Neven Subotić (Serbian Cyrillic: Heвeн Cубoтић, pronounced [něʋen sǔbotitɕ]; born 10 December 1988) is a former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

After leaving Dortmund in 2017, he had a series of spells at clubs in Germany, France, and Turkey, before signing for SC Rheindorf Altach in January 2021.

Born to Bosnian Serb parents, Subotić lived in Germany and the United States during his youth and played for the latter nation at under-17 and under-20 levels.

Born in Banja Luka, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina), to Bosnian Serb[2] parents, father Željko from the village of Kulaši [sr] and mother Svjetlana from Brestovo, Subotić spent his early childhood in Prnjavor.

In 1994, with the Bosnian War raging, the rest of the family including five-year-old Neven, his sister and their mother joined their father in Germany, settling in Schömberg.

[3] In the late 1990s, the Subotić family's residence authorisation in Germany expired, and in order to avoid being deported back to Bosnia,[4] they opted to move to the United States in 1999.

In December 2008, he was named in the ideal XI team of the first part of the 2008–09 Bundesliga season, alongside such defensive stars as Lúcio and Philipp Lahm.

[6] In addition to confident and effective defensive displays far beyond his years, Subotić was also a factor on the offensive end, scoring six league goals throughout the season.

What would prove to be his last one took place in November 2006 in a friendly after which head coach Thomas Rongen criticised Subotić, who had signed for Mainz several months earlier, for "not accelerating over there to the point where we feel he belongs on the [U.S.] team.

[23][24] During September 2008, when the issue of his national team eligibility first started getting wider coverage in the football media, playing for Croatia or even Germany[25] were mentioned as possibilities as well.

Bosnia and Herzegovina fell out of the running early as Subotić publicly rejected overtures by the country's football officials and head coach Miroslav Blažević.

Citing sources close to Subotić's family, many reports in the Serbian press appeared about his decision to play for Serbia already being made, but waiting for the right moment to state it publicly since he had until 10 December 2009 (his 21st birthday) to declare his choice.

[6][28] Then in late December 2008, Subotić notified the US Soccer Federation about his decision, the first official step in the process of changing national team attachment.

[30] After starting against Sweden in a friendly, Subotić's first competitive start took place against Austria on 6 June just after the end of the club season, partnering Nemanja Vidić in central defence (if only for one half, since Vidić got injured and replaced by Antonio Rukavina) — the contest in which Serbia displayed a very lethargic overall team effort and was lucky to win 1–0 after numerous defensive breakdowns.

For the next qualifying match, at the end of summer against France, Serbia's chance to seal qualification by winning at home, Subotić got benched and did not enter the contest at all, as Antić preferred Aleksandar Luković to partner Vidić on this occasion.

In the last meaningless qualifier against Lithuania, Subotić played the full 90 minutes in a free role on the wing as Antić looked to experiment and try different setups without any fear of dropping points.

[31] At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Subotić was left out of the starting line-up for the opening group stage match against Ghana, with Nemanja Vidić and Aleksandar Luković the preferred choices for central defensive spots by coach Antić.

During the second half of the Ghana match, however, Luković received a red card and was sent off, forcing Antić to bring Subotić into the game for the remaining 14 minutes.

Subotić returned to the starting line-up for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers that began under beleaguered head coach Antić, who was serving a four-match touchline ban as a result of the verbal altercation with the Uruguayan referee at the World Cup.

Subotić's somewhat inconsistent form continued as he established a strong presence in central defence with Vidić, but also the duo's hesitant reaction to Milivoje Novaković's run off the ball led to the Slovenian go-ahead goal.

Petrović gave Subotić a starting assignment for the next qualifier away at Italy in October 2010, but the infamous contest in Genoa got interrupted after six minutes due to rioting by the travelling Serbian hooligans, which resulted in an automatic 3–0 loss for Serbia.

However, partnering Milan Biševac in central defence (on instead of injured Vidić), Subotić again had a shaky performance as the duo failed to properly deal with Chris Brunt's set-piece cross that led to Gareth McAuley's headed goal.

Once the 2014 World Cup qualifying cycle began in September 2012, Subotić was benched for the opening match away at Scotland as the duo of Biševac and 19-year-old Matija Nastasić got the nod in central defence.

The following qualifier was a big test at home versus group favourites Belgium, and it still brought no change in Subotić's status, as Mihajlović continued with Nastasić and Biševac as his preferred central defenders.

Now Biševac picked up a second yellow card of the qualifying, and Neven will start the next match in March versus Croatia, if he shows commitment in training, of course.