Nejc Pečnik (born 3 January 1986) is a Slovenian professional footballer who plays for Dravograd. Primarily an attacking midfielder, he can also play as a winger or

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He represented Slovenia at the

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. Prior to that, he had been directly responsible for Slovenia's successful qualification to the tournament as he scored an away goal against Russia in the 2010 World Cup qualification playoffs. Pečnik's older brother, Andrej, is also a former professional footballer.

Club career

Celje

Born in Dravograd, Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia), Pečnik started his career at hometown club Dravograd. After showing promise in its youth teams he was signed by

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, making his first division debut on 24 April 2004 against Ljubljana. The following year Pečnik played in only seven league matches, adding a few cup appearances including the final against Gorica. In the 2005–06 season he managed to gain a regular place in the first team, eventually establishing himself as a key offensive player. In 2007–08, Pečnik was Celje's top scorer with 14 league goals. After five seasons he was loaned out in June 2008 to Sparta Prague, but appeared rarely with the Czech first division outfit during his six-month stay, spending most of his time with the reserve squad.

Nacional

After a further 15 league games with Celje, Pečnik signed with

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of Portugal. On 16 July 2012, after three seasons of irregular playing time, also being loaned to Russian club

Krylia Sovetov Samara PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara (russian: Профессиональный футбольный клуб «Крылья Советов» Самара) is a football club from Russia based in Samara. It returned to the Russian Premier League for the 20 ...

for five months, he signed a two-year deal with Sheffield Wednesday in the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

Sheffield Wednesday

In his official debut with the Owls, on 12 August 2012, Pečnik missed a penalty and was booked before half-time, as his team trailed at Oldham Athletic 2–0. He played the full 90 minutes in an eventual 4–2 win for the season's

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

. Pečnik was released by Wednesday at the end of his only campaign.

Red Star Belgrade

On 1 July 2013, Pečnik agreed a two-year contract with Serbian side Red Star Belgrade. He scored his first goal for Red Star against ÍBV in the second qualifying round of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League.

International career

Pečnik made his debut for the Slovenia national team on 1 April 2009, in a

qualifier against Northern Ireland. He scored his first goal for Slovenia on 10 October 2009, in the same competition, a 2–0 win over Slovakia. On 14 November 2009, he scored a decisive away goal in the 2010 World Cup qualification playoffs, as the national side lost 2–1 against Russia at the Luzhniki Stadium, only to win 1–0 in the second leg, taking the tie on the away goals and qualifying for a World Cup for the second time in the nation's history; in the final stages, he appeared twice as a late substitute, having to be however stretchered off in the match against the United States.

Career statistics

Club

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14 February 2015, Japan, (p. 168 out of 298)

International goals

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

Honours

Celje * Slovenian Cup: 2004–05 Red Star * Serbian SuperLiga: 2013–14

References

External links