Croatian-born professional footballer Domagoj Vida not only plays for the national team of his home country but also conducts his business at the club level with the Turkish team, Besiktas. As a versatile defender, Vida excels at playing in almost all defensive positions but is generally used as a central defender or right-back.
Vida made his way through the youth teams of the Croatian national football team before being appointed to the senior national team in 2010. During the short period that Croatia participated in the 2014 World Cup, he remained an unused substitute but earned a regular place in the successful 2018 World Cup qualifiers, and the versatile defender was appointed to the Croatian final squad for the 2018 World Cup, where he played a crucial role in the team’s advancement to the first World Cup final in Moscow.
Domagoj Vida Biography
Domagoj Vida was born as a son of Željka and Rudika Vida on 29 April 1989 in Donji Mihojlac, a parish in the region of Slavonia in Croatia. He comes from a family of successful footballers, as his father, Rudika Vida, is a retired professional footballer, as is his brother, Hrvoje Vida. He started playing football at a tender age with NK Jedinstvo Donji Miholjac, a club in his hometown.
After several years at the academy, Vida joined the Turkish professional club NK Osijek, where he spent the rest of his youth career. He made his senior debut with Osijek at the beginning of the 2006-07 season. During his four seasons in the club’s senior team, Domagoj Vida has attracted the attention of scouts from several top European teams.
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On his 21st birthday, Vida signed a contract with the German Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen. Besides eight UEFA Europa League appearances, Vida’s league debut as a substitute was his only appearance in the Bundesliga on 5 March 2011. On 14 June 2011 Vida switched to the Croatian league champions Dinamo Zagreb. His only season with the club, however, was marred by a series of controversies off the pitch.
On 2 January 2013, Domagoj Vida signed a 5-year contract with the Ukrainian club FC Dynamo Kyiv, which allowed him to stay with the club until 2018. The versatile defender had a relatively eventful time with the Ukrainian giants and also played a crucial role in winning the Ukrainian Premier League 2015 title, the first in 6 years. After his contract with Dynamo Kiev expired, Domagoj Vida joined the Turkish club Besiktas. J.K. The Croatian-born football star signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with the club in January 2018.
International Career
Domagoj Vida has played for the Croatian national team at U-19, U-20, and U-21 level on the international level and after being appointed to the senior national team, Vida made his international debut on 28 May 2010. He took part in the successful qualifying campaign for UEFA Euro 2012 and also took part in the finals, where Croatia suffered an early exit.
Vida was also appointed to the squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but he remained a substitute player and never made it to the starting line-up during the short period of the tournament. The versatile defender had a more regular place during the qualifying and final stages of the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament, where he was eliminated in the knockout stages against eventual champions Portugal.
He started in all Croatia’s qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and in June 2018 the talented defender was inducted into Croatia’s 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia, where he played a key role in the team’s rise to the first final in the tournament’s history. On 7 July, Vida scored a crucial 100th-minute goal in the quarter-final match against hosts Russia, which Croatia finally won on penalties.
Is Domagoj Vida Married? Wife
Domagoj Vida is currently married to the former beauty queen and model Ivana Gugic The duo is said to have met already in 2013 in a nightclub in the Croatian capital Zagreb. On September 5, 2015, the couple welcomed their first child, a son named David. After 4 years of dating, Vida and Gugic finally tied the knot on June 16, 2017. The ceremony took place in the 18th-century parish church of the Assumption of Mary and St. Peregrine in the Istrian coastal town of Umag.
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Ivana Gugic, born in Metkovic, in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County in Croatia, was the winner of the Queen of Croatia 2014 beauty contest and in addition to her flourishing career as a model, she also studied at the University of Economics and Management in Zagreb.
Height and Other Body Measurements
Domagoj Vida stands at an impressive height of 184 cm (6 feet). As expected, the versatile Croatian-born defender retains an athletic build with a bodyweight of 76 kg (167.5 lbs).
