Jovica Milijić ( sr-Cyrl, Јовица Милијић; born 20 January 1986) 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-born
Maltese futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football.
Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...
player, currently playing for
Valletta
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 wa ...
, the reigning champions of
Maltese Futsal League
The Maltese Futsal League, ( mt, il-Lig tal-Futsal Malti), formerly the Gatorade League but now known as the Enemed Futsal League for sponsorship reasons, is the official futsal league in Malta and was founded in 2011. The Maltese futsal champio ...
. In 2017 he won the
Malta Football Association
The Malta Football Association (MFA; mt, Assoċjazzjoni tal-Futbol ta' Malta) is the governing body of football in Malta.
The Association organises the Maltese Football League and several other competitions, including a knockout competition ...
's futsal player of the year.
Football career
Milijić made his first football steps with
Timočanin in mid-1990s, becoming a member of the promising generation together with the brothers Marinković,
Nebojša Marinković
Nebojša Marinković (; born 19 June 1986) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder.
He is the older brother of fellow footballer Nenad Marinković.
Club career
Early years
Born in Knjaževac, Marinković made ...
and
Nenad Marinković
Nenad Marinković ( sr-cyr, Ненад Маринковић; born 28 September 1988) is a Serbian retired professional footballer, who played as a winger.
Club career
Marinković joined Partizan in 2001. He was one of the most promising youngst ...
.
Soon after family relocation to
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
in 1999, he joined
Pietà Hotspurs, a Maltese club famous for producing talented footballers in its youth school.
Futsal career
European Pilot Academy
The first touch with futsal Milijić had in the jersey of
European Pilot Academy's futsal club (formerly known as Serbia) where he won his first trophy -
Maltese Futsal Cup
Maltese may refer to:
* Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta
* Maltese alphabet
* Maltese cuisine
* Maltese culture
* Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people
* Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...
for the season 2006/07. Also, Milijić was close to win his first championship as that season European Pilot Academy was a point behind the title winner Jeepers Handyman Centre.
Aluserv Futsal Club
After a successful debutant season, Milijić joined newly promoted futsl top tier
Aluserv. The team that were made for an instant success won the league and cup but were defeated in the play-off semi-final, just like in the season 2008–09.
Scandals
His
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
competition debut was at
2008–09 UEFA Futsal Cup
The 2008–09 UEFA Futsal Cup was the 23rd edition of Europe's premier club futsal tournament and the 8th edition under the current UEFA Futsal Cup format.
Teams
Preliminary round
Group A
*Palacium, Villeneuve d'Ascq–
Group B
*Eisstadion, ...
preliminary round against
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
n
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; ...
champion
Gorica on 23 August 2008. The match was played in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
and
Scandals
A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...
were heavy defeated (0-11).
Paola Downtowns
During his stay in
Paola Downtowns, Milijić was named for the top scorer of
2010-11 Maltese Futsal First Division with 42 goals. The same season he was nominated for the best futsal player but the award went in the hands of the
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 ...
n
Anton Florin.
Naxxar Motors
Lija Athletics
Before the start of the
2012/13 season,
Lija Athletic
Lija ( mt, Ħal Lija) is a small village in the Central Region, Malta, Central Region of Malta. It forms part of the Three villages of Malta, along with Attard and Balzan. Lija has a baroque parish church and seven other small chapels. The pari ...
replaced
Naxxar Motors and Milijić became a captain of the newly formed club. He even scored a hattrick on his debut against Valletta (7-1). Although Lija Athletic had the highest ambitions, the cup journey was ended yet in the quarter-final and play-off was missed, for the first time in Milijić's career.
Balzan
Next
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...
Milijić changed Lija Athletics for
Balzan
Balzan ( mt, Ħal Balzan) is a municipality in the Central Region of Malta, one of the so-called three villages, together with Attard and Lija. The village originally consisted of a group of small dwellings and farms but eventually grew, beco ...
and the first
trophy came soon after.
Hibernians was heavily defeated (5-1) with Milijić among the scorers. That was the introduction in a very successful season where Balzan won all possible trophies.
Hamrun Spartans
Valletta
Milijić joined
Valletta FC Futsal in June 2015 as an experienced player that has won every possible honor.
He was a key figure in Valletta's march to
the national title. His best game in the regular part of the season was in March in a derby against his ex-club Lija Athletic, when he scored four goals in a 7–4 win. During the first season with Valletta he scored 18 goals in the
Gatorade Futsal League.
Next season Milijić added 21 goals.
Malta national futsal team
In 2012 Milijić became a naturalized Maltese citizen and soon after started playing for
the national futsal team. He had a debut in a heavy defeat against
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
(0-9) in
UEFA Futsal Euro 2014 qualifying at home ground in
Paola, Malta
Paola ( mt, Raħal Ġdid, it, Casal Nuovo, both meaning "New Town") is a town in the South Eastern Region of Malta, with 8,706 inhabitants as of 2019. The town is a commercial centre in the Southern Harbour area of Malta, about 5 km from th ...
on January 23, 2013. He was also in the starting line up against
Moldova
Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...
recording one more loss (1-4).
In 2014 Malta played only friendly games, three of them against
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
(3-4, 4-2 and 1-0) and
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 ...
(1-4), Milijić participated in all of them scoring two goals and a few more times he was close to score hitting only the post, most notably against his homeland Serbia.
Next year Malta participated in
the qualification for
Euro 2016
The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...
and then
the qualification for
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
. The team lost all six games, three in each tournament, by the order:
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
(0-3),
Andorra
, image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg
, symbol_type = Coat of arms
, national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...
(0-4),
Latvia (0-8), then
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
(2-8),
Lithuania (1-2) and
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
(3-6). Milijić took a part in all matches and scored in the last two.
Between two tournaments, Malta went to
San Marino
San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...
and recorded two wins (5-1 and 5-3) with Milijić in the squad. He earned two more caps next year against
the same national team, this time in
Paola (4-0 and 2-2).
At the beginning of the last year, with Milijić in the starting five, Malta lost all three games in
UEFA Futsal Euro 2018 qualifying
The UEFA Futsal Euro 2018 qualifying competition was a men's futsal competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Slovenia in the UEFA Futsal Euro 2018 final tournament.
A total of 47 UEFA member national tea ...
tournament held in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
, against
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
(1-6),
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
(1-6) and
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
(2-3).
Since his debut five years ago, Milijić has not missed any national team match, recording 19 caps and 4 goals in total.
International caps
International goals
''Scores and results list Malta's goal tally first''
Personal life
Besides his mother tongue,
Serbian, Milijić speaks four other languages:
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
Maltese,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
and
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
.
Honours
Club
European Pilot Academy
Maltese Futsal Cup
Maltese may refer to:
* Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta
* Maltese alphabet
* Maltese cuisine
* Maltese culture
* Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people
* Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...
: 2006-07
Aluserv
Maltese Futsal Cup
Maltese may refer to:
* Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta
* Maltese alphabet
* Maltese cuisine
* Maltese culture
* Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people
* Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...
: 2007-08
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milijic, Jovica
1986 births
People from Knjaževac
Serbian men's futsal players
Maltese men's futsal players
Living people