Tin Jedvaj (; born 28 November 1995) is a Croatian 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 plays as a defender for

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

club Panathinaikos. He was a part of the Croatia national team's

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which ended runners-up to

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2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

. He is mostly deployed as a centre back and occasionally as a right back.

Club career

Dinamo Zagreb

Jedvaj started his professional career in 2013 with Dinamo Zagreb, coming through Dinamo's youth academy. He made his debut in a match against

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

, playing in central defence alongside

Josip Šimunić Josip "Joe" Šimunić (; born 18 February 1978) is a retired footballer and current president of NK Rudeš. Born in Australia to Bosnian Croat parents, Šimunić started his career at Melbourne Knights then moved to Germany where he spent ...

. He scored his debut goal against Cibalia. During his first professional season with the club, he won the Croatian Prva HNL trophy. At the beginning of the new

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, he won another trophy with the club when Dinamo defeated Hajduk Split in the Croatian Supercup. During his time with Dinamo, Jedvaj made total of 14 official appearances for the club.

Roma

At the end of his first professional

, Jedvaj was targeted and approached by Italian club Roma, although the initial offer was rejected by the Dinamo board. On 10 July 2013, however, it was confirmed that Jedvaj had signed a contract with the Roman club. Jedvaj made his Roma debut on 1 December 2013, coming on as an 83rd-minute substitute in a 4–0

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victory over

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. He made his starting debut for the club against the same opposition in the last round of the Serie A season, with Genoa winning the clash 1–0 at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. Those were Jedvaj's only two appearances for the season, appearing on the bench 33 times for Roma in the 2013–14 season.

Bayer Leverkusen

On 11 June 2014,

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 ...

announced that they had reached an agreement with all parties for a loan agreement with Roma and Jedvaj, allowing Jedvaj to join Bayer on loan until the end of the 2015–16 season. Jedvaj's debut with the Germans – where he contributed significantly while playing all 90 minutes in the first official match of the season – helped the team to a 6–0 victory against Alemannia Waldalgesheim in the first round of the 2014–15 DFB-Pokal. Just a few days later, on 19 August, Jedvaj made his debut with the Germans 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 ...

, replacing teammate Giulio Donati in the 46th minute in Bayer's 3–2 away victory in Denmark over

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

in the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League play-off round. Jedvaj played the second half well, helping his team to secure an eventual victory. He did, however, receive a yellow card in the 51st minute of the match. Jedvaj also played in the return match against Copenhagen in the Germans' 4–0 victory, allowing Bayer qualification to the Champions League group stage. Jedvaj played all 90 minutes of the match, even earning a penalty on the half-hour mark of which striker Stefan Kießling converted in an eventual 3–0 victory. Jedvaj subsequently made his debut in the

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 ...

on 23 August, a 2–0 victory over

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

in the first match of the campaign. He scored his first goal with Bayer early on in the second game of the season, a 4–2 home win against

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

. Jedvaj scored in the 50th minute, tying the game 1–1 before Bayer eventually went on to win. Jedvaj continued his fine form at Leverkusen by scoring a powerful curving goal against Werder Bremen to give his side a 1–0 lead. He later assisted Son Heung-min for the goal that would tie the game for a final result of 3–3. On 20 January 2015, Bayer Leverkusen confirmed that they had signed Jedvaj from Roma on a permanent deal and signed a contract with the Croatian defender until 2020. However, Jedvaj was only able to make one appearance in the first half of the 2015–16 season. This was due to a thigh injury that recurred three times. His only appearance came against

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

in October, where he came on as a substitute. On 29 October 2016, he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory against VfL Wolfsburg. On 20 August 2019, Jedvaj was loaned out to

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. T ...

until the end of 2019–20 season. On 17 December, he scored the second goal in a 3–0 victory over

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...

. On 16 May 2020, he scored the only goal in a 2–1 defeat to VfL Wolfsburg. Upon return to Leverkusen in summer 2020, Jedvaj was completely sidelined by coach

Peter Bosz Peter Sylvester Bosz (, born 21 November 1963) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. He is currently the head coach of Dutch Eredivisie club PSV Eindhoven. He had previously ...

, playing only in the Europa League.

Lokomotiv Moscow

On 24 July 2021, Jedvaj signed a four-year-long deal with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup (football), Russian Cup a record ...

. He was brought in to replace his compatriot Vedran Ćorluka, who retired from football two months earlier. He made his debut on 6 August as a 46th-minute substitute in the 1–1 league draw with Ufa. He scored his first goal for Lokomotiv on 25 October in a 2–1 victory over

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

Loan to Al Ain

On 20 December 2022, Jedvaj moved on loan to

Al Ain Al Ain () is a city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and the seat of the administrative division of the Al Ain Region. The city is Oman–United Arab Emirates border, bordered to the east by the Omani town of Al-Buraimi. Al A ...

in the United Arab Emirates until 30 June 2023, with an option to buy.

Panathinaikos

On 14 July 2023, Lokomotiv announced that Jedvaj would move on a new season-long loan to Panathinaikos in Greece. On 28 May 2024, Lokomotiv confirmed that Panathinaikos made the transfer permanent. Subsequently, he signed a new contract with Panathinaikos until 2027.

International career

Jedvaj has represented Croatia at various youth levels. He made his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

debut at age 18, playing the final 13 minutes in a friendly match against

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

on 4 September 2014 at

Stadion Aldo Drosina Stadion Aldo Drosina () is a multi-use stadium in Pula, Croatia. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of NK Istra 1961 and formerly NK Istra. The stadium has a capacity of 8,900. From March 2009 to January 20 ...

Pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...

. On 31 May 2016, he was confirmed to be a part of the Croatia squad for

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...

. He was selected to start a match against

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, which Croatia won 2–1. In May 2018, he was named in Croatia's preliminary 32-man

for the

in Russia. He featured once during the tournament, playing the whole ninety minutes of a 2–1 victory over

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. Croatia finished the tournament as runners-up to

. On 16 November 2018, he scored two goals in a

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

group match against Spain, including the winner in a 3–2 victory. During Euro 2020 qualifying, Jedvaj played regularly, replacing injured right back Šime Vrsaljko and appearing in five out of eight games. However, ahead of Nations League matches against

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 ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, Jedvaj was dropped from the national team.

Personal life

Jedvaj's father Zdenko is a former footballer. During the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

, his family left

Mostar Mostar () is a city and the administrative centre of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is situated on the Neretva Riv ...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and moved to the Croatian capital of

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. In June 2022, Jedvaj married his long-time girlfriend Dina Dragija in

Varaždin Varaždin ( or ; , also known by #Name, alternative names) is a city in Northern Croatia, north-east of Zagreb. The total population is 46,946, with 38,839 in the city settlement itself (2011). The city is best known for its baroque buildings, ...

. In May 2020, Jedvaj appeared in the music video for the song "Poziv" (''Call'') by Serbian rapper Cvija.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Croatia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Jedvaj goal''

Honours

Clubs

Dinamo Zagreb * Prva HNL: 2012–13 * Croatian Super Cup:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Panathinaikos *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 2023–24

International

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 ...

runner-up:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Individual

* Croatian Football Hope of the Year: 2014 Orders * Order of Prince Branimir

Order of Duke Branimir: 2018

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jedvaj, Tin 1995 births Footballers from Zagreb Living people Croatian men's footballers 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers Men's association football defenders GNK Dinamo Zagreb players AS Roma players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players FC Augsburg players FC Lokomotiv Moscow players Al Ain FC players Panathinaikos F.C. players Croatian Football League players Serie A players Bundesliga players Russian Premier League players UAE Pro League players UEFA Euro 2016 players 2018 FIFA World Cup players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Croatian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Greece