Danijel Aleksić (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...

: Дaниjeл Aлeкcић; born 30 April 1991) is a Serbian 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, rugby ...

who plays for Turkish club İstanbul Başakşehir.

Early life

Born in

Pula Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian language, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot language, Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene language, Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the List of cities and town ...

SR Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), or SR Croatia, was a constituent republic and federated state of the Social ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, Aleksić was several months old when his mother fled to Serbia due to the ongoing

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...

. Aleksić never met his biological father and carries his mother's last name.

Club career

Aleksić started playing football at seven years of age in a local club

Veternik Veternik ( sr-cyr, Ветерник) is a suburban settlement of the city of Novi Sad, Serbia. Its population numbers 17,454 (2011 census) and most of its inhabitants are ethnic Serbs. Over the years, especially in the 1990s, it grew with size and ...

. By the age of 11, he transferred to

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

where he made it through every age group. Simultaneous to football he attended Jovan Vukanović streamlined technical high school.

Vojvodina

On 5 May 2007, he made his senior debut for Vojvodina under head coach

Milovan Rajevac Milovan Rajevac (Serbian: Милован Рајевац; born 2 January 1954) is a Serbian football manager and former professional player who is currently the technical director of Muangthong United. Playing career Born in Čajetina, Rajevac p ...

in a league match away at

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 ...

. Being only 16 years and five days old, Aleksić became the second-youngest player ever to appear in a

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

match (behind

Slavko Perović Slavko Perović (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Славко Перовић; born 2 August 1954) is a Montenegrin politician. He is best known as a co-founder and former leader of Liberal Alliance of Montenegro (LSCG), former party that was fighting for in ...

). By the end of the 2006–07 season, he recorded one more league appearance. He scored his first league goal on 2 April 2008, in a 4–1 home win versus

Hajduk Kula FK Hajduk Kula (Serbian Cyrillic: ФК Хајдук Кула) was a Serbian football club based in Kula. The club was named after a Hajduk, a much celebrated hero figure in the Serbian epic poetry. On 30 July 2013, just eleven days before start ...

. During Vojvodina's 2008–09 season opening league match, a derby versus

, Aleksić scored a 90th-minute goal to put the game beyond reach and ensure a famous 2–0 win for his team. In November 2008, Aleksić started to figure as a transfer target for Serbia's biggest clubs – Red Star and Partizan – however, Vojvodina officials at the time were adamant that they would never sell him to league competitors. In late March 2009, he reportedly also started getting attention form abroad with scouts from

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

coming to watch him play for the Serbian U19 national squad. For his part, in mid May 2009, Aleksić said that he would prefer his first transfer abroad to be to Holland's

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

or Germany's

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

Genoa

On 19 January 2010, the highly rated youngster was signed by

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

. He became the club's second Serbian signing of the season, after

Nenad Tomović Nenad Tomović (; born 30 August 1987) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Cypriot First Division club AEK Larnaca. A former Serbian Olympian and U21 international, Tomović made 22 appearances for Serbia at full l ...

. Playing under head coach

Gian Piero Gasperini Gian Piero Gasperini (born 26 January 1958) is an Italian football manager and former player, who is currently the manager of Italian side Atalanta. Playing career Gasperini entered the Juventus youth system at the age of 9; during his stay ...

, Aleksić made his Serie A debut against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

on 14 February 2010, coming on as the 88th-minute substitute for

Domenico Criscito Domenico "Mimmo" Criscito (; born 30 December 1986) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a left-back. He is set to join club Genoa on 2 January 2023. A versatile player, Criscito is effective both offensively and defensively and is ...

, a game which Genoa lost 3–2. The brief minutes-long runout remained his only league appearance until the end of the 2009–10 Serie A season. The arrival of striker Luca Toni to Genoa in the summer of 2010 meant that Aleksić became surplus to club's current requirements so, on 1 July, the youngster was set to be loaned out to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

club

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until ...

. However, he refused the transfers and eventually remained at Genoa. But only until the end of 2010 summer transfer window, when he got loaned to 2. Bundesliga club

SpVgg Greuther Fürth Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth (), commonly known as Greuther Fürth (), is a German football club based in Fürth, Bavaria. They play in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of the German football league system, following relegation from the B ...

until the end of the season 2010–11. On 28 June 2011, Austria Wien confirmed Aleksić was on trial.

