Teddy Lučić

Early career

He began playing for Lundby IF as an 18-year-old for whom he played 44 times in the Swedish league and scored 10 goals from fullback. He moved to Västra Frölunda IF in 1993 for a two-year spell in which he played 68 matches. In 1996, he moved on to IFK Göteborg, landing the Swedish championship in his first season.

Bologna

Lučić went abroad to Italy upon leaving IFK Göteborg in 1998. However, he found his opportunities limited at his new club and consequently made just nine league appearances in the Serie A in a two-year spell.

AIK

Lučić returned to Sweden in 2000, signing for AIK Fotboll. He made 58 appearances and scored four times. He left the club in 2003 to move to Germany.

Loan to Leeds United

Lučić's period at AIK Fotboll was broken up by a loan spell at English club Leeds United, starting in 2002. During his time in England, he made a total of 17 league appearances and scored one goal, in a 3–2 defeat at Chelsea in January 2003. His loan spell ended in 2003 after Leeds decided not to sign him on a permanent deal. AIK had offered Lučić to a number of clubs.

Bayer Leverkusen

Lučić signed for Bayer Leverkusen directly from Leeds in May 2003. He failed to get a major impact for the starting 11 in Bundesliga, and only played 11 times for the club, before he left for Sweden in December 2004.

Return to Sweden

Lučić went back to Sweden for a second time to sign for BK Häcken, where he made 70…

Lučić played 86 times for the Swedish national team, mostly as a full back. He was handed his debut against Brazil in June 1995, having been an unused squad member at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Since 2004, he played as centre back. Lučić played in Euro 2004, and the 2002 and 2006 World Cups (in 1994 he was unused substitute having been called up to replace Jan Eriksson). Against Germany, in what turned out to be Sweden's final 2006 World Cup match, he was given two yellow cards by Brazilian referee Carlos Eugênio Simon, and sent off in the 35th minute.

Lučić was born on 15 April 1973 in Biskopsgården, Gothenburg to Croatian father, Krešimir, and Finnish mother, Annis. His father Krešimir was also a football player. In 1966, Krešimir moved to Sweden where he played football. In 1971, his father was offered to play for Halmstads BK but declined because he thought he was too old, at age 27. The Lučić family decided to live in Sweden but visited Croatia and Finland often. As a boy, Lučić attended the Bjurslätt School in Hisingen, which is only 500 meters from where BK Häcken have their exercise equipment. Due to his parents' heritage, Lučić had Yugoslav passport rather than a Swedish one, which prevented him from playing in the Swedish Junior Team.

Due to his multinational background, Lučić had the option to play for two other countries—his mother is Finnish and his father Croatian. He is fluent in Croatian and also speaks some Finnish. He has a summer cottage in Lappeenranta, Finland, and is a fan of Lappeenranta-based first division football team Rakuunat and ice hockey team SaiPa.