Joseph Anthony Didulica (; born 14 October 1977) is a former

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 ...

. Born in Australia, he played for the Croatia national team. On 11 October 2011, he ended his career after ongoing neck and head injuries.

Club career

Didulica was born in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to a Croatian father, Luka, and a Croatian-Australian mother, Mary. He also has an older brother, John and sister, Trish. His father emigrated to Australia from

Poličnik Poličnik is a village and a municipality within Zadar County in Croatia. Poličnik is located northeast of Zadar. Demographics In the 2011 census, there were a total of 4,669 inhabitants, in the following naselja, settlements: * Briševo, pop ...

, a village in northern

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

, about 10 kilometres outside of

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

. Didulica started to play football in the

North Geelong Warriors North Geelong Warriors Football Club, formerly known as North Geelong Croatia, is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club from the regional Victoria (Australia), Victorian city of Geelong. The club currently competes in the ...

. In 1996, he moved to the

Melbourne Knights Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, the second-tier of the Australian soccer league ...

, a club whose team primarily consists of Australian Croats, and played for them until 1999. Then he transferred to

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 ...

, where he spent four years, winning the league (Eredivisie) and Dutch Cup in 2003. Didulica, after performing brilliantly well in the UEFA Champions League, signed a three-year deal with

Austria Vienna Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the most trophies of any Austr ...

in 2003. In Austria, Didulica would win a Bundesliga title, two Austrian Cups, and one Super Cup, whilst spending three seasons as a regular in goal for Austria Wien. Didulica returned to the Netherlands to play for AZ after being lured by the great Louis Van Gaal as coach. He made seven

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

appearances with the club, before being forced to take a longer break following a brain concussion he sustained in a league match against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

in October 2006. after being hit with the ball in his head from a shot by PSV's Australian international

Jason Čulina Jason Culina (born 5 August 1980) is a former Australian Association football, soccer player and coach. He played in two FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup tournaments for the Australia men's national soccer team, Australia national football team. ...

. During his time at AZ, although it was tough with his persistent head injuries, Didulica would win another Dutch (Eredivisie) title and a Dutch Super Cup. On 24 April 2006, an Austrian court sentenced Didulica to a fine of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

60,000 on the count of physical injury resulting from negligence, for slamming

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

's Axel Lawaree at a

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

derby in May 2005. In June 2007, Didulica successfully appealed the decision of the lower court to the High Court of Vienna. The original charges against Didulica were quashed and he was acquitted of everything, the Court ruling Didulica had played the ball, not acted unreasonably and did not intend to cause injury to the opponent. On 11 October 2011, Didulica announced his retirement from football due to his persistent neck and head injuries.

International career

In 2000, Didulica was selected to the Australian squad for the

Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

, but had to withdraw due to injury and never received an international cap for the Australian national team at A-level. In 2004, he decided to play for the country of his parents, as Australia had not qualified for a World Cup for around 30 years and he saw more opportunities for success with Croatia, who qualified for both World Cups they entered at the time. Didulica made his debut for the Croatia national team in a friendly match against

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

on 28 April 2004 in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

and was subsequently selected to be part of the Croatian team at the

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

finals, where he served as the second-choice goalkeeper without making an appearance. He was a member of the Croatian team in both the qualifying and finals of the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

, but did not play a single minute during the competitions as

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 ...

played eight of ten qualifiers and was replaced in the remaining two qualifiers by

Stipe Pletikosa Stipe Pletikosa (; born 8 January 1979) is a Croatian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. As of 29 July 2021, he works at the Croatian Football Federation as the tech ...

, who also played every minute in all three games at the finals. In more than two years of being part of the Croatia national team, Didulica only made four appearances in friendly matches, against

, Korea Republic,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

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 ...

. Just a month after the end of the 2006 World Cup, Didulica announced his retirement from international football with an explanation that he wants to concentrate more on his club career.

Honours

Club honours

Ajax *

: 2001–02 *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

: 2001–02 Austria Wien *

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

: 2005–06 *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for a record 27th time. Wo ...

: 2004–05, 2005–06 AZ * Eredivisie: 2008–09 *

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

References

External links

AZ Alkmaar profile

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Didulica, Joey 1977 births Living people Sportspeople from Geelong Soccer players from Victoria (state) Australian people of Croatian descent Australian emigrants to Croatia Men's association football goalkeepers Australian men's soccer players Australia men's under-23 international soccer players Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players 2006 FIFA World Cup players North Geelong Warriors FC players Melbourne Knights FC players AFC Ajax players Beerschot A.C. players FK Austria Wien players AZ Alkmaar players National Soccer League (Australia) players Eredivisie players Belgian Pro League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Australian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Australian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Croatian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Australian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Australian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Melbourne City FC non-playing staff Association football goalkeeping coaches