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Wed 10 February 2021 | 6:30

Jan Oblak Biography

A detailed look at Jan Oblak biography including his general information, life story, style of play and career statistics.

Jan Oblak is a professional player who is currently playing as a goalkeeper for Atletico Madrid Football club and Slovenia national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers of the football world after winning many collective and individual awards including four Zamora trophies and the La Liga title.

A graduate of his hometown club, Olimpija Ljubljana's academy, Oblak made a name for himself at Benfica before turning into one of the best in his position during his time with Atletico Madrid.

Oblak joined Atletico Madrid In 2013 and has been the club's first choice goalkeeper ever since. At the time, He was La Liga's most expensive goalkeeper in

La Liga

history. He has been included in Ballon d'Or 30 player short list in 2014 and 2015. He also holds the record for fewest goal conceded in a La Liga campaign with a stat of 18 goals conceded in 38 matches at the 2014-15 season.

At 28 years of age, Oblak is considered among the best goalkeeper of his generation. He has played around 300 games across all competitions for Atletico Madrid during his eight seasons at the club and has been voted the best Slovenian footballer of the year five time. Stay tuned to read more about Jan Oblak biography and professional life.

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All You Need to Know about Jan Oblak Biography

In the following article, we will have a look at Jan Oblak biography which includes his career and personal life. We will go deep into every aspect of his personal and professional life to see how he became one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

Jan Oblak Information

We will start our article on Jan Oblak biography with some of his general information including Jan Oblak bio, physical stats, personal info and footballing information. Stay tuned to read more about

Jan Oblak bio

.

Jan Oblak Bio

  • Full Name:

     Jan Oblak

  • Nickname:

    The Slovenian Wall

  • Profession:

    Professional Footballer

Jan Oblak Physical Stats

  • Weight:

    85 Kg

  • Height:

    1.88 m (6 ft. 1 in)

  • Eye Color:

    Brown

  • Hair Color:

    Brown

Jan Oblak Football Information

  • Position:

    Goalkeeper

  • Jersey Number:

    1 at Atletico Madrid

  • Professional Debut:

    2008

Jan Oblak Date of Birth and Personal Info

  • Date of Birth:

    January 7, 1993

  • Birth Place: 

    Sokfja Lka, Slovenia

  • Zodiac Sign:

    Capricorn

  • Nationality:

    Slovenian

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Jan Oblak Early years

In this section of our article about Jan Oblak biography we will present you with the most interesting facts about

Jan Oblak childhood

as well as his family background to see where he took his first steps as an amateur footballer.

Jan Oblak date of birth is at 7th of January 1993. It is also interesting that Jan Oblak shares his birthday with Real Madrid star,

Eden Hazard

who is also born on the 7th of January.

Jan Oblak nationality

is Slovenian. He was born in Sokfja Lka, Slovenia Oblak grew up in a football loving family. His father was an amateur footballer who had a short career as a goalkeeper in Slovenian lower leagues. According to Oblak's interviews, He idolized his father so much that he used to cycle almost 60 kilometers each day just to get to his father's training ground.

Oblak started his amateur career by entering his hometown club, Locan at the age of 5. Few years later he moved to Olimpija youth academy which was later dissolved and re-established as Olimpija Ljubljana.

An interesting fact about this period of his career was that he kept his habit of cycling to the training ground, just like he used to ride a bike to his father's training ground at his childhood. His team mate at the club, Fernando Abreu described his attitude in an interview with Goal years later.

"BMW were partners with Olimpija Ljubljana, so they lent about 15 cars to the squad, But Oblak, who was very young, couldn't drive, so he had to ride a bike to training every day."

Oblak was a goalkeeper right from the beginning of his amateur career. His impressive performances caught the eyes of

Napoli

and Fulham. After a trial with the latter, Oblak decided to stay at Olimija Ljubljana. He rose through the academy ranks with ease and when he turned 16 he was promoted to the senior side, which marked the beginning of his professional career.

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Jan Oblak Profile

In This part of the article, we will concentrate on Jan Oblak profile which includes Jan Oblak style of play, goal celebration and the reception he has got from media, fans and his colleagues.

Starting his professional career in Slovenia

Jan Oblak's professional career started at the 20018-09 season when he made his debut for Olimpija Ljubljana in a 7-2 win against Mura 05. Oblak played 33 games in his sole season as the club's first choice goalkeeper. He was amazing between the sticks right from the start and with him marshalling the defence line,

Olimpija Ljubljana

earned promotion to Slovenia's top football league.

Three loan spells and his breakthrough at Benfica

Oblak joined Benfica at the beginning of the 2010-11 season. His start at the Portuguese famous club was not bright as he was loaned to four different teams (Beira-Mar, Olhanense, Uniao de Leiria and Rio Ave) in the following three seasons. His best season during this time was at Rio Ave, where he played 31 games and impressed Benfica managers, who requested his return from loan at the beginning of the 2013-14 season.

