Filip Lončarić (born 17 September 1986) is a Croatian retired 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. Lončarić joined

GNK Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional association football, football Football team, club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They ...

in 1994, aged just eight and made his breakthrough to the first-team squad for the 2005–06 season. He had a brief loan-spell at Dinamo Zagreb's

feeder team In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

NK Lokomotiva Nogometni klub Lokomotiva Zagreb (), commonly known as Lokomotiva Zagreb or simply Lokomotiva, is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. It competes in the Croatian First Football League, the country's top division. Founded in 19 ...

, but made no competitive appearances. With Dinamo, Lončarić won seven

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 ...

titles, five

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup *Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup The Croatian Water Polo C ...

titles and two

Croatian Super Cup The Croatian Football Super Cup is a football match between the winners of the Croatian national top league and football cup. The Super Cup is always held at the beginning of a new football season, and is only held when different clubs win the tw ...

s. After Dinamo, he played at

CS Gaz Metan Mediaș Clubul Sportiv Gaz Metan Mediaș (), commonly known as Gaz Metan Mediaș or simply as Gaz Metan, was a Romanian professional football club based in Mediaș, Sibiu County. Founded in 1945 as ''Karres Mediaș'', the team spent most of its exist ...

FK Željezničar Sarajevo Fudbalski klub Željezničar Sarajevo ( sh-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Жељезничap Сарајево; English language, English: Football Club Željezničar Sarajevo), commonly referred to as Željo, is a professional Association fo ...

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek (), commonly referred to as NK Osijek (), is a Croatian professional association football, football sports club, club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav First Le ...

HŠK Zrinjski Mostar HŠK Zrinjski Mostar (), colloquially referred to as Zrinjski Mostar or simply Zrinjski, is a Herzegovinian professional Association football, football club, based in Mostar. The club plays in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina and wit ...

and

Tromsø IL Tromsø Idrettslag () is a Norwegian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Tromsø. They play their home games at the Romssa Arena which has a seating capacity of 6,801. Tromsø play in the Eliteserien. Despi ...

, before retiring from football in August 2018 at the age of 31. In the national team, Lončarić played for various youth selections from 2002 to 2007. He was capped a total of 47 times, most of which he made playing for the under-17 and under-19 teams.

Club career

Dinamo Zagreb

Lončarić has been part of Dinamo Zagreb's first team since the beginning of the 2005–06 season, but went on to spend the second part of the season on loan to Lokomotiva, who played in the

Treća HNL The Croatian Second Football League (), commonly Druga NL or 2. NL, is the third tier of the Croatian football league system. The league was established in 1991, following the dissolution of the Yugoslav League. It is operated by the Croatian F ...

at the time. Returning to Dinamo Zagreb for the beginning of the 2006–07 season, he made his competitive debut for the club on 1 October 2006 in their 2–2 draw away at

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 ...

, following a couple of blunders by the first-choice goalkeeper

Ivan Turina Ivan Turina (3 October 1980 – 2 May 2013) was a Croatian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He made one appearance for the Croatia national team. Club career Turina started his professional career with his youth club Dinamo ...

early in the season. He subsequently became the club's first-choice goalkeeper and appeared in a total of 26 domestic league matches during the season. However, following the club's signing of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

goalkeeper

Georg Koch Georg Koch (born 3 February 1972) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career Born in Bergisch Gladbach, Koch started his career playing at amateur club SpVgg Erkenschwick before becoming a professional in Ja ...

in the summer of 2007, Lončarić once again found himself relegated to the bench and only appeared in two domestic league matches early in the season before sustaining an injury in a

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

match in October 2007, which led to him being sidelined for most of the season and eventually losing his place as the club's second-choice goalkeeper to

Ivan Kelava Ivan Kelava (born 20 February 1988) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Kelava played for Dinamo Zagreb's youth teams from 1997, being promoted to the club's senior squad in the summer of 2006 ...

