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Thu 23 December 2021 | 13:00

Top facts about Neven Subotic, the Serbian star

Neven Subotic is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a center-back. He made his professional debut in 2007 for 1. FSV Mainz 05. Read on to find out more facts about Neven Subotic.

Originally from Serbia, Neven Suboti (born 10 December 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a center-back for the Serbian national team.

Neven Subotic’s age

is 32. Here you can find out the most important facts about Neven Subotic, the Serbian experienced player.

It was in 2007 when Subotic made his professional debut for 1. FSV Mainz 05.

Borussia Dortmund

recruited him the next year and he spent the most of his career with them, earning two Bundesliga championships during his time there.

Following his release from Dortmund in 2017, he went on to play for a number of teams in Germany, France, and Turkey until joining with SC Rheindorf Altach in January of 2021.

Although Subotic's parents are of Bosnian Serb descent, he spent his childhood in Germany and the United States, where he represented that country at both the under-17 and under-20 levels.

At the senior level, he chose to represent Serbia, making his full international debut in 2009 and making an appearance at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Top facts about Neven Subotic:

The first fact about

Neven Subotic

is that he was included in the Bundesliga dream team In the 2008/09 season Subotić. In June 2009 he signed a new deal with BVB until the summer of 2014. Neven claimed Bundesliga title with Borussia Dortmund two times in a row (2011, 2012).

Neven Subotic early life

An important fact about Neven Subotic is that he was born in Banja Luka, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (current-day Bosnia and Herzegovina), to Bosnian Serb parents, father eljko from the hamlet of Kulai and mother Svjetlana from Brestovo.

He spent his early childhood in Prnjavor with his mother and father. Speaking about

Neven Subotic’s parents

, it should be mentioned that his father moved his family to Germany in 1990, when Subotic was two years old, in pursuit of job.

Regarding

Neven Subotic’s childhood

, it should be mentioned that he was five years old when his family moved to Germany to join their father during the Bosnian War. Neven's sister and mother joined them in Schömberg where they lived until their father was able to reunite them. Neven began playing football when he was seven years old, with the local club TSV Schwarzenberg.

The Subotic family's residency permit in Germany expired in the late 1990s, and in order to escape being deported back to Bosnia and Herzegovina, they decided to relocate to the United States in 1999.

They relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah, since Subotic's father had a relative who lived there as well. Three years ago, Subotci was a member of the Sparta Gold and Impact Black youth football teams.

Subotic's sister Natalija was pursuing a tennis career at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida, and the family relocated again within two years to follow her dream of being a professional tennis player.

The city also happens to be the home of the United States under-17 national team, which is based in the city. Keith Fulk, one of the American team's assistant coaches, saw Subotic training on his own at G.T. Bray Park and told the team's head coach, John Ellinger, of his presence.

After arranging for Subotic to participate in a tryout, they gave him a position in the residency camp. He was not affiliated with any club teams at the time, but he ultimately began playing for the University of South Florida squad.

Subotic was contacted by player agent Steve Kelly while playing with the under-17 squad in the Netherlands. Kelly enquired about Subotic's future ambitions and suggested that he consider playing in Europe. The teenage Subotic was on his way to 1. FSV Mainz 05 after excelling during a trial.

An important

fact about Neven Subotic

is that he began by playing for the club's youth and fourth-division teams before making his way up to the first squad (1. FSV Mainz 05 II). He has four passports: a German passport, an American passport, a Bosnian passport, and a Serbian passport. Subotic's nationality is German.

Neven Subotic personal life

A notable fact about Neven Subotic is that he collaborated with Serbian rapper Filip Filipi on a dance song titled "Kings of Africa," which was released in 2010. Neven Subotic’s girlfriend is Isabel Dechert. The couple don’t have children as of now.

In 2012, he established the Neven Subotic foundation, which is dedicated to the fulfilment of the human right to access to safe drinking water, with a special emphasis on Ethiopia.

