Nikola Krstović ( cnr-Cyrl, Никола Крстовић; born 5 April 2000) is a Montenegrin 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 le ...

who plays as a striker for

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 Coppa ...

club

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

and the Montenegro national team. He is considered to be one of the most promising young talents in Montenegro.

Club career

FK Zeta

On 23 April 2016, Krstović made his competitive debut for

Zeta Zeta (, ; uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ; grc, ζῆτα, el, ζήτα, label= Demotic Greek, classical or ''zē̂ta''; ''zíta'') is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 7. It was derived f ...

, being assigned the number 13 jersey. He came on as a second-half substitute for Filip Kukuličić in their 1–1 league draw away against Iskra Danilovgrad, becoming the youngest player ever to appear in a 1. CFL game at the age of 16 years and 18 days old. Until the end of the

2015–16 Montenegrin First League The 2015–16 Montenegrin First League was the tenth season of the top-tier football in Montenegro. The season began on 8 August 2015 and ended on 29 May 2016. Rudar are the defending champions. Teams FK Iskra Danilovgrad, the 2014-15 Second L ...

, Krstović would go on to play in three more fixtures (all as a substitute) as the club hovered around the middle of the table. On 5 November 2016, Krstović made his first appearance of the 2016–17 season, entering the field during the second half of a 1–0 home league win over Bokelj. He scored his first senior goals in March of the following year, netting a brace in a 3–0 away victory over

Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje Fudbalski klub Jedinstvo ( Montenegrin: Фудбалски клуб Јединство) is football club from Bijelo Polje, Montenegro, currently competing in the Montenegrin First League. The club was established in 1922. History FK Jedinstvo ( ...

, making him the first player born in the 2000s to find the back of the net in the top flight of Montenegrin football. In his first full season at Zeta, Krstović played in 19 games (all in the league) and bagged seven goals. On 29 June 2017, Krstović appeared as a starter for Zeta wearing the number 9 shirt in a 1–0 away loss to Željezničar Sarajevo in the first leg of the

2017–18 UEFA Europa League The 2017–18 UEFA Europa League was the 47th season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 9th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2018 UEFA Europ ...

first qualifying round. He then scored an equalizer in the return tie a week later at home (the game ended in a 2–2 draw). In October of the same year, Krstović netted his first senior

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 ...

and led his team to a 4–2 home win over

Kom Kom or KOM may refer to: Ethnic groups * Kom people (Afghanistan), a Nuristani tribe in Afghanistan and Pakistan * Kom people (Cameroon), an ethnic group of northwest Cameroon * Kom people (India) a subgroup of the Kuki in north-eastern India * ...

. He tallied 15 goals in 39 matches across all competitions throughout the season.

Red Star Belgrade

On 25 February 2019, Krstović signed with Serbian club

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

until the summer of 2023 with an option for another year. He remained on loan at Zeta until the end of the season, becoming the

Montenegrin First League The First League of Montenegro ( Montenegrin: ''Prva crnogorska fudbalska liga'' — ''Prva CFL'' — ''1. CFL''; ) is the top football league in Montenegro. Founded in 2006, competition is headed by the Football Association of Montenegro. 10 tea ...

top scorer with 17 goals.

DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda

On 5 September 2021, DAC has announced the signing of Krstović on a four-year contract. DAC's sporting director Jan Van Daele claimed that DAC had scouted Krstović since his youth years in Montenegro. He was given the jersey number 45. Krstović claimed gladness and honour following the contract signing. In 2022–23 Fortuna Liga season, Krstović became the league's top scorer, scoring 18 goals in 27 appearances, up from 4 goals in 11 matches in the previous season.

Lecce

On 17 August 2023, he was signed by Italian

side

and on 27 August he scored on his debut against

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

, securing a 2–2 draw. Then he scored the opening goal at the Stadio Via del mare as giallorossi beat

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, commonly referred to as Salernitana, is an Italian football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recentl ...

2–0 and a goal in a draw against

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

(1-1), thus becoming the first Lecce player to score in his first three games with the club.

International career

Krstović was capped for Montenegro at all youth levels from under-17 through to under-21. He made his debuts for the national under-21 team at the

Valeriy Lobanovskyi Memorial Tournament Valeri Lobanovsky Memorial Tournament ( uk, Турнір Пам'яті Валерія Лобановського) is an international football tournament established in honour and memory of Valeri Lobanovsky since his death on 13 May 2002, hence th ...

in June 2017, appearing in both of his side's matches and scoring a brace in a 3–2 victory over Slovenia U21 in the third-place game. Later that year, Krstović netted a goal in a UEFA Under-21 Championship 2019 qualifier away to

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, as Montenegro suffered a 3–1 loss. On 28 March 2022, he made his senior debut in a home friendly 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 ...

. Krstović scored his first international goal in his fourth appearance on 24 March 2023, to give

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

a 1-0 win away at

in a 2024 European Championship qualifying match.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honours

Red Star Belgrade *

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије, Kup Srbije) is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. From 2006 to 2010, the competition was known as the Lav Cup ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Krstovic, Nikola 2000 births Living people People from Podgorica Municipality Men's association football forwards Montenegrin men's footballers Montenegro men's youth international footballers Montenegro men's under-21 international footballers FK Zeta players Red Star Belgrade footballers RFK Grafičar Beograd players FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda players US Lecce players Montenegrin First League players Serbian SuperLiga players Slovak First Football League players Serbian First League players Serie A players Montenegrin expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Montenegro men's international footballers