Danilo Dončić ( sr-Cyrl, Данило Дончић; 20 August 1969 – 1 May 2024) was a Serbian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager.

Early life

Dončić was born in Vranje but spent most of his early life in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

. He started his youth football career with

FK Beograd FK Beograd () is a defunct football club based in Karaburma, Belgrade, Serbia. History After winning the Belgrade Zone League in the 1993–94 season, the club finished as runners-up in the 1994–95 Serbian League North and earned promotion ...

before joining his first professional football team, FK Rudar Ljubija playing back then in the

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav or Yugoslavian may refer to: * Yugoslavia, or any of the three historic states carrying that name: ** Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a European monarchy which existed 1918–1945 (officially called "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" 1918–1 ...

Playing career

Dončić continued his professional career with famous Serbian football clubs

FK Napredak Kruševac Fudbalski klub Napredak Kruševac (), commonly known as Napredak Kruševac, is a Serbian professional football club based in the city of Kruševac. The word ''Napredak'' means "progress" in Serbian. The club's nickname is the Čarapani which t ...

FK Čukarički Fudbalski klub Čukarički () is a Serbian professional Football team, football club from Belgrade, more precisely from the Čukarica municipality, that currently plays in the Serbian SuperLiga, the top tier of Serbian football league system, Se ...

before returning to

. Having spent the majority of his early football career in Serbia, Dončić decided to try the international waters by joining

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...

where he won all possible Maltese Cups in one season 2006–07 and was the top scorerMaltese Top Scorers List
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation – archive in Malta by breaking the record of scoring 32 league goals in one season. He left Malta for one of the top Bulgarian clubs

Lokomotiv Sofia Lokomotiv 1929 ( bg, Локомотив 1929) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently plays in the First League, the top tier of Bulgarian football. Founded as Railway Sports Club in 1929, and refou ...

and continued his career by moving to Portugal playing for Imortal DC. After that he spent five years playing for

Sliema Wanderers Sliema Wanderers Football Club, nicknamed "tax-Xelin" ( of the shilling), is a professional Maltese football club. It is the most successful team in Malta and hails from the seaside town of Sliema. It currently plays in the Maltese Premier Leag ...

where he won three league campaigns in a row and one trophy. In those years of his most success Dončić was three times top scorer of the

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as BOV Premier League for sponsorship reasons with Bank of Valletta (colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Football Associa ...

. In total, he played eight years in Malta with a record of 196 games played and 151 goals scored. In May 2006 at the age of 37, Dončić retired from playing football.

Coaching career

Dončić decided to concentrate on coaching and soon after he finished his career as a player, he started coaching the First Division Maltese team

San Ġwann San Ġwann is a town in the Central Region of Malta, with a population of 14,244 as of 2021. Previous to its separate administration the town used to form part of two separate localities being Birkirkara and St. Julian's. Places and monuments ...

in 2006. In the consecutive season, he signed with

Floriana Floriana ( mt, Il-Furjana or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a fortified town in the South Eastern Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014. Floriana i ...

as a head coach of this premier Maltese team. Floriana, a team with a successful football history placed fifth in the Premier league and was a semi-finalist in the Trophy for the same year. Following this achievement, Dončić got invited by one of the best Serbian coaches,

Dragan Okuka Dragomir "Dragan" Okuka (; born 2 April 1954) is a Serbian football coach and former player. As a player, he was predominantly associated with his time with Velež Mostar where he won the 1981 Yugoslav Cup before joining Swedish club Örebro SK, ...

, where he accepted to become his first assistant coach in Dončić's ex-club

.Doncic as Lokomotiv hit top gear
The Times of Malta – archiveDanilo Doncic to Take Up Coaching Role at Lokоmotiv Sofia
News.bg – archiveСърбин поема Локомотив (Сф)
Blitz.bg – archive Subsequently, Dončić moved on to a top Greek league team

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 ...

together with Dragan Okuka. After some time, Okuka resigned and Dončić continued working with

Henryk Kasperczak Henryk Wojciech Kasperczak (born 10 July 1946) is a Polish Association football, football manager and a former player who most recently managed the Tunisia national football team. As a player, Kasperczak took part in two FIFA World Cups with Po ...

till the year 2011. At the same time, Dončić was contacted by

for the post of a head coach and he returned to Malta to take over his ex-team Sliema Wanderers from February 2011 till May 2012. For the remainder of 2012, Dončić coached Premier League team Tarxien Rainbows. His career continued with

Mosta Mosta ( mt, Il-Mosta) is a small but densely populated city in the Northern Region of Malta. The most prominent building in Mosta is the Rotunda, a large basilica built by its parishioners' volunteer labour. It features the world's 3rd largest ...

(2013–2014) and St. Andrews (2014 – autumn 2014) as a club manager.Danilo takes over as St. Andrews coach.
Article Times of Malta With the start of the new football season Dončić decided to accept the offer of Al-Najma (2014–2015) on position of club manager.Danilo Lands Coaching Position in Bahrain
Article Times of Malta Sep. 2014 Following a successful year at Al-Najma Dončić took the contract with

Ethnikos Achnas Ethnikos Achna Football Club ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Εθνικός Άχνας), commonly known as Ethnikos Achna, or simply Ethnikos, is a Cypriot football club based in the village of Achna. Founded in 1968, the club current ...

(2015–2016). He was back to the Maltese Premier League after reaching an agreement with St. Andrews.Danilo Replaces Borg as Coach of St. Andrews
Article Times of Malta Oct. 2016Danilo Doncic Kowc Gdid Ta St.Andrews
Article Esklussiva Oct. 2016 In February 2022 Dončić came back to

Valetta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 was ...

for a second spell as a manager, signing a contract until the end of the season.

Death

Dončić died of a heart attack in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, on 1 May 2024, at the age of 54.

Honours

Valletta *

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

: 1995, 1996, 1997 Sliema Wanderers * Maltese Premier League:

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

* FA Trophy: 2004

References

External links