Oblak became Benfica's first-choice goalkeeper for the second part of the season. He was amazing in the 16 games he played for Portuguese giants and kept memorable clean sheets against the likes of Porto in the League, and Juventus in the Champions League. Oblak won the domestic treble with Benfica. For his impressive performances throughout the season, Oblak eventually won the league's Best Goalkeeper of the Year award at the end of his sole season with Benfica.

Reaching the top with Atletico Madrid

In the summer of 2014 Jan Oblak Joined Spanish giants Atletico Madrid on a six year contract, which made him the most expensive goalkeeper in the history of La Liga.

Atletico signed Oblak as a replacement for the departing

Thibaut Courtois

, a move which proved out to be very successful as Oblak reached the top of his game with Los Che and Atletico benefited a lot from having the Slovenian giant at goal. He himself stated in an interview after joining Atletico that money was not the biggest factor for him when he decided to join the club:

“The financial factor was not the main reason, but the conditions are much better. Ever since I was a child I have dreamed about playing in the Spanish league. This was always a big challenge that I wanted to take on.”

Oblak made his debut in September of 2014, in a 3–2 defeat to Olympiacos at the

Champions League

group stage. The first of His may clean sheets for Atletico came in his first Copa del Rey match, a 3–0 win against L'Hospitalet. Overall, Oblak played 21 games across all competitions in his first season at Atletico Madrid.

Oblak's influence as a key player for Atletico grew the following season as he played a total of 51 games across all competitions. His most memorable game of the season was the second leg of the UCL semi-final against Bayern Munich, where he saved Thomas Moller's penalty to earn his side a place at the competition's final against city rival's Real Madrid.

Atletico lost the Champions League final, but Oblak had reasons to celebrate his second season at the club as he broke the record for the least goals conceded in a La Liga campaign after conceding just 18 goals in 38 matches. Oblak won his first of four Zamora trophy at the end of the season.

Oblak has been one of the most consistent goalkeepers in the world during the past few seasons. He has played over 40 games in each of his last 5 seasons with Atletico and has reached many milestones.

He was nominated for the 2017 and 2018 Ballon d'Or awards, He also became the fastest goalkeeper to achieve 100 clean sheets landmark in La Liga history, breaking an almost half a century old record of Miguel Reina who reached the milestone in 222 league appearances.

At the end of the season the 19-20 season, Oblak won his fourth Zamora, equaling

Barcelona

's former goalkeeper, Víctor Valdes record for most consecutive Zamora Trophies. He also became the club's second captain behind Koke. His other achievement of the season was becoming the first non-Spanish goalkeeper to keep 100 clean sheets in La Liga history. Oblak was also nominated for the 2019 Yashin award and finished in fourth place.

One of Oblak's most memorable games in 2020 was the return leg of the Champions League quarter final against Atletico Madrid, where he made 9 saves as Atletico eliminated the defending champions, Liverpool 4-2 on aggregate.

Oblak is the first goalkeeper to win the award for La Liga best goalkeeper of the year four times. As of the first of February 2021, Jan Oblak has played 281 games for Atletico Madrid across all competitions, conceding 192 goals and keeping 152 clean sheets along the way. He is the second goalkeeper with the highest number of games in the history of Atletico Madrid.

With Slovenia National team

Oblak was a member of Slovenia U15, U16 and U21 youth teams. He debuted for the U21 team in August of 2009 against France. He earned his first call up to

Slovenia

senior side in 2012 and made his debut in September of the same year, in a 2–1 away defeat against Norway at the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. Oblak has played a total of 32 games for Slovenia national team. He has been the captain of Slovenia since 2019.

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Style of Play

Jan Oblak

is best known for his quick reflexes, Athleticism and agility. He is an excellent shot-stopper who can also collect crosses with ease. He has been praised by his coaches for his confidence and good decision-making in crucial moments of the game. He is also amazing in one-on-one situations. During the past ten years, Oblak has proven himself to be among the world's best goalkeepers and one of the best ones in the history of Atletico Madrid.

Oblak is famous for his strong personality. He rarely gets nervous at games as he himself said in an interview in 2020:

"I don't remember the last time I got nervous in a match. When I have the opportunity to be on the pitch, I'm happ. I've always felt more joy than nerves."

Oblak also believes that his placement at goal during the game is one of his best qualities as a goalkeeper.

"Placement is one of the most important. If you are always or try to be in the right place, it is easier and you have less work."

Reception

Jan Oblak has also been praised for his amazing positioning, footwork, work-rate, composure in goal, and shot-stopping abilities. His coaches has also praised him for his leadership, overall consistency.

Oblak is among the most popular players at Atletico Madrid. Atletico fans have created their own song for him. “Obli, Oblak, every day I love you more” rings out around the Wanda Metropolitano during Atletico home games.

