Luka Jović ( sr-Cyrl, Лука Јовић; born 23 December 1997) 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 as a striker for club

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

and the Serbia national team.

Early life

Jović was born in

Loznica Loznica ( sr-cyrl, Лозница, ) is a city located in the Mačva District of western Serbia. It lies on the right bank of the Drina river. In 2011 the city had a total population of 19,572, while the administrative area had a population of 79 ...

, FR Yugoslavia. He was raised in the small village of Batar near

Bijeljina Bijeljina ( sr-cyrl, Бијељина) is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the provincial center of Semberija, a geographic region in the country's northeast. Administratively, Bijeljina is part of the Republika Srpska ...

, to

Bosnian Serb The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби у Босни и Херцеговини, Srbi u Bosni i Hercegovini) are one of the three constitutive nations (state-forming nations) of the country, predominantly residing in the politi ...

parents Milan and Svetlana Jović. At the age of five, he started playing football in Loznica, where he was spotted in 2004 and offered to play in Mini Maxi, a development league for kids aged between 4 and 12 in Belgrade. After just one game where Jović scored three goals his father was offered €50 for each game he played and 2,000

dinars The dinar () is the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, and its historical use is even more widespread. The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin o ...

for travelling costs from Batar to Belgrade. At one of those games he was scouted by Toma Milićević, Red Star's scout who invited him to trial with Red Star Belgrade. His playing style attracted comparisons to

Darko Pančev Darko Pančev ( mk, Дарко Панчев, ; born 7 September 1965) is a Macedonian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He most notably played for FK Vardar and Red Star Belgrade. He was part of the Red Star Belgrade sq ...

and Radamel Falcao, who is also his idol.

Club career

Red Star Belgrade

Youth

Jović was offered the chance to play 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 ...

in 2005. Before he committed, his father took him to train with

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 ...

, who had been trying to sign Jović for some time. They offered his father €200 per month for Jović to play with them, but he insisted on staying with Red Star.

2013–14 season

On 28 May 2014, at the age of 16 years, five months and five days, Jović made his professional debut against

FK Vojvodina Fudbalski klub Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Војводина), commonly known as Vojvodina and colloquially as Voša ( sr-Cyrl, Воша), is a Serbian professional football club based in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, the second l ...

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

, where he broke Dejan Stanković's record as the youngest goalscorer in a competitive match in the club's history. He scored the goal only two minutes after he was brought on as substitute, and the final score of 3–3 was enough to give Red Star the 2013–14

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 ...

title.

2014–15 season

On 18 October 2014, Jović became the youngest player ever to play in Eternal derby at the age of 16 years, 9 months and 25 days, breaking the previous record of

Dejan Milovanović Dejan Milovanović ( sr-Cyrl, Дејан Миловановић; born 21 January 1984) is a Serbian retired professional footballer. Personal He is the son of Đorđe Milovanović, a member of Red Star Belgrade in the late 1970s and early to mi ...

who was 17 years and 6 months old at the time. Jović missed some crucial chances, but in spring half of the season scored six goals. His first goal of the season came against Vojvodina, in a match where Red Star celebrated its 70th birthday. He then scored against Spartak, a double against Borac and a decisive goal against

Voždovac Voždovac ( sr-cyr, Вождовац, ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. According to the 2011 census results, the municipality has a population of 158,213 inhabitants. The municipality is located in the south-central part of the urban ...

, ahead of the Eternal derby clash. He missed the end of the season and the

2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the twentieth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition took place for the first time in New Zealand, the third time on Oceanian soil after ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

due to injury. On 17 May 2015, he signed a three-year contract with Red Star to last until 2018.

2015–16 season

From the beginning of the 2015–16 season, Jović started as a first choice in Red Star attack along with Hugo Vieira and scored 3 goals in first 5 games. He scored again against Voždovac a winning goal and brought another win to Red Star at Stadion na Vračaru. He scored another game winner in Subotica, against Spartak. In November 2015, a

racketeer Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and ...

from Loznica threatened him and his family that if they did not pay money to him, that he would "break Jović's legs". A suspect was apprehended immediately afterwards.

Benfica

In February 2016, Jović signed with Portuguese champions Benfica until 2021. On 9 March, he debuted for the club's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

in a 2–2 home draw against Sporting da Covilhã in the Segunda Liga. He debuted for the first-team on 20 March, as a substitute, in a 1–0 away victory against Boavista in the Primeira Liga. On 30 January 2017, Jović made his only appearance for the first team when he came on as a substitute in the 81st minute against

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

Loan to Eintracht Frankfurt

2017–18 season

In June 2017, Jović joined

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

on a two-season loan while his new club secured an option to sign him on a permanent basis. He made five appearances as they won the 2017–18 DFB-Pokal, and scored the only goal of the win at

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

in the semi-finals on 18 April 2018, but was an unused substitute in the 3–1 final win over Bayern Munich.

