Dejan Lovren was born on July 5, 1989 in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina and grew up in Croatia. At the age of 14 he joined Dinamo Zagreb’s youth academy and on 10 May 2006 he made his professional debut in a match against Varazdin. In 2006 he went on loan to Inter Zapresic to get some games under his belt, before returning to Dinamo in June 2008 where he stayed until the summer of 2010. In those two years he won two league titles, one cup and recorded 57 appearances, three goals and one assist

So at the age of 21 came the first big transfer for the Croatian defender. Lyon spent €9,000,000 to make him theirs. He made 102 appearances, scored three goals, provided three assists and won the French Cup in the 2011-12 season with the French club.

After three years, in July 2013, Lovren moved to Southampton, where he stayed for a year and recorded 31 appearances, two goals and one assist.

The Croatian defender caught the eye with his displays at Southampton and prompted Liverpool to fork out €25,000,000 from their coffers to take him to Anfield. Liverpool became the Croatian’s… port of call for six consecutive years, making 185 appearances, scoring eight goals and providing four assists. With Liverpool he won the Champions League in 2019, the UEFA Super Cup in the same year and of course the Premier League in the 2019-20 season, being a key member of that team.

In 2020, Lovren moved to Zenit St. Petersburg, where he played 63 times, scoring three goals and contributing three assists. He stayed in Russia for three years and won three league championships and cups before returning to Lyon in 2023 where he played in 11 games.

At international level, Lovren is one of the top players in the history of the Croatian national team, having collected over 75 caps, while he was also a key member of the team that reached the final of the World Cup in 2018, and he has played in a total of three World Cups and one Euro.