Darko Kovačević ( sr-Cyrl, Дарко Ковачевић) (born 18 November 1973) is a Serbian 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, rugby le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He began his career in Serbia with

Proleter Zrenjanin Fudbalski klub Proleter Zrenjanin () is a football club from the city of Zrenjanin, Vojvodina, Serbia. History Early period Soon after World War II, the club almost achieved promotion to the Yugoslav Second League after finishing top of the ...

and subsequently played for

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 ...

, with whom he won a Yugoslav League title and two Yugoslav Cups. His prolific performances earned him a move to

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

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 ...

, although his time in England was less successful. He is mainly known for his spells at

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

where his offensive partnership with

Nihat Kahveci Nihat Kahveci (born 23 November 1979), better known mononymously as Nihat, is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a forward. He works as a football commentator for TRT. He has a UEFA Pro Licence. Biography Like most Turkish ...

was one of the best in Spain. Kovačević also had positive spells with Italian club

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 ...

and Greek side

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

. Internationally, he represented

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

at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

and at the

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

Club career

Proleter and Red Star Belgrade

Beginning his career with his hometown club FK Radnički Kovin, he was soon spotted by

Zrenjanin Zrenjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Зрењанин, ; hu, Nagybecskerek; ro, Becicherecu Mare; sk, Zreňanin; german: Großbetschkerek) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous pro ...

-based top league club

FK Proleter Zrenjanin Fudbalski klub Proleter Zrenjanin () is a football club from the city of Zrenjanin, Vojvodina, Serbia. History Early period Soon after World War II, the club almost achieved promotion to the Yugoslav Second League after finishing top of the r ...

. Spending two seasons with the club, Kovačević managed over a goal every other game, was signed by Serbian giants

. Kovačević won a Yugoslav League title and two Yugoslav Cups, earning a call-up to the Yugoslavia national team.

Sheffield Wednesday

Kovačević was then signed by

club

in December 1995 for £2m. He ended up staying only for six months. In July 2007, due to failing to meet the expectations accompanying his arrival to England, Kovačević's move to Wednesday from Red Star was named by the UK nationally-distributed daily newspaper ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' as No. 10 on its "50 worst transfers in Premier League history" list.

Real Sociedad

Kovačević moved to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

side

in 1996. Larger clubs soon came calling, with Italian giants

acquiring the big Serbian in the summer of 1999 for 33 billion lire (£12 million).

Juventus and Lazio

At Juventus, Kovačević found goals in both the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

and competitions such as the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

and

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

becoming their leading European goal scorer, and the top-scorer of the UEFA Cup during the 1999–2000 season, with 10 goals; despite facing competition from the club's starting attacking partnership of Filippo Inzaghi and

Alessandro Del Piero Alessandro Del Piero (; born 9 November 1974) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a deep-lying forward, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. Since 2015, he has worked as a pundit fo ...

, Kovačević made a total of 44 appearances in all competitions in his first season with the club (27 in

, 3 in the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

, and 11 in European competitions), scoring 21 goals in all competitions (eight in Serie A, two in the Coppa Italia, and 11 in European competitions, one of which came in Juventus's victorious

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

campaign, which enabled them to qualify for the UEFA Cup). The following season, however, due to the arrival of French striker

David Trezeguet David Sergio Trezeguet (born 15 October 1977) is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker. Trezeguet began his career in Argentina with Club Atlético Platense at the age of eight, progressing through their youth sys ...

, Kovačević found less space in the squad under manager

Carlo Ancelotti Carlo Ancelotti , (born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Real Madrid. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, Ancelotti is the most decorated manager ...

, making 27 appearances in all competitions (20 of which came in Serie A), mostly from the bench, and scoring only six goals (five in Serie A). The Juventus management felt Kovačević was underachieving and soon both parties were looking for a move out of Italy, with clubs such as Rangers willing to offer £12m for his transfer. In 2001 Kovačević spent a brief time with

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

(as part-swap deal with

Marcelo Salas José Marcelo Salas Melinao (; born 24 December 1974), nicknamed ''Matador'' (due to his goalscoring celebrations), ''El Fenómeno'' and ''Shileno'', is a Chilean former footballer who played as a striker. Salas is considered the best strik ...

