| 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 | 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 | 48 | (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 as of 18:43, 27 October 2025 (UTC) | |||
Nikola Hrvatsko Tavares (born 17 January 1999) is a professional footballer who plays as a central defender for EFL League Two club Barnet. Born in South Africa, he is a former youth international for Croatia.
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.
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]
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]
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]
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]
On 17 May 2024, Tavares signed a two-year contract with National League club Barnet. [25] He made 39 appearances and scored one goal during the National League championship-winning 2024–25 season. [13] [26]
Tavares won six caps for Croatia between U18 and U20 level. [27] 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. [28] He was named as "passport pending player" for South Africa's 2019 Africa Cup of Nations squad, [29] but was not named in the final selection. [30] In February 2020, Tavares was named in South Africa's preliminary squad for the 2020 Olympic Games. [31]
Tavares was born in Cape Town, South Africa to a Portuguese father and a Croatian mother. [8] [32] His brother Marco is also a footballer. [8] [33]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | EFL Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Crystal Palace | 2018–19 [34] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ― | 0 | 0 | |
| 2019–20 [35] | 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 [36] | National League | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ― | 3 [a] | 0 | 34 | 0 | ||
| Total | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ― | 3 | 0 | 40 | 0 | |||
| Barnet | 2024–25 [13] | National League | 38 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ― | 0 | 0 | 39 | 1 | |
| 2025–26 [37] | League Two | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 [b] | 0 | 11 | 0 | |
| Total | 48 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 50 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 112 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 118 | 2 | ||
Barnet