Duje Ćaleta-Car
Squad number 5 · Real Sociedad
Their 2026 World Cup
Duje Ćaleta-Car travelled to the 2026 World Cup with Croatia, wearing number 5, without ever getting on the pitch. His side played 4 matches (2 wins and 2 defeats) and bowed out in the round of 32, beaten by Portugal 2-1.
Defence went to J. Šutalo (4 matches, 360′) and M. Pongračić (3 matches, 270′).
Another 6 players in the Croatia squad ended up the same way, without a single minute. The full run is on the Croatia team page.
Biography
Duje Ćaleta-Car (Croatian pronunciation: [dǔːje tɕâleta tsâr]; born 17 September 1996) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ligue 1 club Lyon and the Croatia national team. Ćaleta-Car was a member of the Croatian squad which ended as runners-up to France in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Early career Ćaleta-Car joined FC Liefering in 2014 from FC Pasching. He made his Austrian Football First League debut with FC Liefering on 25 July 2014 against FAC Team für Wien.
During the 2017–18 season Salzburg had their best ever European campaign. They finished top of their Europa League group, for a record fourth time, before beating Real Sociedad and Borussia Dortmund thus making their first ever appearance in a UEFA Europa League semi-final. On 3 May 2018, he played in the Europa League semi-final as Marseille played out a 1–2 away loss but a 3–2 aggregate win to secure a place in the 2018 UEFA Europa League Final.
On 20 July 2018, Ćaleta-Car joined Marseille on a five-year deal for a transfer fee of €19 million.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) · text adapted from the article.
See all the tournament stats on the World Cup data hub.
Photo: Bryan Berlin · Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)