2018–19 season

20-year-old Jović became the youngest player to score five goals in a Bundesliga game when he did so in a 7–1 home win over

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

on 19 October 2018. On 14 March 2019, he scored the only goal, his seventh for the campaign, in a 1–0 win over

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

to secure the club's progression to the quarter finals of the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

. In doing so, he helped Eintracht become the first German club ever to record eight wins in a single season in the competition. On 17 April 2019, Eintracht Frankfurt exercised a clause in Jović's contract to make his loan move permanent until 30 June 2023. In May 2019, he scored in both semi-final legs against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, yet Eintracht Frankfurt lost 4–3 on penalties after drawing 1–1 in both matches. However, Jović managed to score ten goals in total in the Europa League season.

Real Madrid

2019–20 season

On 4 June 2019, Jović signed for Real Madrid for a reported €60 million, on a six-year contract. He made his debut on 17 August 2019, coming in as a substitute in a 3–1 win over

Celta Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), ...

. On 30 October 2019, he scored his first goal for the club in a 5–0 victory over CD Leganés. Jović started both semi-final and

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

match of

2019–20 Supercopa de España The 2019-20 Supercopa de España was the 36th edition of the Supercopa de España, an annual football competition for clubs in the Spanish football league system that were successful in its major competitions in the preceding season. In Februar ...

against

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

and Atlético Madrid, respectively. Real won the final 4–1 on penalties on 12 January 2020, earning Jović his first trophy as a Real Madrid player. During an injury riddled season, he made 17 appearances during the league season, while scoring two goals, as Real Madrid won the

2019–20 La Liga The 2019–20 La Liga season, also known as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, was the 89th since its establishment. The season began on 16 August 2019 and was originally scheduled to conclude on 24 May 2020. Barcelona were the two-time ...

title.

Loan to Eintracht Frankfurt

On 14 January 2021, Jović was loaned back to his former club

until the end of the 2020–21 season. On 17 January, in his first match back with his former club, Jović came off the bench and scored two goals within half an hour as Frankfurt defeated Schalke 3–1.

Fiorentina

On 8 July 2022,

announced the signing of Jović.

International career

On 11 December 2013, Jović scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

for Serbia U-17 in a 4–1 win against Croatia U-17. In July 2014, he was called up by youth coach

Veljko Paunović Veljko Paunović ( sr-Cyrl, Вељко Пауновић, ; born 21 August 1977) is a Serbian football manager and former player who is the current manager of Liga MX club Guadalajara. A versatile attacking unit, he could operate as an attacking ...

to Serbia's U-19 squad for the 2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. In May 2018, Jović was named in

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 ...

's preliminary squad for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

in Russia. On 4 June, he made his international debut in a friendly match against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Aleksandar Mitrović Aleksandar Mitrović ( sr-Cyrl, Александар Митровић, (); born 16 September 1994) is a Serbian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club Fulham F.C., Fulham a ...

in the 84th minute. Later in June, Jović was included in the final 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where he appeared as a late substitute against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. On 20 March 2019, Jović scored his debut goal for the national team in a friendly against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. In November, 2022 he was selected in Serbia's squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. He played in group stage matches against

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

and Switzerland. Serbia finished fourth in the group.

Personal life

When Jović was 10 years old, his older sister survived

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

. He stated that period had "left a mark on their lives" and had motivated him to become a "fighter like she". On 25 February 2019, Jović became a father of a baby boy, David, with his former girlfriend Anđela Manitašević, whom he split up with in 2016. As of summer 2019, he is in a relationship with Serbian model Sofija Milošević. They have two children: Aleksej Jović (born 2020) and Teodor Jović (born 2022). On 18 March 2020, amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Jović broke Serbia's self-isolation protocol by flying from

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

to Belgrade to attend Milošević's birthday party, drawing criticism from

Prime Minister of Serbia The prime minister of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, премијерка Србије, premijerka Srbije; masculine: премијер/premijer), officially the president of the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, председница Влад� ...

Ana Brnabić Ana Brnabić ( sr-cyr, Ана Брнабић, ; born 28 September 1975) is a Serbian politician serving as the prime minister of Serbia since 2017. She is the first woman and first openly gay person to hold the office. She entered government a ...

herself and facing possible charges. On 30 December 2021, he tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Serbia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Jović goal.''

Honours

Red Star Belgrade *

: 2013–14 Benfica * Primeira Liga: 2015–16, 2016–17 Eintracht Frankfurt *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

: 2017–18 Real Madrid *

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' ...

: 2019–20, 2021–22 * Supercopa de España: 2019–20, 2021–22 *

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 competi ...

: 2021–22 Individual *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

Squad of the Season: 2018–19 *

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 ...

Team of the Season: 2018–19

References

External links

Profile
at the ACF Fiorentina website
Player profile on Serbian National Team page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jovic, Luka 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Loznica People from Bijeljina Serbian footballers Association football forwards Red Star Belgrade footballers S.L. Benfica B players S.L. Benfica footballers Eintracht Frankfurt players Real Madrid CF players ACF Fiorentina players Serbian SuperLiga players Liga Portugal 2 players Primeira Liga players Bundesliga players La Liga players Serie A players Serbia youth international footballers Serbia under-21 international footballers Serbia international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Serbian expatriate footballers Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Italy UEFA Champions League winning players