Bojan Djordjic ( or Bojan Đorđić; born 6 February 1982) is a Swedish former professional

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, rugb ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Starting off his career with IF Brommapojkarna in the late 1990s, he is best remembered for his time with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, with which he was named the 1999–2000 Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year, and AIK, with which he won the 2009 Allsvenskan and

2009 Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen 2009 was the 54th season of the main Swedish football Cup. AIK beat IFK Göteborg in the final 2-0 to lift the cup, thereby completing a league and cup double for the 2009 season. The competition started on 14 March 2009 and conclud ...

. He represented clubs in Sweden, England, Denmark, Serbia, Scotland, Hungary, and Belgium before finishing up his career with Chennaiyin in the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federa ...

in 2015. A youth international for

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

between 1998 and 2003, he represented the Sweden U17, U19, and U21 a combined total of 44 times and scored 3 goals.

Club career

Early career and Manchester United

Born in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

, to Serbian professional footballer

Ranko Đorđić Ranko Đorđić (Serbian Cyrillic: Paнкo Ђopђић; born 1 January 1957) is a Bosnian-Herzegovinian football manager and former player. Club career After playing several years in Yugoslav First League clubs FK Željezničar Sarajevo and NK � ...

, Djordjic started his career at IF Brommapojkarna before moving to

in 1999 as a youth player. Although considered a budding talent, having been awarded the club's Jimmy Murphy Player of the Year Award at the age of 18, he only made two competitive appearances for the club. He also scored with a chip in a 2–0 win against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

in Tom Boyd's testimonial at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

on 15 May 2001, after coming on as a substitute for

Ryan Giggs Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his List of one-club men in association football, entir ...

. He was loaned to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

Aarhus GF Aarhus Gymnastikforening (; commonly known as AGF ), is a professional sports club based in Aarhus, Jutland, Denmark. Founded in 1880, it is one of the oldest clubs in the country and gymnastics and fencing are featured as its main sports. Howeve ...

and

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

, where he scored his first senior goal against

Odense BK Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city Odense. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play in the Danish Superliga ...

in the 2003–04 UEFA Cup.

Rangers

He signed for Rangers in Scotland in January 2005 on a free transfer. On 9 January 2005 he made his full debut against Celtic in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Ibrox Stadium Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated capacity of . O ...

Plymouth Argyle

Djordjic moved to

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

on at the end of the 2004–05 season having made four league appearances during Rangers title winning campaign. Other club interested in the winger was Stockholm-based side AIK, the club that Djordjic supports. On 24 August 2006, after spending just over a season at Plymouth, Djordjic was placed on the transfer list by manager

Ian Holloway Ian Scott Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English professional football manager, former player, media personality and television pundit who was most recently the manager of Grimsby Town. A midfielder, he notably played in the Premier League ...

as a result of his sometimes lax attitude towards the team when playing and training. He was promised the opportunity to get back into the first team once his attitude improved. Djordjic finally returned to the starting lineup after he scored eight goals in five games for the reserves and after exactly a three-month absence, on 18 November 2006, scoring in the fifth minute in a 1–1 away draw at

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

. He was removed from the transfer list the following week, and went on to score in the next two consecutive games (

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

and

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

AIK

On 19 October 2007, Djordjic's contract was terminated by mutual consent due to lack of first-team opportunities. On 13 November, it was officially announced he had signed a two-year deal with Swedish club AIK. His first season for the club has not been what he was hoping for with several

injuries An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, or ...

and on 13 September 2008 he was injured once again and missed the remaining eight matches of the season. His first match for AIK was against

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1910, the clu ...

on 30 March 2008 in the first game of the 2008 season. During the 2009 transfer season, Djordjic was approached by

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...

which offering him a contract, however Djordjic rejected saying that he wanted to stay with the club in his heart AIK. Scoring 1 goal and providing 6 assists in all competitions during the 2009 season, he helped AIK win the 2009 Allsvenskan. Due to the start of the season of 2010, AIK was underperforming as defending champions. This led that club was struggling to avoid relegation. The coach

Mikael Stahre Mikael Lennart Tage Stahre (; born 5 July 1975) is a Swedish football manager who is currently head coach of Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg. Management career Stahre was appointed as AIK's manager on 10 November 2008 immediately following the ...

left for

Panionios GSS Panionios G.S.S. (Greek: Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis''), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'', is a Greek multi-sport club founded in 1890. Originally ...

and much criticism was aimed at the team's bad performances.

