 Lučić lining up forTeam Sweden during the FIFA World Cup in Germany in June 2006 | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Teddy Mark Šime Lučić | |||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1973-04-15)15 April 1973 (age 52) | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Gothenburg, Sweden | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)[1] | |||||||||||||
| Position | Centre back | |||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||
| Lundby IF | ||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 1989–1992 | Lundby IF | 63 | (13) | |||||||||||
| 1993–1995 | Västra Frölunda IF | 68 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1996–1998 | IFK Göteborg | 58 | (2) | |||||||||||
| 1998–2000 | Bologna | 9 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2000–2003 | AIK | 58 | (4) | |||||||||||
| 2002–2003 | →Leeds United (loan) | 17 | (1) | |||||||||||
| 2003–2005 | Bayer Leverkusen | 11 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2005–2007 | BK Häcken | 70 | (8) | |||||||||||
| 2008–2010 | IF Elfsborg | 66 | (3) | |||||||||||
| 2012 | KF Velebit | 15 | (1) | |||||||||||
| 2015 | Holmalunds IF | 9 | (1) | |||||||||||
| Total | 444 | (33) | ||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||
| 1993–1995 | Sweden U21 | 18 | (1) | |||||||||||
| 1995–2006 | Sweden | 86 | (0) | |||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||
| 2011–2014 | KF Velebit (manager) | |||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Teddy Mark Šime Lučić (Swedish pronunciation:[ˈtɛ̌dːʏˈlʊ̌tːɕɪtɕ]; born 15 April 1973) is a Swedish former professionalfootballer andmanager. He played as acentre-back.[2] Lučić made his debut forSweden in 1995, and represented his country at threeFIFA World Cups (1994,2002, and2006) and twoUEFA European Championships (2000 and2004), earning a total of 86caps.
Lučić was born on 15 April 1973 inBiskopsgården,Gothenburg 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 forHalmstads BK but declined because he thought he was too old, at age 27.[3] The Lučić family decided to live in Sweden but visited Croatia and Finland often.
As a boy, Lučić attended the Bjurslätt School inHisingen, which is only 500 meters from whereBK Häcken 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.[3]
He began playing forLundby IF as an 18-year-old for whom he played 44 times in the Swedish league and scored 10 goals from fullback. He moved toVästra Frölunda IF in 1993 for a two-year spell in which he played 68 matches. In 1996, he moved on toIFK Göteborg, landing the Swedish championship in his first season.
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 theSerie A in a two-year spell.[4]
Lučić returned to Sweden in 2000, signing forAIK Fotboll. He made 58 appearances and scored four times. He left the club in 2003 to move to Germany.
Lučić's period at AIK Fotboll was broken up by a loan spell at English clubLeeds United, starting in 2002.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]
Lučić signed forBayer Leverkusen directly from Leeds in May 2003.[8] He failed to get a major impact for the starting 11 inBundesliga, and only played 11 times for the club, before he left for Sweden in December 2004.[9]
Lučić went back to Sweden for a second time to sign forBK Häcken, where he made 70 appearances and scored 8 goals. In 2008, Lučić moved again to the ninth club of his career,IF Elfsborg where he was a regular in the starting eleven until the end of his career.[10] After IF Elfsborgs last game of the season, on 7 November 2010, Lucic officially ended his career as a player.[11][12]
Lučić played 86 times for theSwedish national team, mostly as a full back. He was handed his debut againstBrazil in June 1995,[13] having been an unused squad member at the1994 FIFA World Cup.
Since 2004, he played as centre back. Lučić played inEuro 2004, and the2002 and2006World Cups (in1994 he was unused substitute having been called up to replaceJan Eriksson).[14] AgainstGermany, in what turned out to be Sweden's final 2006 World Cup match, he was given twoyellow cards by Brazilian refereeCarlos Eugênio Simon, and sent off in the 35th minute.[15]
Due to his multinational background, Lučić had the option to play for two other countries—his mother isFinnish and his fatherCroatian. He is fluent inCroatian and also speaks some Finnish. He has a summer cottage inLappeenranta, Finland, and is a fan of Lappeenranta-based first division football teamRakuunat and ice hockey teamSaiPa.[16]
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club | Season | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Sweden | League | Svenska Cupen | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| Lundby IF | 1989 | Division 3 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||
| 1990 | Division 4 | 18 | 3 | |||||||||
| 1991 | Division 3 | 22 | 3 | |||||||||
| 1992 | Division 4 | 22 | 7 | |||||||||
| Västra Frölunda | 1993 | Allsvenskan | 17 | 0 | ||||||||
| 1994 | Allsvenskan | 25 | 0 | |||||||||
| 1995 | Allsvenskan | 26 | 0 | |||||||||
| IFK Göteborg | 1996 | Allsvenskan | 24 | 0 | ||||||||
| 1997 | Allsvenskan | 11 | 2 | |||||||||
| 1998 | Allsvenskan | 23 | 0 | |||||||||
| Italy | League | Coppa Italia | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| Bologna | 1998–99 | Serie A | 8 | 0 | ||||||||
| 1999–00 | Serie A | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| Sweden | League | Svenska Cupen | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| AIK | 2000 | Allsvenskan | 22 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2001 | Allsvenskan | 20 | 0 | |||||||||
| 2002 | Allsvenskan | 16 | 1 | |||||||||
| England | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| Leeds United (loan) | 2002–03 | Premier League | 17 | 1 | ||||||||
| Germany | League | DFB-Pokal | DFB Ligapokal | Europe | Total | |||||||
| Bayer Leverkusen | 2003–04 | Bundesliga | 11 | 0 | ||||||||
| 2004–05 | Bundesliga | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Sweden | League | Svenska Cupen | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| BK Häcken | 2005 | Allsvenskan | 21 | 1 | ||||||||
| 2006 | Allsvenskan | 25 | 6 | |||||||||
| 2007 | Superettan | 24 | 1 | |||||||||
| IF Elfsborg | 2008 | Allsvenskan | 29 | 2 | ||||||||
| 2009 | Allsvenskan | 25 | 1 | |||||||||
| 2010 | Allsvenskan | 12 | 0 | |||||||||
| Sweden | 383 | 30 | ||||||||||
| Italy | 9 | 0 | ||||||||||
| England | 17 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Germany | 11 | 0 | ||||||||||
| Total | 320 | 31 | ||||||||||
Appearances and goals by national team and year[18]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden | 1995 | 5 | 0 |
| 1996 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 4 | 0 | |
| 1998 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1999 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2001 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 11 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 11 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 8 | 0 | |
| Total | 86 | 0 | |
Sweden
