Nikola Tavares

Nikola Tavares

Personal information
Full name	Nikola Hrvatsko Tavares [1]
Date of birth	(1999-01-17) 17 January 1999 (age 25)
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
0000–2013	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	15	(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 19:49, 16 December 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

As of match played 14 December 2024

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

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 [35]	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	15	1	1	0	―		0	0	16	1
Career total			79	2	2	0	0	0	3	0	84	2

1. 1 appearances in Essex Senior Cup, 1 appearance in FA Trophy

References

1. "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.
2. Nikola Tavares at WorldFootball.net
3. "The journey: Nikola Tavares". FarPost. 9 April 2020. Archived from the original on 17 June 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
4. "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.
5. "Kirby and Tavares Sign Development Deals". Crystal Palace FC. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
6. "Milk Cup: Brentford U15s 4 Southampton U15s 0". Brentford FC. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
7. "Brentford offer 12 Academy scholarships for 2015/16" . Retrieved 4 July 2017.
8. "South African-born youngster joins Crystal Palace". Goal.com. 11 February 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
9. "Nikola Tavares – Defender – Under-23 Team". Crystal Palace FC. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
10. "U23s' Nikola Tavares On Returning From Injury With Scott Dann". Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
11. "Nikola Tavares Has Signed A New Contract With Crystal Palace". www.soccerladuma.co.za. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
12. "Nikola Tavares – We Improved A Lot This Game". www.cpfc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
13. Nikola Tavares at Soccerway. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
14. "Pair of Palace Development players sign new contracts". www.cpfc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
15. 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.
16. Woods, Chris (29 March 2021). "Stones sign Tavares". Wealdstone FC. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
17. "Triple signing at the Stones". Wealdstone FC. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
18. Wealdstone F.C. at the Football Club History Database
19. Woods, Chris (20 June 2022). "Player News | Tavares departs Stones". Wealdstone FC. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
20. "Nikola Tavares Signs For Daggers!". Dagenham & Redbridge FC. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
21. "Confident Dagenham & Redbridge aware of Woking strengths says McMahon". East London Advertiser. 6 January 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
22. "Tavares: There is just a good spirit, and everyone gets along really well". Dagenham & Redbridge FC. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
23. Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. at the Football Club History Database
24. "Retained List 2024". Dagenham & Redbridge FC. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
25. "Nik Tavares is a Bee". Barnet Football Club. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
26. "Nikola Tavares". Hrvatski nogometni savez (in Croatian). Retrieved 4 July 2017.
27. Mothowagae, Daniel (19 March 2019). "Life goes on as usual for Notoane's team despite Tavares' passport glitch". CityPress. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
28. "Bafana Bafana squads for Afcon 2019 and Cosafa tournaments announced". Goal.com. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
29. "Baxter names final 23-man squad". SAFA. 9 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
30. "Bafana stars included in preliminary U23 squad for Tokyo Olympics". Sport. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
31. "Hrvatski reprezentativac U-18 potpisao za Crystal Palace!". Germanijak. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
32. "Marco Tavares | Soccer Scholarships". ASM Scholarships. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
33. "Games played by Nikola Tavares in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
34. "Games played by Nikola Tavares in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
35. "Nikola Tavares | Player Profile". Aylesbury United Archive. Retrieved 16 December 2024.

External links

• Nikola Tavares at Soccerbase
• Nikola Tavares at the Croatian Football Federation
• Nikola Tavares at barnetfc.com