Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Nikola Hrvatsko Tavares[1] | ||
Date of birth | 17 January 1999 | ||
Place of birth | Cape Town, South Africa[2] | ||
Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[2] | ||
Position(s) | Central defender | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Barnet | ||
Number | 25 | ||
Youth career | |||
Table View | |||
AOB | |||
Old Mutual Academy | |||
–2013 | Hellenic | ||
2013–2016 | Brentford | ||
2016–2019 | Crystal Palace | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2019–2021 | Crystal Palace | 0 | (0) |
2021–2022 | Wealdstone | 27 | (1) |
2022–2024 | Dagenham & Redbridge | 37 | (0) |
2024– | Barnet | 9 | (1) |
International career | |||
2017 | Croatia U18 | 2 | (0) |
2017 | Croatia U19 | 1 | (0) |
2018–2019 | Croatia U20 | 3 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 11:28, 18 October 2024 (UTC) |
Nikola Hrvatsko Tavares (born 17 January 1999) is a professional footballer who plays as a central defender for National League club Barnet.
Tavares is a product of the Crystal Palace and Brentford academies and began his senior career in non-League football with National League clubs Wealdstone and Dagenham & Redbridge. He transferred to Barnet in 2024. Born in South Africa, Tavares was capped by Croatia at youth level.
Club career
Youth years
A central defender, Tavares began his career in youth football in Cape Town,[3][4] before moving into the academy at English club Brentford.[5] He was a part of the U15 team which won the Junior Globe at the 2014 Milk Cup and he progressed to sign a scholarship deal in 2015.[6][7] The Brentford academy was closed at the end of the 2015–16 season and Tavares trialled unsuccessfully with the U18 teams at Middlesbrough, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brighton & Hove Albion during the early months of the 2016–17 season.[8] His Brentford registration was cancelled in February 2017.[1]
Crystal Palace
Tavares joined the academy at Premier League club Crystal Palace in late 2016 and by February 2017 he had progressed to sign a professional contract to be a part of the Eagles' U23 team.[5] In what remained of the 2016–17 season, he made 19 U23 and U18 appearances.[9] Despite suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury,[10] he signed a new contract at the end of the 2017–18 season.[11] He progressed to captain the U23 team during the 2018–19 season and was an unused substitute during the first team's final match of the campaign.[12][13] Tavares signed a new one-year contract in July 2019 and was an unused substitute on four occasions during the 2019–20 season,[13][14] before suffering a quadriceps injury late in the campaign.[15] Entering the 2020–21 season injured and out of contract, Tavares signed one-month rolling contracts in order to remain at Selhurst Park during his rehabilitation.[15] He was released in early 2021.[15]
Wealdstone
On 29 March 2021, Tavares joined National League club Wealdstone on a contract running until the end of the 2020–21 season.[15][16] He made his debut in a league match versus Solihull Moors the following day and suffered a season-ending thigh injury 62 minutes into the 3–0 defeat.[13][15] Tavares signed a new contract in July 2021 and made 27 appearances,[17] scoring one goal,[13] during a mid-table 2021–22 season.[18] He turned down a new contract and departed Grosvenor Vale in June 2022.[19]
Dagenham & Redbridge
On 10 June 2022, Tavares signed a two-year contract with National League club Dagenham & Redbridge for a compensation fee.[20] The transfer made him a full-time player.[19] After making six appearances during the opening month of the 2022–23 season,[13] Tavares suffered a season-ending injury.[21] He entered the 2023–24 season fit and ended a mid-table campaign with 32 appearances.[13][22][23] In May 2024, the club entered discussions with Tavares over a new contract,[24] but he elected to transfer away later that month.[25] During two seasons at Victoria Road, Tavares made 38 appearances.[13]
Barnet
On 17 May 2024, Tavares signed a two-year contract with National League club Barnet.[25]
International career
Tavares won six caps for Croatia between U18 and U20 level.[26] Passport issues prevented Tavares from being included in the South Africa U23 squad for two 2019 Africa U23 Cup of Nations qualifiers versus Angola in March 2019.[27] He was named as "passport pending player" for South Africa's 2019 Africa Cup of Nations squad,[28] but was not named in the final selection.[29] In February 2020, Tavares was named in South Africa's preliminary squad for the 2020 Olympic Games.[30]
Personal life
Tavares was born in South Africa to a Portuguese father and a Croatian mother.[8][31] His brother Marco is also a footballer.[8][32]
Career statistics
Club | Season | League | FA Cup | EFL Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Crystal Palace | 2018–19[33] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ― | 0 | 0 | |
2019–20[34] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ― | 0 | 0 | ||
Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ― | 0 | 0 | |||
Wealdstone | 2020–21[13] | National League | 1 | 0 | ― | ― | ― | 1 | 0 | |||
2021–22[13] | National League | 26 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ― | 0 | 0 | 27 | 1 | ||
Total | 27 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ― | 0 | 0 | 28 | 1 | |||
Dagenham & Redbridge | 2022–23[13] | National League | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ― | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
2023–24[13] | National League | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ― | 1[a] | 0 | 32 | 0 | ||