), making only seven appearances, before moving back to Spain in the middle of the season.

Return to Real Sociedad

In 2001 Kovačević returned to Real Sociedad, where he spent 6 more seasons at the club, netting 51 goals in his second spell with Sociedad. The 2006–07 season would be Kovačević's last season with the Spanish side, ending in the club's

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

. Alongside

Jesús María Satrústegui Jesús María Satrústegui Azpiroz (born 12 February 1954) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a striker. Club career Satrústegui was born in Pamplona, Navarre. However, he played his entire professional career in the Basque Coun ...

, Kovačević is Real Sociedad's all-time top goalscorer in European club competitions, with 10 goals. Darko Kovacevic scored 107 goals in his stages with

in 9 seasons, with a total average of between 11 and 12 goals per season. They are only surpassed by

and López Ufarte in the txuri-urdin team. He is until today, the most efficient foreigner that Real Sociedad has had in all its years of existence.

Olympiacos

In 2007 Kovačević signed with

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

champions

. In early 2009, he was diagnosed with a blocked

artery An artery (plural arteries) () is a blood vessel in humans and most animals that takes blood away from the heart to one or more parts of the body (tissues, lungs, brain etc.). Most arteries carry oxygenated blood; the two exceptions are the pul ...

; he successfully underwent heart surgery to improve the flow of blood to his heart. His doctors advised to retire from football, and Kovačević officially retired in May 2009, playing a final friendly match for Olympiakos to celebrate the winning of the Greek domestic double. With Olympiacos, Kovačević won two Greek SuperLeague titles, two Greek Cups and a Greek Super Cup.

International career

Kovačević made 59 appearances for the then

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

. Beginning his international career in 1994, Kovačević would go on to score 10 goals and compete in both

and the

Style of play

A quick and powerful striker, with good movement, technique, and an eye for goal, Kovačević's key attributes were his strength and aerial ability.

After retirement

After his retirement Kovačević stated that he may take another role for his former team Olympiacos. Kovačević and family subsequently returned to Spain. However, Kovačević returned to Greece as he loved the country and worked for several months as a columnist. In June 2010 the new president of Olympiakos, Evangelos Marinakis, hired Kovacevic as a Chief Scout for the club; he eventually become the sports director for the club. He remained in that position until 2018. He is the current sports director of the Serbian Football Association.

Personal life

Kovačević has three children, Mia, Darko (Jr.) and Stella.

Career statistics

Club

International

*''Includes caps for FR Yugoslavia (1994–2002) and Serbia and Montenegro (2003–2004)'' :''Scores and results list FR Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kovačević goal''.

Honours

Red Star Belgrade *

Yugoslav League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League (Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

: 1994–95 *

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup ( hr, Pokal Jugoslavije; sr, Куп Југославије; sl, Pokal Jugoslavije, mk, Куп на Југославија), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Kup kralja Aleksandra, ...

: 1994–95, 1995–96 Juventus *

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

Olympiakos *

Greek Super League 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 ...

: 2007–08, 2008–09 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

: 2007–08, 2008–09 *

Greek Super Cup The Greek Super Cup ( el, Σούπερ Καπ Ελλάδος), officially known as the Cup of Friendship and Solidarity ( el, Κύπελλο Φιλίας και Αλληλεγγύης) was a Greek Football (soccer), association football one-match ...

: 2007 Individual *

Top Goal Scorer: 1998–99 (8 goals), 1999–2000 (10 goals) * Super League Greece Best Foreign Player: 2007–08

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kovacevic, Darko 1973 births Living people People from Kovin Serbian footballers Serbian expatriate footballers Red Star Belgrade footballers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players La Liga players Real Sociedad footballers Juventus F.C. players S.S. Lazio players Serie A players Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Greece FK Proleter Zrenjanin players Olympiacos F.C. players Super League Greece players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players Premier League players Serbia and Montenegro international footballers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate footballers Serbia and Montenegro footballers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Spain Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Italy Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Greece People named in the Panama Papers Association football forwards