Marko Dević ( sr-Cyrl, Марко Девић; ukr, Марко Девiч, Marko Devich; born 27 October 1983) is a retired football player. A naturalized Ukrainian citizen since 2008, Serbian-born Dević made his international debut for his adopted country in 2008. He has since earned over 30 caps and scored 7 international goals for Ukraine. In 2013, he became the first player to score 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 the

Ukraine national football team The Ukraine national football team ( uk, Збірна України з футболу) represents Ukraine in men's international football and is governed by the Ukrainian Association of Football, the governing body for football in Ukraine. Ukr ...

in an official match.

Club career

Early 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 ...

(

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

), Dević started his career at his hometown club

Zvezdara Zvezdara ( sr-cyr, Звездара, ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. The municipality is geographically hilly and with many forests. According to the 2011 census results, the municipality has a population of 148,014 inhabitants. The ...

, making 14 appearances and scoring twice in the 2001–02 season, during which time the club got relegated from the top division. He later played for

Železnik Železnik ( sr-cyr, Железник, ) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Čukarica. Location Železnik is located in the central part of the Čukarica municipality, southwest from down ...

, Radnički Beograd and

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 ...

, all in Serbia. He spent just one year at each of the clubs. He scored three goals in 20 appearances for

, including one goal in 19 league appearances and two goals in one cup match. He scored once in 16 appearances for Radnički, before joining

where he scored four times in 14 appearances.

Ukraine

Volyn Lutsk

In 2005, Ukrainian club

Volyn Lutsk Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. Th ...

acquired Dević. During the 2004–05 Ukrainian Premier League season, he made 14 appearances but failed to score a single goal as Volyn finished in 8th position. The following

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

he netted twice in 18 league appearances for Volyn. At the end of the season the club was relegated. Dević made 32 league appearances for Volyn and one cup appearance, scoring two goals.

Metalist Kharkiv

Myron Markevych Myron Bohdanovych Markevych ( uk, Мирон Богданович Маркевич; born 1 February 1951) is a Ukrainian football manager and a former midfielder. He worked as a manager in the Ukrainian Premier League and the Ukrainian national ...

brought Dević to

Vyscha Liha The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League'' ...

club

Metalist Kharkiv Football Club Metalist Kharkiv ( uk, Футбо́льний Клуб Металі́ст Ха́рків ) is a Ukrainian football club based in Kharkiv that plays in the Ukrainian First League during the 2021–22 season. It was revived 5 years ...

. He scored 4 goals in 27 league appearances in his first season as Metalist finished in 3rd position. In the 2007–08 season, he was the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League'') ...

top scorer with 19 goals in 27 matches played. Close behind him were

Oleksandr Hladky Oleksandr Mykolayovych Hladkyi ( uk, Олександр Миколайович Гладкий, born 24 August 1987) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), forward for ...

, Oleksandr Kosyrin and

Yevhen Seleznyov Yevhen Oleksandrovych Seleznyov ( uk, Євген Олександрович Селезньов; born 20 July 1985) is a Ukrainian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Mynai. He previously played three spells at Shakhtar Donetsk, ...

, each with 17 goals. Despite Dević's prolific scoring, Metalist finished in third place once again. Dević had a slow start ro the 2008–09 season but in the 13th round he scored both goals in a 2–0 win over

Chornomorets Odesa FC Chornomorets Odesa ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Odesa. The club's home ground is the 34,164 capacity Chornomorets Stadium opened in 1935 and rebuilt in 2011. According to the club's website, it was formed in 1936 a ...

. He finished the season with eight goals from 24 league matches as Metalist again finished third. Metalist also made it to the round of 16 in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

but lost out to another Ukrainian side,

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Union, Soviet Dynamo Sports Club, Dynamo Sports Soc ...

, on away goals after a 3–3 aggregate score. Dević scored eight goals in 24 league appearances in the 2008–09 season, with Metalist finishing in 3rd place. In the 2009–10 season he netted eight times in 20 league appearances as Metalist finished third. In the 2010–11 season Dević topped the assist table for the season with 9 assists. He also managed 14 goals in 24 league appearances to become the second highest goal scorer behind

Dnipro Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

, helping Metalist to a 3rd-place finish. The 2011–12 season saw Dević score 11 goals from 26 league matches as Metalist finished 3rd for the sixth season in a row. Metalist also progressed to the quarter final stage 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 ...

, losing out to

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

side Sporting 3–2 on aggregate. Dević scored five goals and three assists in 484 minutes of play in the competition, finishing in a tie for eighth place in the scoring charts. He left the club in 2012 after six seasons to join the reigning

champions

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was f ...