Videoton

On 28 June media reported that the Hungarian club Videoton had bought both Djordjic and Martin Mutumba. The director of the Hungarian club compared Djordjic with Roberto Baggio and Mutumba was compared with

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a winger. Wide ...

. The transfer led to many speculations in media, especially since AIK had appointed the Scottish manager

Alex Miller Alex Miller (born 4 July 1949) is a Scottish football manager and former player. As a player, he had a 15-year career with Rangers, winning several trophies. As a manager, he won the 1991–92 Scottish League Cup with Hibernian. He subsequen ...

only a couple of days before the transfer were made. The players claimed that it was Mr. Millers decision to let the players go, but the organization of AIK claimed that they got such a good offer that they could not refuse to sell. One year later, he terminated his contract that would have expired 2013.

Blackpool

Djordjic joined

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

on a two-year contract in June 2011, reuniting him with manager Holloway. "Ollie (Ian Holloway) is one of the few managers to get the best out of me and I always thought about that," he said. "It's a big step when you're 29 to come back to English football to a club that's just been relegated from the Premier League." His salary was believed to be a minimum of around £160,000 annually, before bonuses. He cancelled his contract with Blackpool by mutual consent on 9 January 2012.

Royal Antwerp

On 4 February 2012, he signed a short-term contract with the Belgian Second Division club

Royal Antwerp Royal Antwerp Football Club, often referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Antwerp. Founded around 1880 as ''Antwerp Cricket Club'' by English students residing in Antwerp, 15 years before ...

Return to Sweden

In June 2012, Djordjic returned to his boyhood club Brommapojkarna. in January 2014, he signed with the

Division 1 Norra Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan ( en, the one), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden ...

club

Vasalunds IF Vasalunds IF is a Swedish football club based in Solna, Stockholm. The club is affiliated with Stockholms Fotbollförbund. History Vasalund was formed in 1934 and play in the Swedish Third Division: Division 1 Norra. In 2002 the club merged wit ...

Chennaiyin

On 21 August 2014, Djordjic was a picked in the inaugural ISL International Draft, signing for

side Chennaiyin. Djordjic served as the

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

during his time at the club.

International career

Djordjic was a part of Sweden's squad at the 1999 UEFA European Under-16 Championship. He played 9 games for the Sweden U21 team, but was often overlooked by the then-manager Torbjörn Nilsson.

Post-playing career

Djordjic is, as of 2021, a pundit on Manchester United's television station, MUTV. He is currently working as a pundit for Viasat

Honours

;Red Star Belgrade *

First League of Serbia and Montenegro The First League of Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Прва савезна лига / Prva savezna liga) was the top football league of Serbia and Montenegro, before the country's dissolution in 2006. The league was formed following the breakup of Yu ...

: 2003–04 *

Serbia and Montenegro Cup The Serbia and Montenegro Cup was an association football knockout cup tournament of Serbia and Montenegro played between 1992 and 2006, after which Serbia and Montenegro became separate nations. The competition was the continuation of the old ...

: 2003–04 ;Rangers *

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

: 2004–05 ;AIK *

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

Supercupen Svenska Supercupen, ''Swedish Super Cup'', was a one-off fixture in Swedish football played between the Allsvenskan champions and the winners of Svenska Cupen. The fixture was played in November, after the Allsvenskan season. In the event of ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

;Videoton *

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

: 2010–11 Individual * Manchester United Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year: 1999–2000

References

External links