Nemanja "Neno" Gudelj ( sr-Cyrl, Немања Гудељ; born 16 November 1991) is 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 ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

side

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

and the Serbia national team. He is the son of former player

Nebojša Gudelj Nebojša Gudelj (Serbian Cyrillic: Небојша Гудељ; born 23 September 1968) is a Serbian football manager and former player. Playing career Born in Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Gudelj started out at his hometown club Leotar, co ...

and the older brother of Dragiša Gudelj.

Club career

NAC Breda

Gudelj signed his first professional contract with NAC Breda in July 2009 but failed to make an official appearance in his debut season despite being named on the bench several times.

AZ

In the summer of 2013 Gudelj transferred to

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 ho ...

for a fee of around €3 million, sold by his father who was manager at NAC, signing a four-year contract. He received interest from Portuguese club

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

Ajax

On 6 May 2015, it was announced that Gudelj would join

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

starting from the 2015–16 season. Along with him, his younger brother Dragiša would move to Ajax youth team and his father Nebojša would become a scout for the club focusing primarily on scouting players from

the Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

and Serbia. On 5 November 2016, Gudelj was removed from the first team selection after stating he couldn't be motivated when not starting.

Tianjin TEDA

On 5 January 2017, Ajax announced Gudelj would transfer to

Tianjin TEDA Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Tianjin, and their home stadium is t ...

on 25 January 2017 for a sum rumoured to be around €5.5 million.

Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao

On 28 January 2018,

Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Guangzhou Football Club, formerly known as Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club, is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under the license of the Chinese Football Association. The team is based ...

announced that Gudelj was transferred from

and signed a 2-year contract. The transfer fee was not announced. He made his debut for Guangzhou on 21 February 2018 in a 0–0 away draw against Cerezo Osaka in the second group stage match of 2018 AFC Champions League. On 14 March, he scored his first goal for the club in the fourth group stage match of the AFC Champions League against

Jeju United Jeju United Football Club (Hangul: 제주 유나이티드) is a South Korean professional football club based in Jeju Province that competes in the K League 1, the top division in South Korea. In the past, the club has been known as the ''Yukon ...

, which ensured Guangzhou Evergrande's 2–0 away win. Gudelj was excluded from first team squad in July 2018 due to the limitation of the number of foreign players.

Sporting CP (loan)

On 23 August 2018, Gudelj was loaned to

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

side

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

for the 2018–19 season. The contract at will extend for four years as a Sporting CP player. The actual loan contract expires in the end of the season so he would move as a free player .

Sevilla

On 23 July 2019, Gudelj signed with Spanish side

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

. In July 2020 he tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

International career

After being capped at the U19 and U21 levels, Gudelj earned his first cap for

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 ...

on 5 March 2014, in a 2–1 away win over

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

after coming on as a last minute substitute for

Antonio Rukavina Antonio Rukavina (, ; born 26 January 1984) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a right-back. Club career Rukavina started out at his local club Bežanija, making his senior debuts in the 2002–03 season, as they won prom ...

. In 2014, Gudelj played for the national team a further four times, playing against

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

twice,

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. In July 2014 his former coach at AZ,

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former football player and coach who is currently the head coach of Eerste Divisie side ADO Den Haag. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a coach, including three sti ...

, was named as Serbia's national team manager for the Euro 2016 campaign. He scored his first goal on 18 November 2014 in a 2–0 away friendly win against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. In November 2022, he was selected in Serbia's squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

in Qatar. He played in group stage matches against

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Serbia finished fourth in the group.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao *

Chinese FA Super Cup The Chinese FA Super Cup (), formerly named Chinese Football Super Cup (), is a pre-season football competition held before the season begins in China. It is a Chinese football championship contested by the winners of top division of Profession ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Sporting CP *

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

: 2018–19 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

: 2018–19 Sevilla *

UEFA 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 ...

: 2019–20

References

External links

Profile
at the Sevilla FC website * *

Official Twitter account
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gudelj, Nemanja 1991 births Living people Footballers from Belgrade Serbian footballers Association football midfielders Serbia international footballers Serbia under-21 international footballers NAC Breda players AZ Alkmaar players AFC Ajax players Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. players Guangzhou F.C. players Sporting CP footballers Sevilla FC players Eredivisie players Chinese Super League players Primeira Liga players La Liga players Serbian expatriate footballers Serbian expatriate sportspeople in China Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in China Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Spain UEFA Europa League winning players 2022 FIFA World Cup players