- Joey Didulica
Football player infobox
playername= Joey Didulica
fullname = Joseph Anthony Didulica
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1977|10|14
cityofbirth =Geelong, Victoria
countryofbirth =Australia
height = height|m=1.91
currentclub = AZ Alkmaar
clubnumber = 1
position = Goalkeeper
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1995-1996 1996-1999 1999-2003 2001 2003-2006 2006-present
clubs =North Geelong Warriors Melbourne Knights Ajax Amsterdam →Germinal Beerschot "(loan)" Austria Vienna AZ Alkmaar
caps(goals) = 01 (0) 58 (0) 16 (0) 02 (0) 87 (0) 07 (0)
nationalyears = 2004-2006
nationalteam = Australia U-23 Croatia
nationalcaps(goals) = 04 (0)
pcupdate =22 October 2006
ntupdate =22 June 2006 Joseph Anthony Didulica [IPA|ˈdidulitsa] (born
14 October 1977 ) is aCroatian Australian association football (soccer)goalkeeper , better known as Joey Didulica.Club career
Didulica was born in Geelong, Victoria to a
Croatia n father, Luka, and a Croatian-Australian mother, Mary. His father emigrated toAustralia fromPoličnik , a village in northernDalmatia , about 10 kilometres outside ofZadar .He started to play football in the
North Geelong Warriors . In 1996, he moved to theMelbourne Knights , a club whose team primarily consists of Australian Croats, and played for them until 1999. Then he transferred to Ajax Amsterdam, whence he was first loaned to Belgian side Germinal Beerschot for a couple of months in 2001 before eventually moving to Austria Vienna in 2003. After spending three seasons as a regular in goal for Austria Wien, Didulica returned to theNetherlands and was signed by AZ Alkmaar. He made sevenEredivisie appearances with the club before being forced to take a longer break following abrain concussion he sustained in a league match againstPSV Eindhoven in October 2006 after being hit with the ball in his head from a shot by Eindhoven's Australian internationalJason Čulina . [ [http://www.az-alkmaar.nl/index.php?module=news&articleID=19511 Didulica sidelined for two to four weeks] ]On 24 April 2006, an
Austria n court sentenced Didulica to a fine of 60,000euro s on the count of physical injury resulting from negligence, for slammingRapid Wien 'sAxel Lawaree at aVienna derby in May 2005. [ de icon [http://sport.orf.at/060424-28003/28004bigstory_txt.html Details on Axel Lawaree case against Didulica] ]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.
International career
In 2000, Didulica was selected to the Australian squad for the Sydney Olympics, 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. According to Didulica, his decision was based on the fact that he had not been selected to represent Australia by then coach
Frank Farina . Additionally, 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.He made his debut for the Croatian national team in a friendly match against Macedonia on 28 April 2004 in
Skopje and was subsequently selected to be part of the Croatian team at the Euro 2004 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, but did not play a single minute during the competitions asTomislav Butina played eight of ten qualifiers and was replaced in the remaining two qualifiers byStipe Pletikosa , who also played every minute in all three games at the finals. In more than two years of being part of the Croatian national team, Didulica only made four appearances in friendly matches, against Macedonia, Korea Republic, Hong Kong and Austria. 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.Trivia
Joey's older brother, John, a lawyer and former football player, is the current CEO of the
Australian Professional Footballers' Association .In January 2006, Joey married fiancée Kate. The couple now have a daughter Angelina and a son (born Sept. 2007).
References
External links
* [http://www.az.nl/index.php?module=teams&memberID=310 AZ Alkmaar profile]
* [http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Players/D/DI.html Oz Football profile]
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