Kavala

Greek media wrote on 21 August 2011, that Genoa loaned him to

Kavala Kavala ( el, Καβάλα, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos and on the Egnat ...

, but after a couple of weeks, the Greek team was expelled from the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

and relegated to the Delta Ethniki League, so the loan was canceled and the player returned to Genoa.

Lechia Gdańsk

Aleksić joined

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football club based in Gdańsk. The club was founded in 1945 by people expelled from Lwów, who were supporters of Poland's oldest football team Lechia Lwów, founded in 1903. The club's name comes from Lechia, a ...

during the 2014 summer transfer window on a two-year contract, making his debut in a 3–1 defeat to

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. It currently competes in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system. ...

. After a poor start with the club Aleksić quickly found himself playing for the second team and received criticism for his performances with the first team. After six months with the club Aleksić's performances made him become surplus to requirements and he was sold to

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

in February 2015. He made four first-team appearances at Lechia, failing to score, but had more success with the Lechia II team scoring three goals in six appearances.

International career

Aleksić has the distinction of being the only player to appear for four different age-level national squads during a single calendar year. In 2008, he turned out for Serbian U17 (cadets), U19 (juniors), U21, and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

teams.

Youth level

Aleksić was the captain of the Serbian U17 national football team. In the 2008 campaign of the qualifying tournament's

elite round In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

held over five days in late March 2008, Aleksić scored five goals in three matches (three from open play and two penalties) as Serbia qualified top of the group for the final tournament. In addition to his five goals, the team scored only one more – scored by

Adem Ljajić Adem Ljajić ( sr-cyr, Адем Љајић, ; born 29 September 1991) is a Serbian professional footballer who last played as an attacking midfielder for Beşiktaş and the Serbia national team. Ljajić began his career with FK Jošanica, and ...

. Aleksić led his team single-handedly all the way to the final group stage and was the main contender for the U17 golden boot award for most goals. In May 2008 at the 2008 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship in Turkey he scored a spectacular bicycle kick goal in the first match against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

as well as adding the second for a 2–0 final score. The next group match pitted Serbia versus the Netherlands, and despite dominating the proceedings the team could not convert due, in no small part, to the heroics of Dutch goalie Jeroen Zoet – in the end, Serbia lost 1–0. The final and deciding group match was against Turkey and Serbia again missed their share of goalscoring chances including Aleksić hitting the woodwork – the match ended 0–0 meaning that Serbia finished third in the group and did not progress to the semifinals.

Senior national team

Aleksić made his senior national team debut as a 17-year-old in December 2008 under head coach

Radomir Antić Radomir Antić ( sr-Cyrl, Радомир Антић, ; 22 November 1948 – 6 April 2020) was a Serbian professional football manager and player. Following a 17-year playing career as a defender, most of which he spent playing at Partizan, wit ...

in a friendly versus

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, making him one of the youngest debutantes ever. The match was played in

Belek Belek is a township in the Serik district in Turkey's Antalya Province. The local population in 2022 is 73,260. Belek is one of the centers of Turkey's tourism industry and is home to more than thirty four-star and five-star hotels and many ...

, Turkey. His next appearance came almost ten years later when he entered late in a

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

outing against

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Saint-Étienne *

French League Cup The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France, ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

İstanbul Başakşehir *

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

: 2019–20 Individual * UEFA European Under-17 Championship Golden Player Award:

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2008: Danijel Aleksić in UEFA.com
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References

External links

Danijel Aleksić
at reprezentacija.rs * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aleksic, Danijel 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Pula Serbs of Croatia Serbian footballers Serbian expatriate footballers Association football forwards Serbia international footballers Serbia under-21 international footballers Serbia youth international footballers FK Vojvodina players Genoa C.F.C. players SpVgg Greuther Fürth players AS Saint-Étienne players AC Arlésien players Lechia Gdańsk players Lechia Gdańsk II players FC St. Gallen players Yeni Malatyaspor footballers Al-Ahli Saudi FC players Serbian SuperLiga players Serie A players 2. Bundesliga players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Ekstraklasa players Swiss Super League players Süper Lig players Saudi Professional League players Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Poland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Serbian expatriate sportspeople in France Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Yugoslav Wars refugees Refugees in Serbia Serbian people of Croatian descent