Talented Australian Croatian goalkeeper Anthony Pavlešić has decided to choose Croatia over Australia for future international football.
According to a news report by the Croatian online sports channel Tportal, current Croatia U21s coach Ivica Olić had a significant role to play in the Sydney born Pavlešić making the decision to swap the green and gold for the red and white ‘kockice’ (checkers).
“He’s very talented, and we need quality young goalkeepers,” Olić told Croatian media.
“I’m glad he chose Croatia. I hope everything gets sorted in time so he can join us in June with the U-21 team,” added Olić.
“The experts I’ve spoken to believe he’ll become a proper Bundesliga goalkeeper.”
Starting off at Sydney United
Pavlešić started playing football at Sydney United, then moved to the Western Sydney Wanderers’ Academy setup, before moving to Gosford and joining the Central Coast Mariners’ Academy in 2022.
He made the jump from the Mariners’ Academy to the dizzying heights of German football the following year when he signed for Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.
Pavlešić’s older brother, Adam, is currently the first choice goalkeeper for the Mariners’ senior team in the Australian A League.
Currently playing for Bayern’s U19s team, the 190cm Sydney born goalkeeper had already made one appearance for the Young Socceroos (U23s) in 2025.
Keeping the Croatian traditions alive
Speaking to Tportal, his father Steven recalled how he had bought young Anthony his first soccer top at the age of three years of age and it happened to be a Croatian strip.
“I never bought him an Aussie top, instead we always kept our Croatian traditions alive. We regularly go to church and we always watch the ‘Vatreni’,” admitted Pavlešić Senior.
“Last year my older son Adam and I were at the Euro Championships, watching Croatia, but Anthony could not go because of his commitments with Bayern,” he added.
“We’re expecting Bayern to loan him out to another club, next season, in order for him to start playing senior football. There are 2-3 options at play, at the moment.
“After that, we’d expect he would be in a position to return to Bayern,” concluded Steven Pavlešić in the Tportal article.