Nemanja Nikolić ( sr-Cyrl, Немања Николић, ; hu, Nikolics Nemanja; born 31 December 1987) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

and Hungary national team. Born in

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 ...

, but never selected for the Serbian national team, he chose to represent the Hungary national team instead.

Early life

Nikolić was born in

Senta Senta ( sr-cyrl, Сента, ; Hungarian: ''Zenta'', ; Romanian: ''Zenta'') is a town and municipality located in the North Banat District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the bank of the Tisa river in the ge ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

to a Serbian father and a Hungarian mother. He began his career with his brother at

Club career

Kaposvár

On 7 February 2008, Nikolić was signed by

Kaposvár Kaposvár (; also known by other alternative names) is a city with county rights in the southwestern part of Hungary, south of Lake Balaton. It is one of the leading cities of Transdanubia, the capital of Somogy County, and the seat of the Kaposvá ...

. He played his first match against Videoton. He managed to score thirty goals in just 49 matches therefore many top Hungarian sides wanted to sign him such as

Újpest Újpest (; german: Neu-Pest, en, New Pest) is the 4th District in Budapest, Hungary. It is located on the left bank of the Danube River. The name Újpest means "New Pest" because the city was formed on the border of the city of Pest, Hungary i ...

Ferencváros Ferencváros () is the 9th district of Budapest ( hu, Budapest IX. kerülete), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The development of Fe ...

and Videoton.

Videoton

In 2010 Videoton signed Nikolić. He became top scorer in the 2009–10 season of the

Hungarian League Hungarian may refer to: * Hungary, a country in Central Europe * Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946 * Hungarians, ethnic groups in Hungary * Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the assignme ...

. Nikolić won the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season of the Hungarian League with Videoton. With the arrival of the Portuguese coach

Paulo Sousa Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa, CavIH (; born 30 August 1970) is a Portuguese football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. Starting his career at Benfica, he also represented Sporting CP in his countr ...

he was often left out from the first squad in the early matches of the 2011–12 season of the

. However, as a substitute he managed to score against

Paks Paks is a small town in Tolna county, in the south of Hungary, on the right bank of the Danube River, 100 km south of Budapest. Paks as a former agricultural settlement is now the home of the only Hungarian nuclear power plant, which provi ...

Siófok Siófok (; german: Fock; la, Fuk) is a town in Somogy County, Hungary on the southern bank of Lake Balaton. It is the second largest municipality in Somogy County and the seat of Siófok District. It covers an area of about 124.66 km2 (48.1 ...

(twice),

(twice) and

Pápa Pápa is a historical town in Veszprém county, Hungary, located close to the northern edge of the Bakony Hills, and noted for its baroque architecture. With its 32,473 inhabitants (2011), it is the cultural, economic and tourism centre of the re ...

in a row in the Hungarian League. On 2 August 2012, Nikolić scored the only goal of the first leg of the third round of the

2012–13 UEFA Europa League The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League was the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Amsterdam Aren ...

season, when Videoton beat the Belgian

K.A.A. Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

1–0 at the Sóstói Stadion. He also scored in the second leg of the tie which was won by 3–0 by Videoton at the

Jules Ottenstadion Jules Ottenstadion was a multi-purpose stadium in Gentbrugge, Ghent, Belgium. It was used mostly for football matches and used to be the home ground of K.A.A. Gent. The stadium held 12,919 seats and was built in 1920. It was replaced as the clu ...

. On 4 September 2012, he scored a goal in the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League season when Videoton beat Portugal's

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 ...

3–0 at

Stadion Sóstói Stadion (Greek , Latin ''stadium'', nominative plural ''stadia'' in both Greek and Latin) may refer to: People * Christoph von Stadion (1478–1543), Prince-Bishop of Augsburg * Johann Philipp Stadion, Count von Warthausen (1763–1824), Austrian ...

. On 26 October 2014, Nikolić set a new record scoring in 12 consecutive league matches in the 2014–15 season.

Legia Warsaw

On 8 June 2015, Nikolić joined

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

club,

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

. On 19 July 2015, Nikolić debuted in the 2015–16 season of the

by scoring two goals against

Śląsk Wrocław Wrocławski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Wrocław Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known as WKS Śląsk Wrocław, Śląsk Wrocław () or simply Śląsk, is a Polish football club based in Wrocław that plays in Ekstraklasa, the highest level of the Polish fo ...

at the Stadion Miejski,

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

. On 16 March 2016 Nikolic scored 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 ...

against

Zawisza Bydgoszcz Zawisza Bydgoszcz () is a sports club from Bydgoszcz, Poland, founded in 1946. Its name commemorates a legendary Polish 15th-century knight, Zawisza Czarny (Zawisza the Black). The club holds many sections: football, track and field athletics, b ...

at the Pepsi Arena,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. The match ended with a 4–0 win for Legia Warsaw. On 15 May 2016 Legia became champions of the

2015–16 Ekstraklasa The 2015–16 Ekstraklasa was the 82nd season of the highest level of football leagues in Poland since its establishment in 1927. A total of 16 teams were participating, 14 of which competed in the league during the 2014–15 season, while the ...

season by beating

Pogoń Szczecin Pogoń Szczecin Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Pogoń Szczecin (), is a Polish professional football club, based in Szczecin, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, which plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national football league s ...