Even the best players in the history of football have faced criticism from their coaches and fans at some parts of their career. In the case of Jan Oblak, he was criticized the most for his performance in the penalty shoot-outs of the 2016-17 Champions League final against

Real Madrid

, where he could not save any shots as Real Madrid won its thirteenth title.

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Jan Oblak outside football

Now is the time to know more about Jan Oblak life outside of football. What are his hobbies outside football? How does he like to spend his free time and what are his favorites in the field of art?

Jan Oblak favorite activities outside football are exercising, exploring the wild nature and spending time with his family and friends.

Jan Oblak is regularly active on social media. His Instagram account is

@oblakjan

. He has around 1.5 million followers on Instagram. His twitter account id is also @oblakjan.

Oblak has a boat and loved to go for exciting rides on water. He is also passionate about cars and has a collection of luxury brands.

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Jan Oblak Personal Life

One of the most interesting part of SportMob's article on 

Jan Oblak biography

 is about his personal life. In this section we will have a look at Jan Oblak immediate family, love life and children. We will also present you with some information about his philanthropy activities and legal issues.

Family, Children and Relationships

Jan Oblak was born into a family of football fans. His father, Matjaz Oblak is a former amateur football player and his mother, Stojanka Majkic is a housewife who is a Bosnian Serb. Jan Oblak is the second child of his parents. His older sister, Teja is also a professional athlete who has had a career as a basketball player. She has represented her country Slovenia and Czech side ZVVZ USK Praha as a point guard.

Jan Oblak was inspired the most by his father, who was also active as a goalkeeper when he was a child. According to Oblak's interviews, his father had the most influence on his career.

“I grew up in a small place called Skofja Loka – it’s the second-oldest town in Slovenia. There’s a small club there, where my father played. He wasn’t a professional, it was an amateur team, but he was the goalkeeper. He was my first idol."

As a child, Jan used to stand behind his father's goal and imitate his moves, which helped him a lot when he started his amateur career.

“I would always watch him. When he was at training, I would stand behind his goal and dive to the side that he was diving. I don’t know how old I was, maybe three or four. Everyone found it really funny. They were laughing because this small kid was behind the goal diving when his father dived, without the ball, just doing the same as him. I wanted to be like him.”

There is few information on Jan Oblak's relationships. He once published a picture of himself on his Instagram account with the five ball he took home after his most memorable performances. He captioned the post by the following sentence: "This ball is my girlfriend! No one can take her away from me!"

In 2019 Media published many images of him accompanied with the famous Italian model, Allesia tedeschi. Oblak and Tadeschi never announced that they are in a relationship. Allesia Tadeschi also had a short relationship with

Cristiano Ronaldo

after the Portuguese superstar broke up with Irina Shayk.

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Philanthropy

It is really interesting to know if Jan Oblak has had any background in humanitarian work and philanthropy.

Jan Oblak religion

is Christianity. He is a Catholic by birth. There are no records of him being involved in a notable charity event except the one time He participated in a charity event for Children in Slovenia.

The event was held at the Red Cross facilities in Ankaran, where almost 600 children from a number of schools from around the country were gathered for the Play with US charity program, which is an initiative designed to offer disadvantaged children help from other children.

Jan Oblak is the main ambassador of the NGO responsible for the event, while

Antoine Griezmann

and Fernando Torres have also played some parts in recent programs.

Legal Issues

While some footballers have certainly gotten into legal disputes with various people and organizations, Jan Oblak has had no legal disputes throughout his life.

Any new information about

Jan Oblak life story

and personal life will be published here at SportMob.

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Jan Oblak Career Statistics

In this section, we want to take a look at Jan Oblak career statistics both on the club and international level.

Club

Overall, Jan Oblak has played 392 Games for eight teams during his club career. He has conceded 300 goals and has kept 196 clean sheets in those games.

Jan Oblak best season individually was the 2017-18 Season in which he conceded 28 goals and kept 29 clean sheets in 49 games as Atletico Madrid's goalkeeper.

International

On the international level Jan Oblak Transfermarket stats shows that has played 32 games for Slovenia senior side. He has conceded 23 goals and has kept 16 clean sheets in his international career. Oblak also played for Slovenia U-15, U-16, U-19 and

U-21

teams.

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Jan Oblak Honors

We rap up our article on

Jan Oblak biography

with a look at his honors and achievements.

During his career, Jan Oblak has won a total of 6 collective and 16 major individual awards. Among his most important collective trophies are: Primeira Liga, Taça de Portugal, and the Taça da Liga with Benfica and UEFA Europa League (2017–2018), Spanish Super Cup (2014) and UEFA Super Cup (2018) with Atletico Madrid.

Some of his most important individual awards are: Primeira Liga Best Goalkeeper (2013–14), Zamora Trophy (four times), Slovenian Professional footballer of the Year (four times), La Liga Goalkeeper of the Season (four times), UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season (three times)

We hope you have enjoyed reading Jan Oblak biography. You might also like reading our article on

top facts about Jan Oblak

.


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