Veljko Petković (born September 5, 2000) is an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player 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

Minnesota United FC 2 Minnesota United FC 2 is an American professional soccer team that is located in St. Paul, Minnesota. It is the reserve team of Minnesota United FC and participates in MLS Next Pro. History On December 6, 2021, Minnesota United FC were named ...

. Petković is the most recent recipient of the

TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Year Award TopDrawerSoccer.com (TDS) is an American soccer website that is dedicated to youth soccer in the United States. Specifically, the website focuses on Academy soccer, high school soccer, and college soccer in the United States. The website was laun ...

, a national recognition for the top college soccer player in the United States.

Early life

Petković was born in 2000 to Serbian parents, Nataša and Bojan Petkovic, in the

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

borough of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He is one of three children and attended Maspeth High School.

Career

Youth and college

Petković played youth soccer for the Woodhaven Soccer Club in Queens before joining the

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned ...

academy in 2015. Upon graduating high school, he signed a

National Letter of Intent National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

to play collegiate soccer for the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

ahead of the

2019 NCAA Division I men's soccer season The 2019 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 61st season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The regular season began on August 30, 2019 and continued into the third weekend of November 2019. The season culminated with the four-team ...

. Immediately upon joining Pittsburgh, Petković became a starter. During his freshman year, he made 19 appearances, garnering 15 starts and tallying six goals and five assists, the second best in each category on the team. Petković's performance during the 2019 season helped him earn All-ACC Third Team and All-ACC Freshman Team honors. During his freshman year, he helped Pittsburgh earn their first berth into the

NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament The NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, sometimes known as the College Cup, is an American intercollegiate soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I men's national champi ...

since 1965, the longest active drought in the nation for a program that had previously qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Petković had a breakout season his sophomore year of college. During the

2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season The 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 62nd season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The season was originally slated to begin on August 28, 2020 and conclude on November 15, 2020. The season was to culminate with the 2020 ...

, Petković finished as one of the top goal scorers in the country, tallying nine goals and ranking second in the ACC and eighth in the country. He combined for a total of 26 points, which was second in the ACC and fifth in the nation. Petković's performance helped the Pittsburgh Panthers earn their first ever trip to the College Cup (NCAA National Semifinals) before they lost to national finalists, Indiana. Concluding the 2020 season, Petković was named the National Player of the Year by ''

Top Drawer Soccer A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect. Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few se ...

''. While it was speculated that Petkovic would go pro and declare for the

2021 MLS SuperDraft The 2021 MLS SuperDraft was the 22nd edition of the SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held every January prior to the start of the MLS season. The 2020 SuperDraft was the first held exclusively via conference call and ...

, he returned to Pitt for his junior year. Ahead of the

2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer season The 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 63rd season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. After the 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 season partially returned to normal. H ...

, he was named to the MAC Herman Trophy watchlist. Petkovic left the University of Pittsburgh during the 2021 season after leaving a match on October 1, 2021, with an injury.

Personal life

Petković has two brothers, Bratislav and Ognjen Petković. His brother, Bratislav, plays collegiate soccer for

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...

References

External links

Veljko Petković
at

Athletics {{DEFAULTSORT:Petkovic, Veljko 2000 births Living people American people of Serbian descent Association football midfielders Expatriate soccer players in the United States Pittsburgh Panthers men's soccer players Serbian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Serbian footballers Sportspeople from Queens, New York Soccer players from New York City American soccer players