3–0 at home. He was the top scorer of the

season, scoring 28 goals in 37 matches.

Chicago Fire

Nikolić joined the Chicago Fire as a

Designated Player The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee ...

for a reported transfer fee of $3 million from

on 20 December 2016 on a three-year deal worth reportedly $1.9 million per year, per MLS Players Union documents. Speaking on the transfer, in a press release by the club, Fire GM Nelson Rodriguez stated "Through this transfer, we have secured a champion in his prime, and one of the most prolific goal scorers in Europe over the last few years". Fire coach

Veljko Paunović Veljko Paunović ( sr-Cyrl, Вељко Пауновић, ; born 21 August 1977) is a Serbian football manager and former player who is the current manager of Liga MX club Guadalajara. A versatile attacking unit, he could operate as an attacking ...

noted his awareness of Nikolić from an early age from his time in Serbia. In an article published by the Fire Paunović praised Nikolić's skillset:

"His quality is scoring goals and assisting, but then he's a man that can participate in both phases of team play," Paunovic said. "He's very good in all phases of the game. Defensively, he helps the team to recover the ball as soon as possible in order that we can control the game and create opportunities for our team to win. Sometimes he will benefit from team play and he will be just the executor, but sometimes he's capable of creating his own situations in the game, the opportunities 1v1, and scoring his own goals."

2017 season

Nikolić's high career strike-rate continued with the Fire, where he became an instant success - leading the league in scoring and acquiring numerous accolades through the first half of the season, and ultimately winning the 2017 MLS Golden Boot. His first goal for the club came in the Fire's 2017 home opener against

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

, in which he scored an unassisted effort in the 11th minute. Nikolić was named to the MLS Team of the Week in week 7 alongside fellow Fire forward

Luis Solignac Luis Emilio Solignac (born 16 February 1991) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for USL Championship side El Paso Locomotive. Career During the 2013 pre-season, he was signed on loan from Club Atlético Platense. Sol ...

. He was additionally selected as MLS player of the week in week 7. He was once again chosen for team of the week in week 11 for his brace in Chicago's 4–1 win against the reigning

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

champion

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club w ...

. With 10 goals through the first 11 games of the season, Nikolić led the league in scoring. With his brace against the

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

on 16 May, he became the first Fire player to score in four straight games since Mike Magee in 2013. This brace once again earned him MLS Team of the Week honors. After week 15 Nikolić continued to lead the league in scoring, with 12 goals in 15 games. He was named to the week 15 Team of the Week for his goal against Atlanta United in Chicago's 2–0 home win alongside Fire players

Bastian Schweinsteiger Bastian Schweinsteiger (; born 1 August 1984) is a German former professional footballer who usually played as a central midfielder. Earlier in his career, he primarily played as a wide midfielder. Schweinsteiger is regarded as one of the great ...

David Accam David Accam (born 28 September 1990) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Finnish club Inter Turku. He has won 11 caps for the Ghana national team. Club career Ghana Accam did not belong to a club during the first t ...

, and João Meira. He was named MLS Player of the Month for May for his six goals and one assist during the Fire's undefeated run during the stretch. A week after Fire teammate David Accam was named player of the week for week 17 for his

against

Orlando City SC Orlando City SC is an American professional soccer club in Orlando, Florida, that competes as a member of the Eastern Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). Orlando City SC began play in 2015 as the 21st franchise in MLS, succeeding the USL ...

, Nikolić earned the same honor on 3 July for his brace against the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

. It was the second time he won the award (the first time in week 7 as noted above). After week 18 Nikolić continued to lead the

MLS Golden Boot The MLS Golden Boot (currently commercially termed "Audi Golden Boot") has been awarded since the 2005 season to Major League Soccer's regular–season leading scorer. The award replaced the MLS Scoring Champion Award that was awarded since the le ...

race with 16 goals in 18 matches. Alongside

Nikolić was named to the "2017 MLS All-Star Fan XI". Nikolic finished the 2017 season as the Golden Boot winner with 24 goals and 4 assists.

2018 season

Nikolić finished the 2018 season as the Fire's top scorer, finishing seventh in scoring league-wide, with 15 goals and 2 assists.

