Having the honor of wearing Croatia’s famous red-and-white checks is not to be taken lightly, and Ivan Rakitić may be considered a pioneer for this generation of footballers after choosing to play for Croatia over his birth country of Switzerland.
Today, the diaspora is once again reshaping the ranks of the Croatia national football team. Recall, Josip Stanišić from Bayern and Luka Sučić from Salzburg have already made their debut for the A-team. In the younger categories, there are more and more players who were born outside Croatia but decided to play for their beloved Vatreni, reports Gol.hr.
Franjo Ivanović from Augsburg and Gabrijel Vidović from Bayern have been mentioned for a long time as young members of the Croatia national team, and the U19 coach Josip Šimunić has invited two new names.
Jakov Šuver, stopper of Stuttgart’s second team, and Noah Phil Pesch from Bayer Leverkusen will soon debut for the Croatia U19 team!
Pesch’s story is exciting. He may not have a Croatian name and surname, but Croatia is very much in his heart.
He is only 16 years old, born to a German father, while his mother comes from the vicinity of Zadar. Noah Phil has already played for the national teams of Germany. Still, his love for Croatia was decisive, and his grandfather on his mother’s side, whom Noah adores, also played a significant role.
Noah has a year older brother Leon, who has already played for the younger Croatia national teams.
Noah Phil went through preparations with Bayer Leverkusen last summer at just 16 years old and got a chance in a few friendly matches. He is currently playing for the juniors and could soon enter the first team.
To learn more about sport in Croatia, CLICK HERE.
