[8] His family eventually had to leave as they did not possess necessary documentation to reside in Germany and settled in Karlovac, Croatia, 50 kilometres southwest of the capital city of Zagreb.

On 17 July 2006, Lovren was loaned to NK Inter Zaprešić for two seasons where he made 50 league appearances and scored one goal.

Following his return from loan Lovren regularly featured in Dinamo's starting XI, appearing in 38 matches throughout the 2008–09 season and scoring three goals.

[citation needed] Lovren's playing time increased during the 2010–11 season following the departure of two other defenders, Jean-Alain Boumsong and Mathieu Bodmer, in the summer of 2010.

During the season, he gradually established himself as a first team regular starter, playing as a centre-back alongside Cris as well as being used as a right or left full-back, demonstrating himself as a versatile defender.

[citation needed] On 14 June 2013, Lovren signed for Southampton on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee,[14] which was estimated at £8.5 million.

[18] He added a second league goal in a 2–2 away draw against Sunderland on 18 January 2014,[19] but was stretchered off late in the game and required hospital treatment after the match.

[24] On 27 July 2014, Lovren became the third Southampton player that transfer window to join Liverpool, after Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana.

He signed a four-year deal for a reported fee of £20 million, becoming the most expensive defender in Liverpool's history until Virgil van Dijk joined the club in 2018.

[25][26] On 10 August 2014 he made his debut in a friendly for Liverpool against Borussia Dortmund at Anfield, scoring the second goal in a 4–0 victory,[27] and made his competitive debut on 17 August in the club's opening game of the Premier League season, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–1 win over former club Southampton at Anfield.

[28] He scored his first official goal for Liverpool on 28 October, when he headed in the game-winner from a free-kick in a fourth round League Cup 2–1 victory over Swansea City.

[31] The Telegraph website included Lovren in a feature about the 2014–15 Premier League's 20 worst signings which remarked on the number of his errors that resulted in opposition goals.

[34] On 13 December, in a 2–2 draw against West Bromwich Albion, Lovren was stretchered off the pitch in the 79th minute due to injury and was replaced by Divock Origi.

[38] He had a rocky start to the 2017–18 season, being at fault for Harry Kane and Son Heung-min's early goals as Tottenham Hotspur defeated Liverpool 4–1 on 22 October 2017.

[41] After Virgil van Dijk's arrival on 1 January, he and Lovren built a steady partnership at the heart of Liverpool's defence.

[49] During the match against Manchester City on 3 January 2019, Lovren made a crucial error that lead to Sergio Agüero's opening goal.

[52] He subsequently lost his spot in the starting eleven playing only two full games for the remainder of the season, as Liverpool lost the Premier League by a single point behind eventual champions Manchester City[53] and won the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final against Tottenham Hotspur where he remained an unused substitute.

[67][68] On 27 July 2020, Lovren signed for Zenit Saint Petersburg on a three-year contract for €12 million after a six-year spell with Liverpool.

[76] On 8 November, Lovren captained Zenit for the first time in a match against Krasnodar, due to Artem Dzyuba being stripped off captaincy after an explicit video depicting him masturbating leaked and went viral.

[87] He received his first call-up to Croatia national team in August 2009 by manager Slaven Bilić, who included the player in his match squad against Belarus.

He was included by manager Slaven Bilić in the training camp prior to the UEFA Euro 2012 but was not selected for the final squad because of an injury.

[89] Lovren scored his second goal for Croatia on 26 March 2013 in a World Cup qualifying match against Wales at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea.

[92] In the opening match of the tournament, on 12 June against the hosts Brazil in São Paulo, Lovren was judged by the Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura to have fouled Fred in the 69th minute when the score was 1–1.

[95] Lovren's deteriorating relationship with manager Ante Čačić ultimately resulted in him being left out of Croatia's squad for the UEFA Euro 2016.

[99] On 11 September, Lovren missed Croatia's debut match in the inaugural edition of UEFA's new tournament Nations League, the team's 6–0 historical defeat to Spain, due to injury.

[104] On 11 January 2019, UEFA banned Lovren for one international match for disrespecting the Spain national team and their flag, and the deliberate elbowing of Ramos.

[118] On 29 December 2020, Lovren offered free temporary accommodation in the hotel for sixteen families who had lost their homes in the 2020 Petrinja earthquake.

[119] During 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, paparazzi leaked explicit photos of several Croatian internationals taking a "skinny dip" in the pool of a Brazilian hotel.

"[122][123]On 2 April 2022, following a statement from Disney that they would increase diversity and inclusion in their work, particularly LGBT content—Lovren took to Twitter to announce that he cancelled his Disney+ subscription, and called for a boycott of the company.