2 Played in UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and UEFA Cup with Croatia Zagreb, Internazionale Milano and Milan.

International

Source:
Croatia national team
Year Apps Goals
1996 5 0
1997 8 0
1998 13 1
1999 7 0
2000 5 0
2001 8 0
2002 6 0
2003 10 1
2004 8 0
2005 5 0
2006 11 1
2007 9 0
2008 5 0
Total 100 3

International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
01. 10 October 1998 Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta  Malta 1–1 1–4 UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
02. 10 September 2003 King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium  Belgium 1–1 2–1 UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
03. 1 March 2006 St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland  Argentina 3–2 3–2 Friendly

Honours

Club

Dinamo Zagreb

  • Croatian First League: 1992–93, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98
  • Croatian Football Cup: 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98
  • Croatian Super Cup: 2010

Milan

International

Croatia

Individual

  • Croatian Football Hope of the Year: 1995
  • UEFA awards 100 caps: 2011

Orders

  • Ribbon of an Order of the Croatian Wattle.png Order of the Croatian Interlace – 1998

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Dario Šimić para niños

  • List of footballers with 100 or more caps
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