With the help of a few volunteers, Neven Subotic started the process of providing clean water to as many people as possible. This was the start of a lifelong endeavour that would eventually lead to the establishment of the Neven Subotic Foundation in 2012.

The Neven Subotic Foundation donates all of the money it earns to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) projects.

The organization's main goal is to construct wells and sanitary facilities in Ethiopia's Tigray area. More than 6,000 individual donations contribute to the Foundation's mission of ensuring clean water access. Thanks to their generous donations, the emphasis on innovation is being maintained.

Neven Subotic professional career

The future defender began his career in football at the local TSV Schwarzenberg. In 2006, Subotić got back to Germany and joined Mainz 05.

The young player’s professional debut came in the 2006/07 season in a 2-5 defeat to

Bayern Munich

. Mainz 05 was eventually relegated from Bundesliga. In 2008 Mainz manager

Jürgen Klopp

was appointed Borussia Dortmund head coach and brought Neven along with him.

Neven Subotic club career

An important

fact about Neven Subotic

is that he made his professional debut for 1. FSV Mainz 05 against Bayern Munich in the last match of the 2006–07 season, as his side was relegated from the Bundesliga. Subotic was named to the Bundesliga All-Star Team in 2007.

The next season, in the 2. Bundesliga, he earned a starting position in what was the league's strongest defense, surrendering just 37 goals in the process. The team ended in fourth place, two points behind the squad that was promoted back to the Bundesliga in the previous season.

Mainz head coach Jürgen Klopp accepted a position as head coach of Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2008 and was key in taking Subotic with him to the Bundesliga club.

Borussia Dortmund

A notable fact about Neven Subotic is that he signed a five-year deal with Borussia Dortmund on the 4th of June, 2008, according to the official announcement.

The unofficial DFL-Supercup match between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, which Dortmund won 2–1, was his first appearance for his new club. Subotic's defensive maneuvers rapidly drew the attention of many onlookers.

As a result of his performance throughout the first half of the 2008–09 Bundesliga season, he was nominated to the perfect XI squad, which included defensive talents such as Licio and

Philipp Lahm

.

Aside from his mature and successful defensive performances that belied his age, Subotic was also a significant contributor on the attacking end, scoring six league goals throughout the course of the year.

In June 2009, he signed a new deal that would keep him employed until the summer of 2014. During the 2009–10 Bundesliga season, Subotic was one of just four players in the whole league to appear in every minute of every league match, including the final.

When Subotic scored his first ever goal in a European game against

Sevilla

in the Europa League on December 15, 2010, the score was 2–2.

It was Subotic's first ever goal in a European competition. Due to the fact that Borussia needed to win away while Sevilla was content with a draw, this match was crucial in determining which of the two clubs would advance from the group stage. However, it finished in a 2–2 tie, and Borussia was knocked out.

An important fact about Neven Subotic is that he and Dortmund won the 2013 DFL-Supercup on July 27th, defeating rivals Bayern Munich 4–2 in the Dortmund Arena.

On May 27, 2015, he agreed to a new deal that would last through the conclusion of the 2017–18 season. Subotic was forced to miss the balance of Dortmund's season on April 1, 2016, due to a thrombosis in his arm, which was discovered on April 1.

Subotic announced his intention to depart the club on June 26th of the same year. Until the conclusion of the season, he was on loan to Bundesliga rivals 1. FC Köln, where he remained until the end of January 2017.

He was re-integrated into the Dortmund squad at the start of the 2017–18 season, this time under the guidance of new manager Peter Bosz.

Saint-Étienne

A notable fact about Neven Subotic is that he signed an 18-month deal with Ligue 1 club AS Saint-Étienne on the 25th of January this year. His contract with the club terminated on July 1, 2019, and he was no longer a member of the team.

Union Berlin

Subotic returned to the Bundesliga on July 4, 2019, when he joined with Union Berlin, who had just been promoted from the 2. Bundesliga. During the month of August 2020, he reached an agreement to terminate his contract, which was set to end in 2021.

