Teddy Mark Šime Lučić (; born 15 April 1973) is a Swedish former 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 ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Lučić made his debut for

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in 1995, and represented his country at three

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s (

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, and

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 ...

) and two

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

s (

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

), earning a total of 86

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

Early life

Lučić was born on 15 April 1973 in Biskopsgården,

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

to Croatian father, Krešimir, and Finnish mother, Annis. His father Krešimir was also a football player. In 1966, Krešimir moved to Sweden where he played football. In 1971, his father was offered to play for

Halmstads BK Halmstads Bollklubb, also known simply as Halmstad () or (especially locally) HBK or Bollklubben, is a Swedish professional Association football, football club located in Halmstad in the county of Halland. The club, formed 7 February 1914 and app ...

but declined because he thought he was too old, at age 27. The Lučić family decided to live in Sweden but visited Croatia and Finland often. As a boy, Lučić attended the Bjurslätt School in

Hisingen Hisingen () is the fifth-largest island of Sweden (after Gotland, Öland, Södertörn and Orust), with an area of . It is a river island, formed by the split of the Göta Älv at Bohus Fortress, Bohus, and is defined to the east and south by t ...

, which is only 500 meters from where

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Gothenburg (Hisingen). It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Forme ...

have their exercise equipment. Due to his parents' heritage, Lučić had Yugoslavian passport rather than a Swedish one, which prevented him from playing in the Swedish Junior Team.

Club career

Early career

He began playing for Lundby IF as an 18-year-old for whom he played 44 times in the Swedish league and scored 10 goals from fullback. He moved to

Västra Frölunda IF Västra Frölunda Idrottsförening () is a Swedish football club based in Gothenburg. Founded on 2 January 1930, the club has spent a total of ten seasons in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. As of the 2025 season, Västra Frölund ...

in 1993 for a two-year spell in which he played 68 matches. In 1996, he moved on to

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

, landing the Swedish championship in his first season.

Bologna

Lučić went abroad to Italy upon leaving IFK Göteborg in 1998. However, he found his opportunities limited at his new club and consequently made just nine league appearances in the

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

in a two-year spell.

AIK

Lučić returned to Sweden in 2000, signing for

AIK Fotboll AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), and internationally known as AIK Stockholm, is a Swedish professional football club from Stoc ...

. He made 58 appearances and scored four times. He left the club in 2003 to move to Germany.

Loan to Leeds United

Lučić's period at AIK Fotboll was broken up by a loan spell at English club

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

, starting in 2002. During his time in England, he made a total of 17 league appearances and scored one goal, in a 3–2 defeat at Chelsea in January 2003. His loan spell ended in 2003 after Leeds decided not to sign him on a permanent deal. AIK had offered Lučić to a number of clubs.

Bayer Leverkusen

Lučić signed for

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

directly from Leeds in May 2003. He failed to get a major impact for the starting 11 in

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

, and only played 11 times for the club, before he left for Sweden in December 2004.

Return to Sweden

Lučić went back to Sweden for a second time to sign for

, where he made 70 appearances and scored 8 goals. In 2008, Lučić moved again to the ninth club of his career,

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional association football, football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Alls ...

where he was a regular in the starting eleven until the end of his career. After IF Elfsborgs last game of the season, on 7 November 2010, Lucic officially ended his career as a player.

International career

Lučić played 86 times for the Swedish national team, mostly as a full back. He was handed his debut against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in June 1995. Since 2004, he played as centre back. Lučić played in

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 ...

, and the

and

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

(in

he was unused substitute having been called up to replace Jan Eriksson). Against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, in what turned out to be Sweden's final 2006 World Cup match, he was given two yellow cards by Brazilian referee Carlos Eugênio Simon, and sent off in the 35th minute.

Personal life

Due to his multinational background, Lučić had the option to play for two other countries—his mother is Finnish and his father

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 ...

n. He is fluent in Croatian and also speaks some Finnish. He has a summer cottage in

Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Karelia. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country and in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lappeenranta is approximately , while the Lappeenranta sub-r ...

, Finland, and is a fan of Lappeenranta-based first division football team Rakuunat and ice hockey team

SaiPa SAIPA (, ''SAIPA'') is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. The SAIPAC (an acronym for the French ''Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën'' lit. ''Iranian Limited Company for the Production of Citroën Autom ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

Honours

;IFK Göteborg *

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Sweden *

third place:

References

External links

Teddy Lučić at Leverkusen who's who
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucic, Teddy 1973 births Living people Footballers from Gothenburg Swedish people of Croatian descent Swedish people of Finnish descent Swedish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Sweden men's international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players 2002 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2004 players 2006 FIFA World Cup players Allsvenskan players Superettan players Lundby IF players Ettan Fotboll players Division 3 (Swedish football) players Västra Frölunda IF players IFK Göteborg players Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Serie A players Bologna FC 1909 players Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy AIK Fotboll players Expatriate men's footballers in England Premier League players Leeds United F.C. players Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Bundesliga players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany BK Häcken players IF Elfsborg players Holmalunds IF players