Vladan Kovačević ( sr-Cyrl, Владан Ковачевић, ; born 11 April 1998) 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 le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Ekstraklasa club

Raków Częstochowa Robotniczy Klub Sportowy Raków Częstochowa Spółka Akcyjna (commonly referred to as Raków Częstochowa, or simply Raków) is a Polish professional football club, based in Częstochowa, that competes in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of na ...

. Kovačević started his professional career at

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

, who loaned him to Sloboda Mrkonjić Grad in 2018. Three years later, he joined Raków Częstochowa.

Club career

Sarajevo

Kovačević started playing football at his howetown club Željezničar Banja Luka, before joining

's youth academy in 2014. In February 2018, he was sent on a six-month loan to Sloboda Mrkonjić Grad. He made his professional debut against Kozara Gradiška on 17 March at the age of 19. In August, Kovačević signed a new five-year deal with Sarajevo. On 5 August, he made his official debut for the team against Sloboda Tuzla. He won his first title with the club on 15 May 2019, by beating

Široki Brijeg , , nickname = , motto = , image_map = BiH municipality location Široki Brijeg.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location o ...

Bosnian Cup The Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kup Bosne i Hercegovine, Куп Босне и Херцеговине) is a knock-out football competition contested annually by clubs from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The winner ...

final.

Raków Częstochowa

In June 2021, Kovačević was transferred to Polish outfit

for an undisclosed fee. He made his competitive debut for the club in

2021 Polish Super Cup The 2021 Polish Super Cup was the 31st Polish Super Cup, an annual Polish football match played between the reigning winners of the Ekstraklasa and Polish Cup. The Ekstraklasa champions Legia Warsaw faced Polish Cup winners Raków Częstochowa. ...

game against

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 17 July and managed to win his first trophy. A week later, he made his league debut against

Piast Gliwice Gliwicki Klub Sportowy Piast Gliwice () is a Polish football club based in Gliwice. In the 2018–19 season, Piast won its first Polish championship. As of 2022–23, it competes in the Ekstraklasa, Poland's top division. History The club wa ...

. In July 2022, he extended his contract until June 2026.

International career

Youth

Kovačević was a member of Bosnia and Herzegovina under-21 team under coach

Vinko Marinović Vinko Marinović (born 3 March 1971) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Bosnian Premier League club Borac Banja Luka. Club career Marinović started playing football at nine years of age with the yo ...

Senior

In May 2019, he received his first senior Bosnia and Herzegovina call-up, for UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, but did not debut. In February 2023, Kovačević accepted an invitation to the Serbia national team and was expected to make his debut in June. However, according to

FIFA eligibility rules As the governing body of association football, FIFA is responsible for maintaining and implementing the rules that determine whether an association football player is eligible to represent a particular country in officially recognised internation ...

, Kovačević can only play for the

Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team The Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team ( bs, Nogometna/Fudbalska reprezentacija Bosne i Hercegovine; sr, Фудбалска репрезентација Боснe и Херцеговинe, Fudbalska reprezentacija Bosne i Hercegovi ...

Personal life

Kovačević married his long-time girlfriend Sofija in June 2022. Together they have two daughters named Zona and Sija.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Sarajevo *

Bosnian Premier League The m:tel Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( bs, m:tel Premijer liga Bosne i Hercegovine / м:тел Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), also known as Liga 12, is the top tier football league in Bosnia and He ...

: 2018–19, 2019–20 *

: 2018–19,

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 ...

Raków Częstochowa * Ekstraklasa:

2022–23 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 ...

* Polish Cup: 2021–22 *

Polish Super Cup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2021, the Polish Super Cup has been pl ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Individual * Ekstraklasa Goalkeeper of the Season: 2021–22,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kovacevic, Vladan 1998 births Living people Footballers from Banja Luka Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina men's footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina men's under-21 international footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate men's footballers Naturalized citizens of Serbia Serbian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers FK Sarajevo players FK Sloboda Mrkonjić Grad players Raków Częstochowa players First League of the Republika Srpska players Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina players Ekstraklasa players Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Poland