Nikola Jovanović (

Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

: Никола Joвaнoвић; born 18 September 1952) is a retired Montenegrin

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 ...

. Representing Yugoslavia during his career, he is known for being first player from outside the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

to join

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. He is now a sports director of

FK Budućnost Podgorica Fudbalski Klub Budućnost Podgorica (Cyrillic: Будућност Подгорица, , lit. "Future") is a Montenegrin football club from Podgorica, Montenegro. It is competing in the Montenegrin First League. Its colours are blue and white. ...

Club career

Jovanović was one of the most successful players of, then Yugoslav, giant

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

where he played as a defender and had an impressive overall record of 359 matches and 50 goals for the

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

side. He then made history when he became the first Yugoslav footballer to play for leading English league side

, where he made 21

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

appearances in the early 1980s after being signed by manager

Dave Sexton David James Sexton (6 April 1930 – 25 November 2012) was an English football manager and player. He was notable for managing Chelsea to their first ever major European trophy. Playing career Son of former professional boxer Archie Sext ...

. In addition, he was the first non-

player to be signed by the club — Italian-born Carlo Sartori, who played for United during the 1960s and 1970s, moved to Manchester as a child and came through the club's youth system. Before signing for Manchester United he turned down an offer from

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

and decided in favour of the English side. In January 1980, Manchester United made Jovanović one of the club's most expensively signed players at the time by paying £300,000 for his services to

(it was Red Star's and

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

record transfer fee at the time). However, his time at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

was short lived and he failed to justify his transfer fee. By the end of his first season he began suffering from chronic back pain and before long was on his way back to his native

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

. After being injured for almost two seasons he retired at the age of 31. Before he returned to Yugoslavia, he went to Hong Kong joined Sea Bees football team from quarter 4 1982 to February 1983.

International career

Jovanović made his debut for

in an April 1979 European Championship qualification away against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

and has earned a total of 7 caps, scoring no goals. He was part of the squad at the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national foo ...

and his final international was a June 1982 World Cup match against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

Personal life

Born in

Cetinje Cetinje (, ) is a town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital (''prijestonica'' / приjестоница) of Montenegro and is the location of several national institutions, including the official residence of the president of Montenegro ...

, present day

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

, he resides with his family in

Mengeš Mengeš (; german: Mannsburg''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 28.) is a settlement in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. It is the ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. He has worked as sports director at Slovenian club

NK Domžale Nogometni klub Domžale ( en, Domžale Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Domžale or simply Domžale, is a Slovenian football club that plays in the town of Domžale. They have won both the Slovenian League and the Slovenian Cup twice. ...

and was offered jobs as Montenegrin national team coach and as sports director at former club Budućnost. He took up the latter role in summer 2013.Budućnost Podgorica look to start from scratch
- UEFA

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jovanovic, Nikola 1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Cetinje Yugoslav footballers Montenegrin footballers Association football defenders FK Budućnost Podgorica players Red Star Belgrade footballers Manchester United F.C. players Yugoslav First League players English Football League players Yugoslavia international footballers 1982 FIFA World Cup players Yugoslav expatriate footballers Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia