Boris Keca (born 5 April 1978) is a Bosnian-Herzegovinian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who spent several seasons at

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n football clubs, playing as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Keca was born in

Bihać Bihać is a city and the administrative centre of Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of river Una (Sava), Una in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, in th ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. He started playing in Romania with Naţional Bucharest, a club at the time popular for foreign players from Eastern-Europe (the likes of his fellow Bosnian

Slaviša Mitrović Slaviša Mitrović (Славиша Митровић; born July 5, 1977) is a retired Bosnian-Herzegovinian Serb football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ba ...

or Albanian Albert Duro) or Australians (

Michael Thwaite Michael Errol Thwaite (born 2 May 1983) is an Australian former professional soccer player. Education He has a Bachelor of Human Movement Science degree from CQUniversity Australia. Michael also is a certified AFC B-Licence coach. Club career ...

Ryan Griffiths Ryan Griffiths may refer to: * Ryan Griffiths (guitarist) (born 1978), Australian guitarist * Ryan Griffiths (soccer) (born 1981), Australian footballer {{Hndis, Griffiths, Ryan ...

Jonathan McKain Jonathan "Jon" McKain (born 21 September 1982) is a Scottish Australian football player who retired from professional football in 2016 after a long and successful career. He played in countries including Romania, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and ...

). With Naţional he could compete in the

2002–03 UEFA Cup The 2002–03 UEFA Cup was the 32nd edition of the UEFA Cup, the second-tier European club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played between Portuguese side Porto and Scottish side Celtic at the Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla, Sev ...

, where they would edge out teams like

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

and

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

before eventually being eliminated by

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

in the Second Round. He made his debut in

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

on 19 November 1999 against Universitatea Craiova.Boris Keca
at RomanianSoccer.ro He then transferred in 2003 to Braşov, from where he was brought to Steaua Bucharest in January 2005, by his former Naţional coach

Walter Zenga Walter Zenga (; born 28 April 1960) is an Italian professional football manager and former player, currently club manager at Serie C club Siracusa. He is regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and one of Italy's best ...

, ahead of their

2004–05 UEFA Cup The 2004–05 UEFA Cup was the 34th edition of the UEFA Cup. The format of the competition had changed from previous seasons, replacing that from the previous one after the abolition of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1999; an extra qualifying round was ...

matches, where they managed to reach the Round of 16 after surpassing

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. He was being dropped out of the team after the defeat in the 2005 Romanian Supercup match. Subsequently, he spent the 2004–2005 season at

Pandurii Târgu Jiu The uprising of 1821 was a social and political rebellion in Wallachia, which was at the time a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. It originated as a movement against the Phanariote administration, with backing from the more conservative b ...

, where they succeeded finishing in the last non-relegating spot in a season after which the first league would change from 16 to 18 teams. The following season, he was brought to Argeş Piteşti by another Italian manager

Giuseppe Giannini Giuseppe Giannini (; born 20 August 1964) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent the majority of his 15-year playing career with A.S. Roma, and was regarded by supporters as a club symbol, before his ...

. The club would get relegated at the end of the season finishing 17th, with Giannini being sacked after nine consecutive defeats. Towards the end of his playing career he signed with the second league side

Concordia Chiajna Clubul Sportiv Concordia Chiajna, commonly known as Concordia Chiajna, is a Romanian professional Association football, football football team, club based in Chiajna, Ilfov County, which competes in the Liga II. Founded in 1957, the team's best ...

and the following season with the fourth division team of outer Bucharest, Voinţa Domneşti.Liga2: Pomul lăudat de la Domneşti
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Honours

Runner-Up: * Naţional București **

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

: 2002–03 * Steaua București ** Romanian Supercup:

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keca, Boris 1978 births Living people Footballers from Bihać Men's association football midfielders Bosnia and Herzegovina men's footballers 21st-century Bosnia and Herzegovina sportsmen FC Progresul București players FC Brașov (1936) players FCSB players CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu players FC Argeș Pitești players CS Concordia Chiajna players Liga I players Liga II players Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Romania Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina