Jozo Šimunović

Jozo Šimunović (born 4 August 1994) is a Croatian footballer who plays as a centre back for Scottish club Celtic. He began his career with Dinamo Zagreb before joining Celtic in 2015. He has represented Croatia at all youth international levels up to under-21.

He started playing football at age of 7 in his village, Gornja Lomnica. At the age of 12 he joined Dinamo Zagreb from Hrvatski Dragovoljac.

Dinamo Zagreb

He made his debut for Dinamo Zagreb on 16 March 2013 against Istra 1961, coming as a 90th-minute substitute. On 30 March 2013, he scored his first goal for Dinamo Zagreb against Zadar in the 34th minute.

In the 2013–14 season he helped Dinamo to their ninth League title in a row, making 32 appearances in all competitions, and made it 10-in-a-row in 2015, where he made 30 appearances in all competitions.

Celtic

On 1 September 2015, Šimunović joined Scottish Premiership side Celtic for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut on 17 September, playing in Celtic's 2–2 draw away against Ajax in the Europa League. On 15 January 2016, Šimunović scored his first goal for Celtic in a 4-1 victory over Dundee United, but suffered knee ligament damage just a week later and was ruled out for six weeks; however, it was announced on 26 March that, following a knee operation, he would in fact be out for the rest of the season. The player also revealed that, prior to the operation, he had been playing with a fractured right knee for six weeks: "I know it seems weird that I could play with this injury. But everything was down to psychology - and the atmosphere on the pitch was phenomenal. When you play for a great club like Celtic you can play even with a fractured bone."

On 13 and 14 July, Šimunović posted images and a short video on his Twitter account and stated that he had spent the last nine weeks in Belgrade recovering from his injury, and would be returning to Glasgow later that week. Despite rumours that he would be leaving Celtic to join Torino, he insisted that was not going anywhere, stating, "Italian reports are nonsense. I have absolutely no indication about a potential departure for Torino. In fact, I think only about Celtic. Next week I finally join the team, and after a long injury return to normal training." On 30 August 2016, contrary to his prior announcement, Šimunović travelled to Turin to have a medical with Torino. Despite passing his medical, it was announced the following day that the move was off as the two clubs could not agree a fee. Šimunović stated afterwards on Twitter that his transfer broke down because Torino wanted to change their initial agreement; he also insisted that, despite previous rumours of a failed medical, he was "completely healthy and fit" and was entirely focused on the challenge ahead with Celtic. On 18 September, he made his long-awaited return to action as a substitute in Celtic's 2-2 draw with Inverness CT.

He has been capped at under-14, under-15, under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19, under-20 and under-21 level for Croatia scoring three goals, against Germany for the under-15's, Austria for the under-17's and Norway for the under-21's. He was captain of the Croatia under-17 and the Croatia under-19 teams and is current captain of the Croatia under-21 team. In September 2015, he received a first call-up for the senior national team, for the last Euro 2016 qualifying matches, against Bulgaria and Malta, as a reserve player for already injured Dejan Lovren, but suffered a small injury days after the call-up, removing him for the games against Bulgaria and Malta.

As of 31 December 2016

Club

Dinamo Zagreb

• Croatian First League: (3) 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15
• Croatian Cup: (1) 2015
• Croatian Super Cup: (1) 2013
• Croatian U19 League: (1) 2010–11
• Croatian U17 League: (2) 2008–09, 2009–10

Celtic

• Scottish Premiership: 2015–16
• Scottish League Cup: 2016–17

• ^ "Jozo Šimunović Trophies". Soccerway.