Ognjen Ožegović ( sr-cyr, Огњен Ожеговић, ; born 9 June 1994) 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, rugb ...

who plays as a striker for

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

club

Volos Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...

Club career

Born in Gradiška, Ožegović made his first football steps with the local club Kozara and later he moved to

Borac Banja Luka Fudbalski klub Borac Banja Luka (Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Бopaц Бања Лука, ) is a Bosnian professional association football club, based in the city of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, ...

. Subsequently, Ožegović went through the youth setup at

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 Be ...

, where captained a team for a period. He was initially sent out on loan to Banat Zrenjanin (

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

), and then to Voždovac (

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

), in order to gain experience. In early 2014, Ožegović terminated his contract with Red Star. He subsequently signed a six-month deal with Rad, helping them avoid relegation from the top flight in the 2013–14 campaign. In the 2014–15 season, Ožegović played for

Jagodina ) , image_shield = Jagodina-grb.png , image_flag = FLAG Jagodina.png , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = File:Municipalities of Serbia Jagodina.png , map_caption = Location of Jagodina w ...

(fall) and

Borac Čačak Borac may refer to: * FK Borac Banja Luka, a football club from Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina ** RK Borac Banja Luka, an affiliated team handball club ** OK Borac, an affiliated volleyball club * FK Borac Čačak, a football club from Čač ...

(spring). He scored six times for the latter side, including a long-range volley in a 3–1 win over his former club Jagodina, securing him the Goal of the Season award. In July 2015, Ožegović signed a three-year contract with

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

. He netted seven league goals for the side, including a

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...

in a 2–0 win against Javor Ivanjica that earned him the Goal of the Season award for the second time in a row. He also scored a twice in the first leg of the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

for UEFA Europa League, in 4–0 away victory over Sampdoria. In early 2016, Ožegović moved abroad to China and joined

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of w ...

club

Changchun Yatai Changchun Yatai Football Club () is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Changchun, Jilin and their home sta ...

. He failed to score in nine games for the side, before returning to Serbia. On 31 August 2016, Ožegović signed a one-year contract with Čukarički. He scored a total of 16 goals in 25 league appearances over the course of the 2016-17 season. In addition to the regular season, Ožegović was prolific in Čukarički's

2016–17 Serbian Cup The 2016–17 Serbian Cup season was the eleventh season of the Serbian national football tournament. The competition started in September 2016, and ended in May 2017. The winner of the competition qualified for the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League ...

campaign, scoring in the

second round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

against Javor and in the second leg of the semi-final against

Partizan

On 31 August 2017, Ožegović joined Partizan. He signed a three-year contract and was given the number 51 shirt. He made his debut for the club on 9 September 2017, against

Mladost Lučani Mladost (meaning "youth" in Slavic languages) may refer to: Placenames *Mladost, Sofia, municipality of Sofia, Bulgaria * Mladost, Varna, municipality of Varna, Bulgaria * Mladost, Obrenovac, municipality of city Obrenovac, Serbia. Association fo ...

. He scored his first goal for Partizan on 17 September 2017 against Radnički Niš in a 3–1 home league victory. On 28 September 2017, he recorded his first European goals after found the back of the net in a 2–3 home loss to Dynamo Kyiv in

2017–18 UEFA Europa League group stage The 2017–18 UEFA Europa League group stage began on 14 September and ended on 7 December 2017. A total of 48 teams competed in the group stage to decide 24 of the 32 places in the knockout phase of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League. Draw The draw ...

second match. He also scored goal in 2–1 home victory over Young Boys, on 26 November, as Partizan advanced to the knockout stage after 13 years. On 14 April 2018, Ožegović scored his first goal in Eternal Derby, converting a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

in a 2–1 defeat.

Arsenal Tula (loan)

On 4 September 2018, he joined

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

FC Arsenal Tula FC Arsenal Tula (russian: ФК Арсенал Тула) is a Russian professional football club from Tula playing in the second-tier Russian First League. Originally founded in 1923, FC Arsenal Tula was promoted to the Russian Premier League i ...

on loan.

