Vedran Ćorluka

Early days

Ćorluka was born in Derventa, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia. His parents, Jozo and Anđa, come from Modran, a village near Derventa. He has an older brother Hrvoje. Due to the Bosnian War, in 1992 the family moved to Zagreb, where his father still works as an engineer in addition to being Ćorluka's manager. His mother is a judge. Vedran has one brother. Ćorluka began playing football in Dinamo Zagreb's youth teams when he was eight years old, impressing many scouts from the youth academy. His professional career began in 2003, but during that season he made no appearance for the first team. He was sent on a one-year loan to Inter Zaprešić, helping the team place second in the league, before returning to Dinamo in 2005. After establishing himself as a key player for Dinamo, he helped the club win the Croatian First League title three seasons in a row from 2005–06. He also played a dominant part in his side capturing the Croatian Cup in the 2006 season.

Manchester City

After consistently strong performances, Ćorluka was signed by English Premier League side Manchester City on 2 August 2007. City did not reveal the fee, though Croatian media reports suggested the deal was worth around £8 million, with the 21-year-old penning a five-year deal. As usual, Ćorluka consistently found a starting spot for his side in the Premier League. Despite a nightmare blunder during his side's shocking 6–0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, he remained…

He started to play for the Croatia under-21 team and eventually progressed to his country's national team, for which he soon made his debut in the friendly match against world champions Italy on 16 August 2006 in Livorno. Croatia won the match 2–0 and Ćorluka, aged 20 during his debut, entered the game in the second half and satisfied critics with his very good, solid performance against experienced Serie A forwards. During Croatia's UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, he became one of the key players under head coach Slaven Bilić. Croatia finished first in Group E, notably ahead of Russia and favourites England, who eventually failed to qualify from the group. Ćorluka was in the final match of the tournament where Croatia's exit came against Turkey in extra time and penalties. Turkey winger Arda Turan revealed in an interview with UEFA that Ćorluka is the most difficult right-back he has ever played against, whom he came up against during this match. The defender was included for the preliminary squad for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine after impressive performances in his loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen. Ćorluka was included in Croatia's squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. On 21 June, he came on as an added-time substitute for Mario Mandžukić in a 3–0 group stage win over Argentina at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, earning his 100th cap. On 10 August 2018, Ćorluka retired from international football, confirming his retirement via social media.

On 17 May 2021, Ćorluka was officially presented as Zlatko Dalić's assistant for the upcoming UEFA Euro 2020, succeeding Ivica Olić. At the press conference, Ćorluka expressed his wish to enroll in a coaching academy after the tournament. On 6 July 2021, he returned to Lokomotiv Moscow, also as an assistant coach, while still remaining the assistant coach of Croatia. On 19 July, he left Lokomotiv due to family reasons.

Ćorluka married his long-time girlfriend, Croatian singer Franka Batelić on 21 July 2018. On 5 January 2020, Ćorluka and Batelić became parents of a baby boy they named Viktor.