Miljan Mrdaković (, ; 6 May 1982 – 22 May 2020) was 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 lea ...

who played as a striker. A

journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

, he played for 20 clubs across ten countries and scored 150 goals in all competitions. He also represented

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

at the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

Club career

Mrdaković was born in

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. After starting out at Radnički Niš and Partizan he moved to Belgian club

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 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, B ...

at the age of 16, playing for their youth and reserve teams before going on loan to fellow

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

side Eendracht Aalst in early 2002. Subsequently, Mrdaković returned to his homeland and signed for

OFK Beograd OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English language, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club''), also known in English as OFK Belgrade and currently referred to as OFK ...

on a free transfer. He was his team's top scorer in the 2002–03 season and third overall with 20 league goals, and in August 2003 transferred back to Belgium by joining Gent on a four-year contract. He left by mutual agreement in April 2004, then spent a further one and a half years with OFK. In early 2005, Mrdaković signed with Austria Salzburg. Six months later, he left for Metalist Kharkiv of the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

and, in August 2006, was acquired by Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv. During his spell at the latter, he scored eight times in all competitions. After spending the 2007–08 campaign in the Portuguese

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

with Vitória de Guimarães, Mrdaković plied his trade in the Chinese Super League with Shandong Luneng Taishan. In July 2009, he agreed to a two-year deal at

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship tit ...

. He failed to make an immediate impact, being loaned to fellow

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

club Ethnikos Achna the following

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

. Mrdaković returned to the Tsirio Stadium for 2010–11, netting a career-best 21 goals to lead all players. In June 2011, he signed with

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC (, "Athletic Union Kition (ancient state), Kition of Larnaca") is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional association football, football club based in Larnaca. The club was formed in 1994 after a merger of two historical Larnaca clubs, EP ...

on a three-year contract. He scored seven times in the league during his tenure, leaving in February 2012. In early 2012, Mrdaković rejoined the Chinese top flight with Jiangsu Sainty. He returned to Cyprus shortly after, joining Enosis Neon Paralimni. After a few months in the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

with

Veria Veria (; ), officially transliterated Veroia, historically also spelled Beroea or Berea, is a city in Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, northern Greece, capital of the regional unit of Imathia. It is located north-nor ...

, Mrdaković moved to Tampines Rovers of Singapore in January 2014 as their marquee player. He scored 25 goals overall, helping his team to win two cup titles ( Charity Shield in

February February is the second month of the year in the Julian calendar, Julian and Gregorian calendars. The month has 28 days in common years and 29 in leap years, with the February 29, 29th day being called the ''leap day''. February is the third a ...

and League Cup in

July July is the seventh month of the year in the Julian calendar, Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. It was named by the Roman Senate in honour of Roman general Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., being the month of his birth. Before the ...

). In February 2015, Mrdaković returned to Greece and signed with Levadiakos. He joined

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...

on a one-year deal in June, scoring twice in the qualifying rounds of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

as the side progressed to the play-off round. Mrdaković returned to OFK Beograd on 19 January 2017, stating his intention to retire at the club.

International career

Mrdaković represented

FR Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

at the 2001 UEFA European Under-18 Championship. He was also capped for the national under-21 team, but saw little action due to a conflict with Vladimir Petrović. In July 2008, Mrdaković was called up by Miroslav Đukić to the Serbia squad for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

; he was one of the three overage players alongside Aleksandar Živković and Vladimir Stojković. He appeared in all three group stage matches, scoring in the 4–2 loss against

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

. Mrdaković received his first call-up to a full Serbia squad in May 2011, when Petrović selected him for two friendlies in Asia and Oceania. However, he missed the mini tour due to an injury picked up in a training session.

Death

Mrdaković died by suicide in the Zvezdara

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

on 22 May 2020, aged 38.

Career statistics

Honours

Shandong Luneng Taishan * Chinese Super League:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Tampines Rovers * Singapore League Cup:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* Singapore Charity Shield:

Individual *

top scorer: 2010–11

References

External links