. Following the departure of Koch in the summer of 2008, the club decided to re-sign former

Croatian international The Croatian International in badminton is an international open held in 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 Sloveni ...

goalkeeper

Tomislav Butina Tomislav Butina (; born 30 March 1974) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as goalkeeper for Dinamo Zagreb, Club Brugge and Olympiacos. He was also capped 28 times for the Croatia national team in the period from 2001 to 200 ...

to serve as the new first-choice goalkeeper, with Kelava keeping his place as the second-choice goalkeeper and Lončarić staying the club's third-choice goalkeeper until Kelava was loaned to Lokomotiva Zagreb in August 2009. As the club's third-choice goalkeeper, Lončarić made no competitive appearances for Dinamo Zagreb throughout the entire 2008–09 season. However, following a couple bad performances by Butina in European matches, Lončarić was given a second chance as the club's first-choice goalkeeper and made his first competitive appearance in nearly two years when he appeared in Dinamo Zagreb's 6–0 win at home to

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

on 20 September 2009 in the Prva HNL. On 1 October 2009, exactly three years after his competitive debut for Dinamo, Lončarić made his European debut for the club in their 3–0 away win at Timişoara in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. However, he was soon forced to take another lengthy break after renewing his injury in Dinamo's Europa League match against

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 22 October 2009. His first competitive match after the injury break came on 31 July 2010 in a 2–1 defeat at home to Rijeka in the Croatian top flight, deputising for the injured Butina. On 4 August 2010, he made his debut in the

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 ...

qualifiers, at home to

Sheriff Tiraspol Fotbal Club Sheriff Tiraspol (), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnistria, that plays in the Liga, the top tier o ...

. After a 1–1 draw in the regular 90 minutes and the ensuing 30 minutes of extra time, the match went into a penalty shootout, where Lončarić was able to save two kicks, but Dinamo eventually lost 6–5. Dinamo Zagreb was relieved by departure of Butina, which saw Lončarić further increase his first-choice goalkeeper status. However, Lončarić was again injured in a league match at Hajduk Split on 11 September 2010, his 6th appearance in the competition during the 2010–11 season. He subsequently did not appear in a competitive match for almost a year. He made three appearances in the league during the first half of the 2011–12 season, his final season with Dinamo Zagreb.

Tromsø

In January 2016, Lončarić signed a season-long contract with Norwegian club

. Initially the club's second-choice goalkeeper, he made his

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

debut on 9 July 2016 in a 2–2 draw at home to

Haugesund Haugesund () is a municipalities of Norway, municipality and List of towns and cities in Norway, town on the North Sea in Rogaland county, Norway. As of December 2023, the municipality of Haugesund has a population of 37,855. The vast majority of ...

. He kept his place in the starting line-up for the remainder of the season, making a total of 16 appearances in the top flight. On 7 August 2018 at the age of 31 Lončarić decide to retire from football after a new knee injury.

International career

Lončarić started his international career for

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 ...

with a debut for the under-16 team in a friendly match against the under-16 team of

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

on 5 March 2002. He made seven more appearances for the under-16 selection before debuting for the under-17 team in a friendly match against

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

on 7 August 2002, aged just 15. Lončarić was very successful playing for the under-17 team, collecting a total of 17 caps throughout 2002 and 2003. He featured in two friendly matches for the under-18 team and then with 17 years of age debuted for the under-19 team. Lončarić made a total of 13 appearances for the under-19 selection. He had a short spell with the under-20 team, playing in four friendly matches throughout 2006 and 2007. In 2007, he made his last appearances for the Croatian youth teams, featuring in three matches for the under-21 team. Lončarić was capped a total of 47 times for the Croatian youth teams.

Career statistics

Club

*Note: the

appearances for Dinamo Zagreb can be viewed at the official website of the clu
nk-dinamo.hr
under the section ''The Match''. ¹ Including the 2010 Croatian Supercup match against Hajduk Split.

Honours

Player

Club

Dinamo Zagreb *

: 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2011–12 *

: 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09,

, 2011–12 *

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 ...

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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Loncaric, Filip 1986 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Men's association football goalkeepers Croatian men's footballers 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players CS Gaz Metan Mediaș players FK Željezničar Sarajevo players NK Osijek players HŠK Zrinjski Mostar players Tromsø IL players Croatian Football League players Liga I players Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina players Eliteserien players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Bosnia and Herzegovina Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Norway