Denizlispor

Subotic will join Denizlispor, a team in the Turkish Super Lig, on September 18, 2020. On the 22nd of January in the year 2021, the club stated that he had opted to unilaterally terminate his contract.

Upon his departure, he had made five league games and scored one, the opening goal in a 2–1 away victory against Gençlerbirlii on October 19, which was his last game.

SC Rheindorf Altach

Subotic signed a six-month deal with Austrian Football Bundesliga team SC Rheindorf Altach on February 1, 2021, which would last through February 20, 2021.

Neven Subotic international career

A notable fact about Neven Subotic is that he was a member of the team picked and coached by John Hackworth for the United States' participation in the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship, which took place in Peru in September 2005. He was sixteen years old at the time, and he came in as a replacement in each of the three group matches during the last five minutes.

He started the quarter-final match against the Netherlands, which the United States team lost 0–2 and was eliminated from the competition. He was shown a red card in the 73rd minute.

In addition, he has made two appearances for the USA U-20 national team. Subotic's last appearance for the United States was in a friendly against

Mainz

in November 2006, during which head coach Thomas Rongen reprimanded Subotic for "not accelerating over there to the point where we believe he belongs on the [U.S.] squad." Subotic had joined for Mainz a few months previously.

The following summer, Rongen made the controversial decision to not select him to represent the United States at the 2007 U-20 World Cup in Canada, instead selecting defenders such as Nathan Sturgis, Anthony Wallace, Julian Valentin, Ofori Sarkodie, Tim Ward, and Amaechi Igwe in his place. This decision has resulted in Rongen receiving a great deal of criticism.

However, although Rongen stated that Subotic's groin injury was to blame, there has been substantial conjecture since then that Subotic was so hurt by Rongen's comments that he chose to rethink his international career, “Rongen definitely said some demoralizing and inaccurate things about me, to put it mildly.

Never in my life have I heard of a high-level coach openly criticizing a player, much alone in front of an entire team. That is done one-on-one with the athlete by a qualified professional coach.”

“I find this disheartening since, a few months after Rongen said that I was not good enough for the U-20s, I went on to have a very successful season and began receiving requests from many nations, including the United States, to try out for the full men's squad. I'm still perplexed as to what he saw in the other guys and what he didn't see in me when we met.”

A notable

fact about Neven Subotic

is that he had the option of representing the United States, Serbia, or Bosnia and Herzegovina in the tournament.

When the subject of his national team eligibility initially gained widespread attention in the football media in September 2008, it was suggested that he may play for Croatia or possibly Germany, among other options.

It was quickly apparent that both possibilities were more or less fabrications of the media rather than genuine alternatives to the situation. After openly rejecting advances from Bosnia and Herzegovina's football administrators and head coach Miroslav Blazevi, Subotic was forced to withdraw his nation from contention early in the competition.

By the late autumn of 2008, it had become evident that only Serbia would be included in his international team selection. Many stories in the Serbian press, citing sources close to Subotic's family, said that his decision to play for Serbia had already been made, but that he was only waiting for the proper opportunity to make it public.

An important fact about Neven Subotic is that he had until December 10, 2009 (his 21st birthday), to make his decision public. Subotic notified Serbian national team head coach Radomir Anti about his desire to play for the country in the middle of December 2008.

Then, in late December 2008, Subotic informed the United States Soccer Federation of his choice, marking the first formal step in the process of transferring national team affiliation.

Suboti made his international debut for the Serbian national team on March 28, 2009, in a 2010 World Cup qualifying match against

Romania

at Constanţa, which Serbia won by a score of 2–3.

In the 65th minute, Suboti came on to replace striker Marko Panteli with Serbia leading 1–3 in the vital qualifying match. Suboti played the slightly revised central defensive position as Anti attempted to maintain Serbia's advantage for the last 30 minutes of the crucial qualifying encounter.

Following the game, head coach Anti was effusive in his praise for his new young defender, comparing him to former Barcelona defender Fernando Hierro.