Total | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ― | 1 | 0 | 38 | 0 | |||
Barnet | 2024–25[13] | National League | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ― | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | |
Career total | 73 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 76 | 2 |
References
- ^ a b "List of Players under Written Contract Whose Registrations have been Cancelled by Mutual Consent Between 01/02/2017 and 28/02/2017". The Football Association. p. 8. Archived from the original on 24 October 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
- ^ a b Nikola Tavares at WorldFootball.net
- ^ "The journey: Nikola Tavares". FarPost. 9 April 2020. Archived from the original on 17 June 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
- ^ "Ready to roll with the Stones – Getting to know Wealdstone's Nikola Tavares". Non League Daily. 30 July 2021. Archived from the original on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ a b "Kirby and Tavares Sign Development Deals". Crystal Palace FC. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ "Milk Cup: Brentford U15s 4 Southampton U15s 0". Brentford FC. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ "Brentford offer 12 Academy scholarships for 2015/16". Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ a b c "South African-born youngster joins Crystal Palace". Goal.com. 11 February 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ "Nikola Tavares – Defender – Under-23 Team". Crystal Palace FC. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
- ^ "U23s' Nikola Tavares On Returning From Injury With Scott Dann". Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
- ^ "Nikola Tavares Has Signed A New Contract With Crystal Palace". www.soccerladuma.co.za. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
- ^ "Nikola Tavares – We Improved A Lot This Game". www.cpfc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Nikola Tavares at Soccerway. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
- ^ "Pair of Palace Development players sign new contracts". www.cpfc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
- ^ a b c d e Fifield, Dominic. "Nikola Tavares on 'special' Anfield experience, release from Palace and struggles of finding a new club in a pandemic". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
- ^ Woods, Chris (29 March 2021). "Stones sign Tavares". Wealdstone FC. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
- ^ "Triple signing at the Stones". Wealdstone FC. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ Wealdstone F.C. at the Football Club History Database
- ^ a b Woods, Chris (20 June 2022). "Player News | Tavares departs Stones". Wealdstone FC. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
- ^ "Nikola Tavares Signs For Daggers!". Dagenham & Redbridge FC. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
- ^ "Confident Dagenham & Redbridge aware of Woking strengths says McMahon". East London Advertiser. 6 January 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- ^ "Tavares: There is just a good spirit, and everyone gets along really well". Dagenham & Redbridge FC. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
- ^ Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. at the Football Club History Database
- ^ "Retained List 2024". Dagenham & Redbridge FC. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
- ^ a b "Nik Tavares is a Bee". Barnet Football Club. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
- ^ "Nikola Tavares". Hrvatski nogometni savez (in Croatian). Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ Mothowagae, Daniel (19 March 2019). "Life goes on as usual for Notoane's team despite Tavares' passport glitch". CityPress. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
- ^ "Bafana Bafana squads for Afcon 2019 and Cosafa tournaments announced". Goal.com. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
- ^ "Baxter names final 23-man squad". SAFA. 9 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
- ^ "Bafana stars included in preliminary U23 squad for Tokyo Olympics". Sport. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
- ^ "Hrvatski reprezentativac U-18 potpisao za Crystal Palace!". Germanijak. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ "Marco Tavares | Soccer Scholarships". ASM Scholarships. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
- ^ "Games played by Nikola Tavares in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
- ^ "Games played by Nikola Tavares in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
External links
- Nikola Tavares at Soccerbase
- Nikola Tavares at the Croatian Football Federation
- Nikola Tavares at barnetfc.com
- 1999 births
- Living people
- Crystal Palace F.C. players
- Men's association football central defenders
- South African men's soccer players
- South African people of Portuguese descent
- Sportspeople of Portuguese descent
- South African people of Croatian descent
- Croatia men's youth international footballers
- South African expatriate sportspeople in England
- Soccer players from Cape Town
- National League (English football) players
- Wealdstone F.C. players
- Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players
- Barnet F.C. players
- Croatian people of Portuguese descent
- Croatian expatriate sportspeople in England
- South African expatriate men's soccer players
- Expatriate men's footballers in England
- Croatian expatriate men's footballers
- White South African people
- Croatian football biography stubs
- South African soccer biography stubs