. Dević managed to score 64 goals in 148 league appearances for Metalist and 75 from 192 appearances in all competitions.

Shakhtar Donetsk

Dević joined Shakhtar during the 2012–13 Premier League season on a four-year contract for a fee of £4.4 million. Although he had the number 33 at Metalist, he instead took number 18 at Shakhtar as the number 33 shirt was already assigned to

Darijo Srna Darijo Srna (; born 1 May 1982) is a Croatian former professional footballer and current director of football of Ukrainian Premier League club Shakhtar Donetsk. During most of his career he played as a right wing-back. He began his career at Haj ...

. He made his first appearance for Shakhtar as a 77th-minute substitute for

Alex Teixeira Alex Teixeira Santos (; born 6 January 1990) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Vasco da Gama. Teixeira began his career with Vasco da Gama, making his debut for the senior team at the age of 18, before moving ...

in a 2–0 victory over

Metalurh Donetsk Football Club Metalurh Donetsk ( uk, Футбо́льний клуб «Металу́рг» Доне́цьк, ) was a Ukrainian professional football club based in Donetsk that went bankrupt in July 2015. History Club predecessor Football ...

in the 2012 Super Cup. This success marked Dević's first trophy. His league debut for Shakhtar came in a comprehensive 6–0 victory over

Arsenal Kyiv Football Club Arsenal Kyiv () is a Ukrainian football club based in Kyiv. In 2019, the club's professional team was dissolved, but its junior teams continue to compete in city competitions. The club claims to be a successor of Kyiv Arsenal fa ...

. He came on as a substitute for Alex Teixeira in the 69th minute and scored his first goal for Shakhtar, a penalty, in the 94th minute of the match. His first start came in a commanding 4–0 victory over

. He scored the first goal of the match after 4 minutes and added an assist for

Henrikh Mkhitaryan Henrikh Mkhitaryan ( hy, Հենրիխ Մխիթարյան, ; born 21 January 1989) is an Armenian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for club Inter Milan. Mkhitaryan won four Armenian Premier League title ...

. He scored another goal in a 4–1 win against

Vorskla The Vorskla (; ) is a river that runs from Belgorod Oblast in Russia southwards into northeastern Ukraine, where it joins the Dnieper. It has a length of , and a basin area of .Al Rayyan Al Rayyan (; also spelled as ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipality in the state of Qatar. Its primary settlement is the city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and largely surrounds Metropolitan Doha and funct ...

, where he played 18 games and scored 11 goals. He helped his team win promotion to the

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League ( ar, دوري نجوم قطر), or the QSL, also called QNB Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotio ...

. On 17 January 2017, Dević signed a 1.5-year deal with a

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

FC Rostov FC Rostov (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб Ростов) is a Russian professional football club based in Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast. The club are members of the Russian Premier League, and play at the Rostov Arena. After the 20 ...

. After only six months, Dević left Rostov on 17 June 2017.

Later career

On 7 August 2017, he joined

FC Vaduz FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

. On 4 August 2018, Dević signed a two-year contract with Sabah FC. On 16 January 2020, Sabah announced the return of Dević on a contract until the end of the 2019–20 season. Dević left Sabah on 24 April 2020.

International career

In June 2008, Dević became a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

Ukrainian citizen in hopes of playing for the

. Although Dević is not the first footballer from outside the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

to accept Ukrainian citizenship, his decision has led to numerous discussions in the media on the adoption of foreign players. The first international player to become a naturalized Ukrainian was

Mamadi Sangare Mamadi Sangare ( uk, Мамаді Сангаре; born 4 December 1982) is a retired Guinean-Ukrainian footballer who played as a defender. Sangaré last played for FC Avanhard Kramatorsk. He is better known for playing in CSKA Kyiv and being t ...

from

Conakry Conakry (; ; sus, Kɔnakiri; N’ko: ߞߐߣߊߞߙߌ߫, Fula: ''Konaakiri'' 𞤑𞤮𞤲𞤢𞥄𞤳𞤭𞤪𞤭) is the capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its p ...

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

, who in 2008 played for

FC Desna Chernihiv Football Club Desna Chernihiv ( uk, ФК «Десна» Чернігів) is a Ukrainian football club based in Chernihiv. The original name of the club was "Avanhard" (FC Avanhard Chernihiv) during its first year of existence as part of a repu ...

, and before that

FC CSKA Kyiv FC CSKA Kyiv ( uk, "ЦСКА Київ") is a Ukrainian amateur football club, until 2001 of the Central Sports Club of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is government sponsored by the Ministry of Defense. As its farm team CSKA-2 Kyiv, in 1994– ...