Following his appearance in a friendly against Sweden, Subotic's first competitive appearance came against Austria on 6 June, just a few days after the end of the club season, where he partnered Nemanja Vidic in central defense (if only for one half, as Vidic was injured and replaced by Antonio Rukavina) — a match in which Serbia displayed a sluggish overall team effort and was fortunate to win 1–0 as a result of numerous defensive lapses.

Serbia defeated the Faroe Islands 2–0 in a pretty routine match on June 10, 2009, and Subotic scored his first international goal four days later on June 10, 2009.

Antic preferred Aleksandar Lukovic to partner Vidic in the next qualifying match, which took place at the end of the summer against France and represented Serbia's last chance to secure qualification by winning at home. Subotic was benched and did not play at all in that match, and Anti preferred Lukovic.

Subotic came on as a substitute for Vidic in the final 15 minutes of the match against Romania, which Serbia won 5–0 to clinch a World Cup spot. The same central defensive pairing started the next qualifier against

France

, which Serbia lost 1–0 (another chance to automatically qualify with a win after failing to beat the French).

Subotic played the whole 90 minutes in a free position on the wing in the most recent meaningless qualifier against Lithuania, as Anti wanted to experiment and test various formations without concern of missing points.

Subotic's debut efforts for Serbia weren't very impressive, despite the fact that he had received great acclaim and much larger expectations before to his arrival. Following a series of poor defensive efforts and a slew of costly blunders, he was subjected to a barrage of negative coverage in the Serbian press.

Subotic was left out of Serbia's starting eleven for their first group stage encounter against Ghana at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, with Nemanja Vidic and Aleksandar Lukovic being the favoured picks for central defensive positions by coach Ante Tomic.

As a consequence of his poor starting performances in the friendlies coming up to the World Cup, against

New Zealand

, Poland, and Cameroon, Subotic has been demoted to the subs bench.

During the second half of the Ghana encounter, however, Lukovic was given a red card and dismissed from the game, prompting Anti to substitute Subotic into the game for the last 14 minutes of regulation time.

After receiving a one-match suspension as a result of his red card, Subotic was thrust into a crucial match against Germany. He put in a composed and effective performance against German forwards who, despite applying significant pressure at various points throughout the match, were unable to score as Serbia recorded a historic 1–0 victory.

Subotic showed superb positional play against players he was familiar with from the Bundesliga, resulting in numerous critical responses, notably the clearing in front of

Mesut Ozil

to avoid the rebound after goalie Vladimir Stojkovic's penalty save against Luka Podolski.

Subotic was relegated to the bench for the last group game against Australia, with Lukovic returning from suspension to take his place.

Subotic returned to the starting lineup for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers, which kicked off under the direction of beleaguered head coach Anti, who was serving a four-match touchline ban as a result of his verbal altercation with the Uruguayan referee at the World Cup.

Subotic had been absent from the squad for the previous two matches. The kid played the whole 90 minutes against the Faroe Islands in the first encounter, and he did the same against Slovenia in the second. As he established a solid presence in center defense with Vidic, Subotic's somewhat uneven form persisted.

However, the duo's slow response to Milivoje Novakovic's run off the ball resulted in Slovenia's equalizer. Following the Slovenian draw, Anti was sacked, and Pion Petrovic was appointed as his replacement.

Subotic was named to the Serbian squad for the new coach's first match against Estonia, however he did not appear in the game, which Serbia lost 3-0 for the first time in nine years.

Subotic was an unused substitute as Serbia suffered its worst home defeat in nine years. Subotic was given the starting assignment for Serbia's next qualifier away to Italy in October 2010, however the controversial match in Genoa was called off after just six minutes owing to violence by the traveling Serbian hooligans, resulting in an inevitable 3–0 defeat for the country.

Against Northern Ireland, Subotic was given the opportunity to make his international debut when qualification started in late March 2011.

Since center defender Lukovic announced his retirement from international football just before this match, Subotic has practically become an automatic first-team selection for the Japanese national squad.

