Igor Duljaj (; born 29 October 1979) is a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

n 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 ...

who played as a

defensive 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 boundari ...

. He is best remembered for his tenacious playing style and stamina. During his footballing career, Duljaj played with only three clubs, namely

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was f ...

and

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

. He won 14 major trophies at club level, including the

2008–09 UEFA Cup The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup association football, football tournament. The 2009 UEFA Cup Final, final was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe S.K., Fenerbahçe, i ...

. At international level, Duljaj earned 47 caps for

(and its predecessors). He represented Serbia and Montenegro at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

Club career

Born in

Topola Topola ( sr-cyrl, Топола, ) is a town and municipality located in the Šumadija District of central Serbia. It was the place where Karađorđe, a Serbian revolutionary, was chosen as the leader of the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottom ...

, Duljaj was spotted by

in 1990. He initially traveled to Belgrade to attend training sessions for several years, before permanently relocating to the capital city. Duljaj is probably the best defensive midfielder who came out of the youth academy of Partizan in the 90s as he passed all club selections. In the 1997–98 season, Duljaj was promoted to the main squad, appearing in five league games and scoring once. He became a first-team regular in his

third year Third year, also known as S3, is the third year of schooling in Scottish secondary schools, and is roughly equivalent to Year 10 in England and Wales and Year 11 in Northern Ireland. Most pupils are 14 or 15 years old at the end of S3. Traditio ...

as a senior, collecting 41 appearances in all competitions while scoring one goal in the league. Over the course of the next three seasons, Duljaj was an irreplaceable member of the team that won one national cup and back-to-back championships in 2002 and 2003. He subsequently helped the side progress to the group stage of the

2003–04 UEFA Champions League The 2003–04 UEFA Champions League was the 12th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since its rebranding from the European Cup in 1992, and the 49th tournament overall. The competition was won by ...

, eliminating Newcastle United in the last qualifying round. In February 2004, Duljaj was transferred to

. He penned a five-year contract with the club, rejoining his former Partizan teammate

Zvonimir Vukić Zvonimir Vukić (; born 19 July 1979) is a Serbian former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. A former Serbia and Montenegro international, Vukić appeared at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Club career Vukić started out at his hometow ...

. Over the following seven seasons, Duljaj won four

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League' ...

titles, two

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( uk, Кубок України) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003� ...

s, two

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup ( uk , Суперкубок України) is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football competition season in Ukra ...

s, and one

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. He amassed a total of 195 appearances in all competitions and scored six goals. In July 2010, Duljaj signed with fellow Ukrainian club

. He spent four seasons with the side, two in the top flight and two in the second tier, before retiring from the game.

International career

Duljaj was capped for FR Yugoslavia at under-18 and under-21 level. He also represented the country at the

Millennium Super Soccer Cup The Millennium Super Soccer Cup, known as the Sahara Cup for sponsorship reasons, was an international football tournament held in India from 10 January to 25 January 2001. Yugoslavia were the eventual champions after defeating Bosnia and Herzeg ...

in early 2001. Led by manager

Ilija Petković Ilija Petković ( sr-Cyrl, Илија Петковић, ; 22 September 1945 – 27 June 2020) was a Serbian footballer and manager. Petković was capped 43 times for Yugoslavia, participating in the 1968 European Football Championship, and in ...

, Duljaj appeared in all five of his team's games and scored two goals, helping the side win the tournament. However, these caps are not officially recognized by FIFA. Previously, Duljaj made his full international debut for

FR Yugoslavia 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 Yug ...

in a 2–1 friendly loss against

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

on 15 November 2000. He went on to represent his country on 47 occasions, being a member of the team at the

Post-playing career

In the summer of 2016, Duljaj joined the coaching staff at

, becoming an assistant to manager

Paulo Fonseca Paulo Alexandre Rodrigues Fonseca (born 5 March 1973) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who played as a central defender. He is the current head coach of French ...

. In December 2019, it was announced that Duljaj would be joining

Savo Milošević Savo Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Саво Милошевић, ; born 2 September 1973) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. A former forward, he signed for English club Aston Villa after making a name for himself at Partiza ...

's staff at Partizan. On 16 August 2022, it was announced that Duljaj became the new manager at Teleoptik.

Personal life

Duljaj has two brothers, Joakim and Nenad. Together they run the ''Duljaj Football Academy'' in their hometown of Topola.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

;Partizan *

First League of FR Yugoslavia 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 ...

: 1998–99, 2001–02, 2002–03 *

FR Yugoslavia 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 ...

: 1997–98, 2000–01 ;Shakhtar Donetsk *

: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10 *

: 2003–04, 2007–08 *

: 2005,

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; ...

: 2008–09 ;Sevastopol *

Ukrainian First League The Persha Liha ( uk, Перша ліга) or Ukrainian First League is a professional football league in Ukraine and the second tier of national football competitions pyramid. Members of the league also participate in the Ukrainian Cup. It is t ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Individual

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; en, Partizan Football Club), sometimes known as Partizan Belgrade in English, is a Serbia, Serbian professional football club (association football), football ...

Player of the Year: 2003

Notes

References

External links

Duljaj Football Academy
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duljaj, Igor 2006 FIFA World Cup players Association football midfielders Expatriate footballers in Ukraine FC Sevastopol players FC Shakhtar Donetsk non-playing staff FC Shakhtar Donetsk players First League of Serbia and Montenegro players FK Partizan non-playing staff FK Partizan players Gorani people People from Topola Serbia and Montenegro expatriate footballers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Serbia and Montenegro footballers Serbia and Montenegro international footballers Serbia and Montenegro under-21 international footballers Serbia international footballers Serbian expatriate footballers Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Serbian footballers UEFA Cup winning players Ukrainian Premier League players 1979 births Living people