. Dević also had a very successful season in 2007–08, scoring 19 goals and becoming top scorer, putting pressure on national team coach Olexiy Mykhailychenko to select him. But Mykhailychenko hesitated, stating that one great season might not be enough to justify Devic's selection for Ukraine. Nonetheless, he did cap Dević for a friendly match against Norway on 19 November 2008, becoming the third naturalized citizen on the Ukraine national football team called up at that time, along with

Oleksandr Aliyev Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Aliyev ( ua, Олександр Олександрович Алієв, russian: Александр Александрович Алиев); (born 3 February 1985) is a Ukrainian former professional footballer of Russian ...

and

Artem Milevskyi Artem Volodymyrovych Milevskyi ( uk, Артем Володимирович Мілевський, be, Арцём Уладзіміравіч Мілеўскі; born 12 January 1985) is a Ukrainian former professional footballer who played as a se ...

. Dević played the second half of the match and wore the number 10 shirt. In the next couple of years his match participation dropped noticeably, due to his low performance in the Premier League as well as not scoring with the national team. Dević was a member of Ukraine's squad for

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

. On 19 June 2012, he was in the starting line-up for the game 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 ...

in the final round of games before the quarter-finals. Ukraine lost 0–1, with

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Major League Soccer club D.C. United in the United States. He spent much of his playing career as a forward while als ...

's second-half header carrying England through at the Donbass Arena in

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...

. However, Dević had a goal disallowed in the second half when

John Terry John George Terry (born 7 December 1980) is an English professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea, the England national team and Aston Villa. He was most recently the assi ...

hooked the ball clear off the goal line, as confirmed by video replays. England ultimately won Group D and advanced along with France, while Ukraine were eliminated. Dević's "ghost goal" reopened football's

goal-line technology In many outdoor ball sports, a goal line is a line in front of goal post and which a team attempts to advance the ball or puck towards to score a goal or points. In particular, see: * Football pitch A football pitch (also known as soccer fiel ...

debate. Replays of the build-up also appeared to show Dević's teammate,

, who set up Dević, in an offside position when the ball was played to him, although the play was not flagged for offside by match officials. On the following day, however,

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

and its chief refereeing officer,

Pierluigi Collina Pierluigi Collina (; born 13 February 1960) is an Italian former football referee. He was named "The World's Best Referee" by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics six consecutive times from 1998-2003. Collina is still i ...

, delivered their final verdict: match officials had erroneously denied Dević and Ukraine a legitimate goal.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Ukraine's goal tally first.''

Honours

;Radnički Beograd *

Second League of Serbia and Montenegro The Second League of Serbia and Montenegro was the second tier of the football league system in Serbia and Montenegro, one level below the First League of Serbia and Montenegro. History Formed in 1992 after the breakup of Yugoslavia, it consisted ...

(1): 2003–04 ;Shakhtar Donetsk *

(1): 2012–13 *

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( uk, Кубок України) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003� ...

(1): 2012–13 *

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup ( uk , Суперкубок України) is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football (soccer), football competiti ...

(1):

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

;Al-Rayyan *

Qatari Second Division The Qatari Second Division ( ar, دوري الدرجة الثانية القطري), QSD or Second Division League, also was known as Qatargas League due to sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of football league competition in Qatar. Contested ...

(1): 2014–15 ;Vaduz *

Liechtenstein Football Cup The Liechtenstein Football Cup is Liechtenstein's premier football competition, and has been organised annually by the Liechtenstein Football Association (LFV) since 1946. The winner qualifies to take part in the UEFA Europa Conference League. ...

(1): 2017–18 ;Individual *

Ukraine Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League'') ...

Top Scorer: 2007–08

References

External links

*
Profile at Metalist's official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Devic, Marko 1983 births Living people Men's association football forwards Men's association football midfielders Naturalized citizens of Ukraine Footballers from Belgrade Serbian emigrants to Ukraine Serbia and Montenegro expatriate men's footballers Serbian expatriate men's footballers Serbian men's footballers Ukrainian men's footballers Ukraine men's international footballers Ukrainian expatriate men's footballers FK Zvezdara players FK Železnik players FK Radnički Beograd players FK Voždovac players FC Metalist Kharkiv players FC Volyn Lutsk players FC Shakhtar Donetsk players FC Rubin Kazan players FC Rostov players Al-Rayyan SC players FC Vaduz players Sabah FC (Azerbaijan) players Ukrainian Premier League players Russian Premier League players Serbian SuperLiga players Swiss Challenge League players Qatari Second Division players Azerbaijan Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Ukrainian sportspeople in Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian War Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in Liechtenstein Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Liechtenstein Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Liechtenstein Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia UEFA Euro 2012 players Ukrainian Premier League top scorers