Milos Kerkez ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Керкез; born 7 November 2003) is a 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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

club

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and host ...

. Born in Serbia, he represents the Hungary national team.

Club career

Kerkez joined Austrian side

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

in 2014, and played there until 2019.

Győr

In 2020, he was signed by

Nemzeti Bajnokság II NB II, currently known as the Merkantil Bank Liga for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of Hungarian football. At the end of the 2004–05 season, the tournament format was changed from one division of 14 teams to two divisions: ''Keleti' ...

club

Győri ETO FC ETO FC Győr (''Egyetértés Torna Osztály Futball Club Győr''; ''Concordance Gymnastics Department Football Club of Győr'') or just ETO, is a football club from the city of Győr in Hungary. They are best known for reaching the semi-finals of ...

. In an interview with scoutedftbl.com, Kerkez said that during his period at Győr he decided to become a Hungarian international because he got a lot of help and support from his coaches and teammates in Győr.

AC Milan

On 2 February 2021, he was signed by

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

giant

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

Paolo Maldini Paolo Cesare Maldini (; born 26 June 1968) is an Italian former professional footballer who played primarily as a left back and centre back for AC Milan and the Italy national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of a ...

phoned him a couple of days before the end of the transfer season. Kerkez, in an interview with

Nemzeti Sport ''Nemzeti Sport'' (the title means "National Sport") is a Hungarian sports daily. History and profile ''Nemzeti Sport'' was founded in 1903. The paper is owned by Ringier of Switzerland. It is frequently cited by quality English-language media The ...

, said that you cannot say no when Maldini calls you. So Kerkez decided to leave Győr and join AC Milan. On 17 July 2021, Kerkez played his first match with the senior team in a training match against Pro Sesto 1913. However, he was not given enough opportunity; therefore, he decided to leave AC Milan in 2022.

AZ

On 29 January 2022, he was signed by

club

. On 19 May 2022, he played his first match for AZ against

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July ...

at the

Abe Lenstra Stadion Abe Lenstra Stadion () is a football stadium, located in Heerenveen, Netherlands. It is currently used mostly as a home ground for Eredivisie club Heerenveen. The current capacity is 27.224. Naming The stadium is named after Abe Lenstra, general ...

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

, the Netherlands. The match ended with a 3-2 win for Heerenveen and Kerkez was substituted in the 77th minute. On 14 August 2022, he scored his first goal in the

against Sparta Rotterdam at the

Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel The Sparta Stadion, nicknamed Het Kasteel () is a football stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It is the home ground of Sparta Rotterdam. It has a capacity of 11,026. History and layout The stadium is located in the neighbourhood of Spangen, whe ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

in the

2022–23 Eredivisie The 2022–23 Eredivisie is the 67th season of Eredivisie, the premier football competition in the Netherlands. It began on 5 August 2022 and will conclude on 28 May 2023. As the 2022 FIFA World Cup will start on 20 November, the last round bef ...

season. The match was won by AZ 3-2 and Kerkez scored the winning goal in the 77th minute.

International career

Kerkez was called up by the senior

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

team for the Nations League matches 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 ...

(home),

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 ...

(away),

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 ...

(home) and

(away) on 4, 7, 11 and 14 June 2022 respectively. He made his first senior national team appearance on 23 September 2022, against Germany (away).

Career statistics

Club

Notes

References

2003 births Living people People from Vrbas, Serbia Hungarian footballers Serbian footballers Serbian people of Hungarian descent Association football defenders FK Hajduk Kula players SK Rapid Wien players Győri ETO FC players A.C. Milan players AZ Alkmaar players Nemzeti Bajnokság II players Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players Hungary youth international footballers Hungary under-21 international footballers Hungary international footballers Hungarian expatriate footballers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate footballers in Austria Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands {{Hungary-footy-defender-stub