Pavao Pervan

Signed by VfL Wolfsburg in the summer of 2018 for around €500,000, he spent his early seasons at the club as backup, and it was only when first-choice goalkeeper Koen Casteels was injured that Pervan got his run — starting 13 consecutive Bundesliga matches in the 2019–20 season, a Wolfsburg club record. Goalkeeping coach Pascal Formann praised his performances during that stretch, and the sustained playing time proved decisive.

Before Wolfsburg, Pervan's rise had been a slow, provincial one. Born in Livno, he started out in Austrian regional football with SC Gaswerk/SV Gaswerk and SV Schwechat before joining FC Lustenau 07 in 2007. His breakthrough club was LASK Linz, where he arrived on a free transfer in 2010 and stayed for eight years, eventually as captain, making over 170 appearances. He won the Austrian Regionalliga Central three times with the reserve side and lifted the Austrian Second League title with the first team in 2011–12, a promotion campaign in which he was also named the division's Goalkeeper of the Season.

His Austria career, when it came, was brief but not without moments: he debuted against Latvia in a Euro 2020 qualifier in November 2019, and went on to earn caps in Nations League fixtures against Romania, Northern Ireland and Norway, keeping clean sheets against Luxembourg, Romania and Northern Ireland. A COVID-19 infection in December 2020 forced him into quarantine, and a finger injury in April 2023 required hospital treatment.