Subotic, who was partnered with Milan Bievac in center defense (in place of the injured Vidic), had another poor performance as the two failed to deal correctly with Chris Brunt's set piece cross, which resulted in Gareth McAuley scoring a headed goal.

Furthermore, Subotic had an injury during the game that prevented him from participating in the next qualifier in Estonia, which took place four days later.

As a result of Sinia Mihajlovic's appointment as head coach in May 2012, Subotic was called into action in a few pre-season friendlies, and even scored a goal in the team's loss to

Sweden

. However, Subotic was reportedly unable to play in the final friendly against the Republic of Ireland, which took place at home.

Having been benched for Croatia's inaugural World Cup qualifying match against Scotland in September 2012, Bievac and 19-year-old Matija Nastasic took his place in center defense for the encounter against the Scottish national team. Three days later, in a home game against Wales, the identical incident occurred again.

The next qualifier was a major test at home against group favorites Belgium, and it made little difference to Subotic's position, as Mihajlovic maintained his preference for Nastasic and Bievac as his central defensive pairing. Even though they created several chances, Serbia was unable to capitalize on them, ultimately losing the match 0–3.

The devastating loss drew Mihajlovic's ire from the media, who also criticized him for his continued exclusion of Subotic's name. Four days later, however, in a must-win match against Macedonia in Skopje, Mihajlovic once again chose to leave Subotic on the bench, this time without a single minute of action.

Despite playing in a low-quality match and amid reports of dissension within the squad following the loss to Belgium, Serbia conceded a late penalty and suffered a disastrous 0–1 defeat, almost losing their chance of securing a place in one of the top two spots in Group A. With only four points from four games remaining before the winter break, Serbia is in danger of finishing outside the top two spots.

Throughout the month of October 2012, Subotic continued to put in outstanding performances for Borussia Dortmund, both in the Champions League and in the Bundesliga, prompting more questions and criticism for Mihajlovic in the Serbian press about his decision to consistently leave the player on the bench in national team matches.

When specifically asked about it in interviews, Mihajlovic said, "I don't know." "Subotic was unable to play in the last friendly against Ireland due to injury. However, out of the five training sessions we had coming up to the match, he performed quite badly in two of them, putting him out of contention to start against Scotland.”

“I made the decision to give Bievac a chance in the match at Hampden Park, and he performed admirably. Then, before to the Belgium match, I said that I had two unanswered questions about the starting lineup, one of which was whether or not I should start Subotic.”

“After picking up his second yellow card of the qualifying campaign, Neven will start the team's next encounter against Croatia in March, if he continues to put in the necessary effort during training.

It is now up to him to reclaim his former position on the field. The second aspect of the issue is that both Subotic and Nastasic are not very loud during matches, with Bievac being the only one that speaks out and leads the back line.”

“Neven is a critical player for us, and I am putting a lot of faith in him. However, things happen, and I have had it happen to me as a player on occasion when a spot competitor on the squad takes advantage of an opportunity that the coach provided him, relegating me to the bench to wait for my next opportunity."

Subotic did not participate in any of the qualifying matches for Euro 2016. Following the announcement of the new Serbian coach Dick Advocaat's team for the qualifying rounds against Armenia and Albania, it was revealed that Subotic's international career may have come to an end as well.

He has earned a total of 36 international appearances, scoring two goals in the process, with his latest appearance coming in a World Cup qualifying match against Croatia in September 2013.

Neven Subotic social media

Regarding

Neven Subotic social media

, it should be mentioned that he has an Instagram page (

@subotic4

) with 227k followers. In the page we can see various pictures of him with the fans and his family.

He also has a Twitter account (

@NSubotic4

) with more than 58k followers. He rarely posts new stuff on his Twitter page.

Neven Subotic body measurements

Speaking about

Neven Subotic body measurements

, it should be mentioned that the Turkish coach is 193 cm and 88 kg.

Neven Subotic net worth and salary

Neven Subotic's net worth

is reported to be within the range of $4 million to $5 million. From his major profession as a soccer player, he has amassed a substantial fortune.

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source: SportMob



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