Luka Milivojević ( sr-Cyrl, Лука Миливојевић, ; born 7 April 1991) 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 le ...

who last played as a

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 boundarie ...

for club

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

, where he was the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. He was a member of the Serbia national team until his retirement from international football in March 2021. He began his career with Radnički Kragujevac and then played for

Rad RAD or Rad may refer to: People * Robert Anthony Rad Dougall (born 1951), South African former racing driver * Rad Hourani, Canadian fashion designer and artist * Nickname of Leonardus Rad Kortenhorst (1886–1963), Dutch politician * Radley R ...

before signing 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 January 2012. He later won the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

with

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

and

Superleague Greece 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 ...

twice with

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 ...

before a €16 million transfer to Crystal Palace in January 2017. Milivojević made his international debut for Serbia in 2012 and was included in the squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

Club career

Early years

Milivojević's first season as senior was with his home town club Radnički Kragujevac during the 2007–08 season, then playing in the

Serbian League West Serbian League West ( sr, Српска лига Запад, Srpska liga Zapad) is one of four sections of the Serbian League, the third national tier. The other three sections are Serbian League Belgrade, Serbian League East and Serbian League Voj ...

. At the end of that season he moved to the top league club

entered into the senior team in the 2008–09 season. He played as right side midfielder.

Red Star Belgrade

Milivojević signed for

on 19 December 2011. His arrival to Red Star was largely due to the desire of coach

Robert Prosinečki Robert Prosinečki (; born 12 January 1969) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Early in his career, he was part of the Red Star Belgrade team that won three Yugoslav First League titles and ...

, who believed that Milivojević had bright potential. On 17 November 2012, Milivojević scored an impressive goal against city rivals

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 ...

Anderlecht

On 26 July 2013, Milivojević signed a five-year contract with Belgian football giants

. On 1 September 2014, it was announced that Milivojević had joined

on loan from Anderlecht. After the 2014–15 season, Milivojević reiterated his desire to stay with Olympiacos. The two clubs could have started new negotiations after the season ended; Milivojević stated that his wish was to make the move permanent. According to reports in Belgium, Olympiacos were to meet Anderlecht's asking price in order to complete the permanent transfer of Milivojević. Olympiacos were in negotiations with the Belgian club as they were reluctant to pay the €2.7 million Anderlecht asked for Milivojević.

Olympiacos

On 4 June 2015, Anderlecht confirmed that it had reached an agreement with Olympiacos for the permanent transfer of Milivojević. He had spent a season with the club, and joined the Greek champions by signing a four-year contract, for a fee of €2.3 million. On 30 June 2015, Olympiacos turned down a bid in the region of €5 million from Fenerbahçe.

Crystal Palace

On 31 January 2017, Milivojević signed for Crystal Palace on a three-and-a-half year contract for an undisclosed fee. On 10 April 2017, he scored his first goal for Palace with a penalty kick in his team's 3–0 home win over

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, and got his other goal of the season on 14 May in a 4–0 win at

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst in the London Borough of Croydon which is the home ground of Premier League side Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted international footba ...

against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

, which secured his team's place in the top flight for next season and relegated the opponents. In 2017–18, Milivojević was Palace's top scorer with 10 goals as the Eagles recovered from a poor start to the season to finish 11th under new manager

Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson (born 9 August 1947) is a former English football manager and player. He managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstads BK in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to th ...

. He developed a reputation for taking penalties, scoring nine of the ten he took in his first 1 seasons with Palace; he had never taken a penalty in a professional match prior to joining Crystal Palace. The one he did miss was on 31 December 2017 in added time at the end of a goalless draw against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, with Ederson making a save for the team who had won their last 18 matches. On 28 October 2018, Milivojević scored two penalties in a 2–2 home draw with Arsenal, ending the visitors' run of 12 consecutive victories. Away to Manchester City on 22 December, he scored the winning goal from the penalty spot in a 3–2 victory over the title holders. In August 2019, Milivojević signed a contract extension with Crystal Palace keeping him at the club until 2023. On 24 May 2023, it was confirmed he would leave the club upon the expiry of his contract.

International career

He was a member of the Serbia u21 team. He was called-up in the Serbia national team on 29 September 2011, to face

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

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 ...

in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying phase. He made his debut for Serbia on 14 November 2012 for a friendly match with

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 ...

. On 6 October 2017 he scored his first goal for Serbia in a World Cup Qualifying match with

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. In June 2018, he was included in the final 23-man squad for the

. There he appeared in two matches, against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. In March 2021, he retired from international duty at the age of 29.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Serbia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Milivojević goal''.

Honours

Club

;Red Star Belgrade *

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије, Kup Srbije) is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. From 2006 to 2010, the competition was known as the Lav Cup ...

: 2011–12 ;Anderlecht *

: 2013–14 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champion ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

;Olympiacos *

: 2014–15, 2015–16 *

Greek Football 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 ...

: 2014–15

Individual

Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season The Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season is an annual award given to a set of 11 footballers in the top tier of Serbian football, the SuperLiga, who are seen to be the best 11 players of the calendar season. Winners 2008–09 Source 2009–10 ...

: 2011–12, 2012–13

References

External links

Profile
at the Crystal Palace F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Milivojevic, Luka 1991 births Living people Footballers from Kragujevac Serbian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Serbia men's international footballers Serbia men's under-21 international footballers Serbian expatriate men's footballers FK Radnički 1923 players FK Rad players Red Star Belgrade footballers Serbian SuperLiga players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Belgian Pro League players Olympiacos F.C. players Super League Greece players Crystal Palace F.C. players Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in England Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Serbian expatriate sportspeople in England 2018 FIFA World Cup players