Milan Janković (; born 31 December 1959) is a Serbian retired

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 midfielder.

Club career

Born in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Socialist Republic of Serbia , life_span = 1944–1992 , status = Constituent state of Yugoslavia , p1 = Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia , flag_p1 = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg , p2 ...

, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Janković played youth football with Red Star Belgrade, signing in 1978 with

NK Maribor NK may refer to: Businesses *Imerys (Euronext ticker code NK) *Nordiska Kompaniet, a department store in Stockholm, Sweden *Northrup-King Seed Company *Spirit Airlines (IATA code NK) *NK.pl, a Polish school-based social networking service Places ...

alongside

Vladislav Bogićević Vladislav Bogićević ( sr-Cyrl, Владислав Богићевић, ; born 7 November 1950) is a Serbian retired football (soccer) player. He is a member of the American National Soccer Hall of Fame. Club career Bogićević's playing care ...

and Rade Radić in exchange for the best Slovenian player at the time, Milan Arnejčič. Two years later, however, he returned to his previous club, going on to be an important member as the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

side won two leagues and as many

cups CUPS (formerly an acronym for Common UNIX Printing System) is a modular computer printer, printing system for Unix-like computer operating systems which allows a computer to act as a print server. A computer running CUPS is a Server (computi ...

; he also missed the entire 1982–83 season due to injury. In late January 1987, aged 27, Janković was allowed to leave his country, joining La Liga powerhouse

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and being a starter in most of his first full campaign, teaming up in midfield with

Rafael Gordillo Rafael Gordillo Vázquez (born 24 February 1957) is a Spanish retired footballer. A tremendously attacking left wing-back, equally at ease as defender and midfielder and with a good effort rate, he had an unmistakable style of playing with his ...

, Míchel and

Rafael Martín Vázquez Rafael Martín Vázquez (born 25 September 1965) is a Spanish former professional Association football, footballer who played mostly as an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder. He represented most notably Real Madrid CF, Real ...

in support of

strikers Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

Emilio Butragueño and

Hugo Sánchez Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born 11 July 1958) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager, who played as a forward. A prolific goalscorer known for his spectacular strikes and volleys, he is widely regarded as the greatest Mexican fo ...

, as the ''Merengues'' won the league with 95 goals scored. Janković closed out his career in 1990 at the age of 30, after two seasons with

R.S.C. Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer , ...

in Belgium.

International career

Janković won 12 caps for Yugoslavia in three years, but did not attend any major international tournament. He scored on his debut, a 2–4

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

loss with Brazil on 30 April 1986. In the 2000s, Janković coached the Tonga national team.

Post-retirement

In 1991, the year after ending his playing career, Janković emigrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, settling in

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

with his

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

-born wife.Real Madrid legend aims for A-League
FourFourTwo, 22 April 2009

Honours

Club

Red Star Belgrado

* Yugoslav First League: 1980–81, 1983–84 * Yugoslav Cup: 1981–82, 1984–85 Real Madrid * La Liga: 1986–87, 1987–88 Anderlecht * Belgian Cup: 1988–89 * European Cup Winners' Cup: 1989–90 ( runners-up) * Bruges Matins: 1988

References

External links

*
National team data
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jankovic, Milan 1959 births Living people Footballers from Belgrade Yugoslav footballers Serbian footballers Association football midfielders Yugoslav First League players NK Maribor players Red Star Belgrade footballers La Liga players Real Madrid CF players Belgian Pro League players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Yugoslavia international footballers Serbian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Belgium Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Serbian football managers Serbian expatriate football managers Tonga national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Tonga Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Tonga Serbian emigrants to Australia