Domagoj Vida (; born 29 April 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Super League Greece club AEK Athens and the Croatia national team. He is capable of playing in any defensive position but is mostly deployed as a centre-back.
Vida was the first Croatian footballer to win a league title in four different European football leagues (with Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia, Dynamo Kyiv in Ukraine, Beşiktaş in Turkey and AEK Athens in Greece).
Club career
Youth career
Vida has spent his entire youth career in Croatia, rising through the Osijek youth system and being first featured with the senior team in the 2006–07 season, at the age of 17; he then went on to make 12 appearances in the season. In the 2007–08 season, Vida further solidified his credentials, being featured more regularly for his club. He was linked with Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb.
Bayer Leverkusen
On 29 April 2010, Vida signed for German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen. He spent just one season with the club, making a total of eight appearances in the UEFA Europa League. He did not make his Bundesliga debut until 5 March 2011, when he came on as a substitute for the injured Manuel Friedrich in the 14th minute of a 3–0 win at home to VfL Wolfsburg. It turned out to be his only appearance in the league.
Dinamo Zagreb
On 14 June 2011, it was announced that Vida would join Dinamo Zagreb for an undisclosed fee. In December 2011, Dinamo Zagreb lost 7–1 against Lyon in the Champions League group stage which allowed the French club to progress to the last 16 of the Champions League at the expense of Ajax, who lost 3–0 against Real Madrid. Following media coverage alleging match-fixing which also showed clips of Vida winking after Lyon's fifth goal, UEFA decided not to take action.
On 25 July 2012, Vida scored a 98th–minute goal against Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad in a UEFA Champions League match and thus helped his team to a 3–2 home win, which enabled it to progress to the competition's next round. On 24 September 2012, he was thrown out of the first team and the team bus after he opened up a beer while the team were on their way to a cup match. He also had several altercations with Dinamo head coach Ante Čačić prior to this incident. The next day, it was announced that he would be fined a record €100,000.
Dynamo Kyiv
On 2 January 2013, it was announced that Vida had signed for Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv on a five–year deal, for a reported transfer fee of €6 million. On 14 February, he made his debut for Dynamo in a home Europa League match against Bordeaux, which ended 1–1. A week later, he played in the tie's second leg and was unable to help Dynamo get to the round of 16, losing 0–1. In both games, Dynamo head coach Oleh Blokhin used him as a right–back.
On 3 March, Vida played his first game in the Ukrainian Premier League, against Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih. The home 1–1 draw was disappointing for Dynamo, as it made much more difficult for them to get second place and qualify for the Champions League against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and Metalist Kharkiv. On 10 March, Vida played his second league match for Dynamo, against Volyn Lutsk; it ended 2–0 and was Dynamo's first victory in 2013. That match was notable because Oleh Blokhin used Vida for the first time as a central defender, partnered with Yevhen Khacheridi, as the first three games for Dynamo he played as a right defender. On 17 March, Vida scored his first goal for Dynamo early in the game against Vorskla Poltava after a corner kick taken by Andriy Yarmolenko, by an excellent header, having forestalled Pavlo Rebenok and goalkeeper Serhiy Dolhanskyi. That goal gave Dynamo a 1–0 win.
On 17 May 2015, Vida scored the winning goal against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk to clinch Dynamo Kyiv their first Ukrainian Premier League title in six years.
Beşiktaş
On 3 January 2018, Vida moved to Beşiktaş, signing a four-and-a-half-year contract. Vida made his Beşiktaş debut on 21 February 2018, in a 2–1 away win over Antalyaspor. Vida was sent off 16 minutes into his club's UEFA Champions League round of 16 match against Bayern Munich after he fouled Robert Lewandowski. Beşiktaş went on to lose the match 5–0.
AEK Athens
On 31 July 2022, Vida signed for Greek club AEK Athens. On 20 August 2022, he made his debut in a 3–0 away win over Lamia. On 22 January he scored his first goal in a 2–1 win over Ionikos. Vida scored a last minute header in a 2–2 draw, in a 4–3 aggregate win over Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Champions League play-offs scoring past his Croatian national teammate Dominik Livaković.