Fehérvár

In February 2020, Nikolić left the Fire on the expiry of his contract and returned to Hungary and former club Videoton now known as Fehérvár. Nikolić was given the number 71 shirt upon his return.

International career

On 11 October 2013, Nikolić debuted in the Hungary national team against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in an 8–1 defeat at the

Amsterdam Arena The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...

in the

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

. On 14 October 2013, Nikolić scored his first goal in the national team against

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

in the 51st minute. His second goal was recorded as an own goal by

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

. On 18 November 2014, Nikolić scored against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

in a 2–1 defeat 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 ...

at the

Groupama Arena Groupama an abbreviation for Groupe des Assurances Mutuelles Agricoles ( en , Group of Mutual Agricultural Insurances) is a French insurance group headquartered in Paris with operations in 10 countries. It is listed in the 2007 ICA Global 300 ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

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

. Nikolić was called up to Hungary's squad for

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

. On 18 June 2016, he played in a 1–1 draw against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

at the

Stade Vélodrome The Stade Vélodrome (; oc, Estadi Velodròm, ), known as the Orange Vélodrome for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Marseille, France. It is home to the Olympique de Marseille football club of Ligue 1 since it opened in 1937, ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

in which his run and far post drive was re-directed in by Iceland for the last minute equalizer. On 3 May 2018, Nikolić announced his retirement from the national team. But this situation has been changed when he agreed with Marco Rossi on his return. On 1 June 2021, Nikolić was included in the final 26-man squad to represent Hungary at the rescheduled

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

tournament.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Club

Videoton *

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

, 2014–15 *

Hungarian League Cup The Hungarian League Cup ( hu, Magyar Ligakupa) was an annual football tournament contested by clubs in the Hungarian League. It was created in 2007 and the competition only lasted for 8 seasons, being cancelled in 2015/2016. Ligakupa Finals The ...

: 2011–12 *

Hungarian Super Cup The Hungarian Super Cup is an annual association football match between the League ( Nemzeti Bajnokság I) champions and the Cup (Magyar Kupa) winners. Winners (*) due to violent incidents during the recent 1997–98 Magyar Kupa Final betwee ...

: 2011, 2012 Legia Warsaw *

: 2015–16, 2016–17 *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in football ( pl, Puchar Polski w piłce nożnej ) is an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs, held continuously from 1950, and is the second most important national title in Polish football after the Ekstraklasa title. ...

: 2015–16

Individual

Top scorer: 2009–10 (18 goals), 2013–14 (18 goals; shared with Attila Simon), 2014–15 (21 goals) *

Top scorer: 2015–16 (28 goals) *

Top scorer: 2015–16 (6 goals) *

Player of the Month: August 2015, September 2015, October 2015 *

Best Forward: 2015–16 *

Best Player: 2015–16 *

Canal + Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or river engineering, engineered channel (geography), channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport watercraft, vehicles (e.g. ...

Spectator Prize: 2015–16 *

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

(24 goals) *

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. Winners *Players in bold were awarded the Landon Donovan MVP Award for that season. Most appearances by a player The following players have appeared ...

* 2017 Hungarian Player of the Year (M4 Sport Gála) *

Best MLS Player ESPY Award The Best MLS Player ESPY Award is an annual award honoring the achievements of an individual from the world of Major League Soccer (MLS). It was first awarded as part of the ESPY Awards in 2006. The Best MLS Player ESPY Award trophy, designed b ...

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 ...

Personal life

On 28 January 2011, Nikolić obtained Hungarian citizenship. András Cser-Palkovics, mayor of

Székesfehérvár Székesfehérvár (; german: Stuhlweißenburg ), known colloquially as Fehérvár ("white castle"), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the regional capital of Central Transdanubia, and the centre of Fejér ...

said that "We know about him that he knows the country, speaks the language since he has big plans with Videoton this year". Nikolić said that "I knew that it is not easy to obtain Hungarian citizenship but I hoped that due to the fact that my mother is Hungarian it would be easier but it turned out to be a bit more difficult."

References

External links

Nemanja Nikolić
profile at magyarfutball.hu
Profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolic, Nemanja 1987 births Living people People from Senta Association football forwards Hungarian footballers Hungary international footballers Naturalized citizens of Hungary Serbian footballers Hungarian people of Serbian descent Serbian people of Hungarian descent FK Senta players Barcsi SC footballers Kaposvölgye VSC footballers Kaposvári Rákóczi FC players Fehérvár FC players Legia Warsaw players Chicago Fire FC players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Nemzeti Bajnokság II players Ekstraklasa players Major League Soccer players Designated Players (MLS) Major League Soccer All-Stars UEFA Euro 2016 players UEFA Euro 2020 players Hungarian expatriate footballers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate footballers in Poland Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States