Look, here's a cracker of a story for you. Ante Suto was born in Imotski, Croatia, grew up kicking a ball around the Dalmatian streets, spent his entire career in Croatian football, and now he's about to set foot in Australia for the very first time. Not as a tourist, not as a backpacker working out where to eat in Melbourne. As a Socceroo.
Popovic revealed: "He was at Slaven Belupo in Croatia... I was watching him there because I knew about his father being born in Australia." Suto explained his family background, saying "My father is from Australia. He was born there and lived there for 20-something years. Then he came back to Croatia, met my mum and stayed there. He's from Melbourne."
That Melbourne connection is everything. Suto holds dual Croatian and Australian citizenship through his Melbourne-born father. His extended family still lives here. For Ante, born and raised in Croatia but always keenly aware of his Australian roots, the chance to travel Down Under for the very first time is the kind of moment that doesn't come around too often in sport.
The timing? Impeccable. Suto signed for Scottish Premiership club Hibernian on a two and a half year deal in the midst of the 2025-26 season. Following his debut goal for Hibernian on 4 February 2026, a possible selection for the Australia national team was suggested by media outlets in Australia. That wasn't mere speculation. Ante Suto earned his first call-up to the CommBank Socceroos after starting his time at Scottish Premier League side Hibernian with a bang. The 25-year-old has played the majority of his club career in Croatia before making the move to Scotland this year.
What impressed Tony Popovic was everything. Once the versatile forward made the switch to Easter Road, Popovic sent assistant coach and all-around Socceroos legend Mile Jedinak to touch base with the international wannabe. Jedinak shared a meal with Suto before he went on to score one of his Hibs goals in a 2-0 home win over St Mirren.
The beauty of this story is how it speaks to Australian football's diversity. The "golden generation" of Croatian-Australian talent came through in the 2006 World Cup, where seven Australians of Croatian background were selected for the Socceroos. An official statistician noted "It's difficult to find an ancestry with a bigger impact on an Australian squad than the Croats and that talented 2006 team." Players like Mark Viduka, Tony Popovic, Zeljko Kalac, and Mark Bresciano carried that heritage.
Suto arrives in a different era, but the thread connecting him to that tradition feels real. When asked if he was thinking about an international call-up, Suto said "I was thinking about it, because in Croatia I had a good season also", before his move to Scotland accelerated everything.
His father, Anthony Suto, who lived in Melbourne until moving to Croatia in his 20s, was confirmed in the Socceroos squad for the upcoming FIFA Series against Cameroon and Curacao. Anthony dragged himself up for a 3 am (local time) press conference live from Sydney to see his boy's name confirmed. Fair dinkum, that's the kind of moment a father doesn't forget.
At the end of the day, Suto arrives on home soil because injuries have opened a door. Opportunity presented itself with many of Australia's preferred attacking choices falling victim to injury, with Mohammed Touré picking up a groin injury playing for Norwich, Kusini Yengi out for several months with a thigh injury and Brisbane Roar's Nick D'Agostino injuring his knee. The Socceroos will face Cameroon and Curaçao in the FIFA Series 2026 during the March international window. They are the Socceroos' final home matches before the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Whether Suto makes the final squad for the World Cup is another question. But this much is certain: he's coming home to a place he's never been, to wear the colours of a country his old man always wanted him to represent. That's the kind of story that makes you fall in love with football.