Partizan return

Ožegović returned to Partizan for the 2019–20 season. He scored his first Super Liga goal on 4 August 2019, in a 4–0 win over

Mačva Mačva ( sr-Cyrl, Мачва, ; hu, Macsó) is a geographical and historical region in the northwest of Central Serbia, on a fertile plain between the Sava and Drina rivers. The chief town is Šabac. The modern Mačva District of Serbia is nam ...

Darmstadt 98

On 2 September 2019, Ožegović joined Darmstadt 98 on a two-year deal. In July 2020, after making just five appearances as a substitute, he agreed the termination of his contract.

Manisa

On 20 January 2022, Ožegović signed a 1.5-year contract with

Manisa Manisa (), historically known as Magnesia, is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province. Modern Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port ci ...

Volos

Ožegović made his debut for the team on September 11 2022 at the Karaiskakis Stadium against

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a numbe ...

, scoring a goal in the 29th minute after an assist from

Paolo Fernandes Paolo Fernandes Cantin (born 19 August 1998) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Greek Super League club AEK Athens. Mainly a left winger, he also plays as an attacking midfielder. Club career Manchester City Born in Zaragoza, Ara ...

. A week later, in the fifth round of the

, Ožegović scored his second goal for Volos against Ionikos.

International career

Ožegović made his official debut for the Serbia U17s at the

2011 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2011 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the tenth edition of UEFA's European Under-17 Football Championship. Serbia hosted the tournament between the 3 and 15 May. 6 Teams also qualified for the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Players born aft ...

. He subsequently represented

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

at the

2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship, since its reclassification from an under-18 tournament in 2002, and the 62nd since the tournament was created in 1948. It was hosted in Li ...

, as the team won the tournament. Four years later, Ožegović was named in the final 23-man squad for the

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2017) was the 21st edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a biennial international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-21 na ...

. In September 2016, Ožegović appeared in

's friendly match against

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

Controversy

In an interview for mondo.rs in summer 2017, he said that his dream was to win a title with Red Star and celebrate it in front of the north stand with

Delije Delije ( sr-cyr, Делије) is a name referring to the supporters of various sports clubs that compete under the Red Star Belgrade multi-sport club banner. The plural of the singular form ''delija'' (делија)—which in Serbian generall ...

. He also said that his dream did not come truth because of club policy at time, which, in his words, favoured "players from Ghana and Uganda over Red Star children." When he became a potential transfer target of Partizan in late August that summer, many Partizan supporters were against their club signing him. Finally, Ožegović signed with Partizan on last day of the summer transfer window. During the official promotion at new club, sports director Ivica Iliev revealed that Ožegović started playing football with Partizan. Several days later in interview for

Sportski žurnal ''Sportski žurnal'' (Serbian Cyrillic: Спортски журнал) is a Serbian sports daily newspaper. About half of the pages are devoted to football, whereas the rest deals with athletics, auto racing, basketball, boxing, cycling, judo, k ...

, Ožegović explained that he spent three months training with the club at the age of 13.

Personal life

Ožegović is religious Orthodox Christian. He was born as the only child in the family. His father, Marinko, is a retired footballer who played 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 ...

for

and Rudar Velenje.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Red Star Belgrade *

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 ...

: 2011–12 Partizan *

: 2017–18 Serbia * UEFA Under-19 Championship:

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ozegovic, Ognjen 1994 births People from Gradiška, Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Living people Members of the Serbian Orthodox Church Serbian footballers Serbia youth international footballers Serbia under-21 international footballers Serbia international footballers Association football forwards Red Star Belgrade footballers FK Banat Zrenjanin players FK Voždovac players FK Rad players FK Jagodina players FK Borac Čačak players FK Vojvodina players Changchun Yatai F.C. players FK Čukarički players FK Partizan players FC Arsenal Tula players SV Darmstadt 98 players Adanaspor footballers Manisa FK footballers Volos N.F.C. players Serbian SuperLiga players Serbian First League players Chinese Super League players Russian Premier League players 2. Bundesliga players TFF First League players Super League Greece players Serbian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in China Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Greece Serbian expatriate sportspeople in China Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Greece