Damir Kojašević (

Montenegrin Cyrillic The Montenegrin alphabet is the collective name given to "" ( Montenegrin Latin alphabet; in Cyrillic) and "" ( Montenegrin Cyrillic alphabet; in Latin), the writing systems used to write the Montenegrin language. It was adopted on 9 June 2009 ...

: Дамир Којашевић; born 3 June 1987) 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 lea ...

who plays as a winger for Rudar Pljevlja. While playing as a professional in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

, Talgat Baysufinov called him "the little scoundrel", referring to his playing style on the field.

Club career

Early career

Kojašević signed his first professional contract with Montenegrin club Dečić at the age of 16. At the age of 18, he completed his first international transfer to Polish team

Jagiellonia Białystok Jagiellonia Białystok () is a Polish professional football club based in Białystok that plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of Polish football. The club was founded in 1920 by soldiers in the 42nd Infantry Regiment Reserve Battalion in Bi ...

in 2008. At the age of 19, he was named the best foreign player in the

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

. He left after a season due to a disagreement with the coach. He then returned to Montenegro and joined

Zeta Zeta (, ; uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ; , , 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 from the Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician letter zay ...

, with whom he played for three months.

Sarajevo

In 2010, Kojašević joined Bosnian team

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

after being scouted by the club president at the time, Zijad Blekić. Over the course of two seasons with Sarajevo, he was considered to be one of the best players in the Premijer Liga. After the club told him they could not afford to pay his salary, Kojašević voluntarily terminated his contract. He subsequently joined Budućnost in a free transfer in January 2012, but played for them for only three months.

Astana

After only a brief period with Budućnost, Kojašević joined Kazakh side

FC Astana Astana Football Club () is a professional Association football, football club based in Astana. They play in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Football in Kazakhstan, Kazakh football. The club's home ground is the 30,000-seat As ...

in the spring of 2012. During his time with Astana, he enjoyed clubbing after games. In February 2015, Kojašević moved from Astana to

Lokomotiv Tashkent PFC Lokomotiv Tashkent () is an Uzbek professional football club based in Tashkent. The owner and main sponsor of the club is the state-owned Uzbek Railways. History Lokomotiv was founded in 18 February 2002. In 2002–2003 the club played in ...

on loan.

Mladost Podgorica

In August 2015, Kojašević turned down clubs from other countries to join

Mladost Podgorica OFK Titograd ( Montenegrin Cyrillic: ОФК Титоград) is a professional football club based in Podgorica, Montenegro. Founded in 1951, they play in the Third League of Montenegro. The team has one league trophy and two Montenegrin Cup tr ...

, citing family reasons. At Mladost his coach was Nikola Rakojević. In November 2015 he suffered a calf injury. Although he only spent a half-season at Mladost, Kojašević contributed to Mladost winning the league that season with seven goals.

Vardar

In December 2015, Kojašević signed with

Vardar The Vardar (; , , ) or Axios (, ) is the longest river in North Macedonia and a major river in Greece, where it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of ...

. He contributed in Vardar's first ever successful qualifying campaign to the

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

, and played in their historic upset of heavily favored Fenerbahçe in front of an audience of 45,000 at the

Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium The Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium (), known for sponsorship reasons as Ülker Stadium Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Sports Complex (), or simply Ülker Stadium, is a football stadium located in the Kadıköy district of Istanbul Istanbu ...

on 24 August 2017. Despite Vardar entering the Europa League group stage for the first time, Kojašević left the team before the group stage allegedly due to financial issues with club owner Sergey Samsonenko. Vardar ended up without a single win in Europa League Group L that season.

Vojvodina

In September 2017, Kojašević signed a one-year contract with Serbian club

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...

. On 29 September 2017, he scored two goals against Mladost Lučani. On 28 October 2017, he scored an

olympic goal A corner kick, commonly known as a corner, is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defe ...

in a 3–0 win against Rad. On 3 December 2017, Kojašević scored a goal in a 1–1 tie against Partizan at their stadium in snowy conditions. In the half-season he played for Vojvodina, he scored four goals over the course of 14 matches. He was a teammate with Dušan Jovančić. Although he allegedly agreed to remain in Vojvodina for the remainder of the season, he terminated his contract in late January 2018.

Shakhter Karagandy

On 12 February 2018,

Shakhter Karagandy Football Club Shakhter (), commonly referred to as FC Shakhter Karagandy ( ), is a professional football club based in Karagandy, Kazakhstan. They have been members of the Kazakhstan Premier League since its foundation in 1992, but fell of to t ...

announced the signing of Kojašević. At the time he joined, the team was coached by

Uladzimir Zhuravel Uladzimir Ivanavich Zhuravel (; ; 9 June 1971 – 18 November 2018) was a Belarusian professional football player and coach. In 2018 he was the head coach of Shakhter Karagandy. He made his professional debut in the Soviet Top League in 1990 fo ...

, with whom Kojašević worked well and got playing time. However, the team's record under Zhuravel experienced a period of losses in addition to Zhuravel's health problems. Later in 2018 Zhuravel was replaced by

Nikolay Kostov Nikolay Nikolov Kostov (; born 2 July 1963) is a Bulgarian former footballer and current manager. Career Much of his coaching career has taken place in Cyprus. His first coaching role in the country was at Anorthosis, where he won the Cyprio ...

, with whom Kojašević also saw playing time in addition to a significantly improved record during the season. In August 2018, Kojašević went to the coal mine in

Karaganda Karaganda (, ; ), also known as Karagandy (, ; ; ) (also sometimes romanized as Qaraghandy), is a major city in central Kazakhstan and the capital of the Karaganda Region. It is the fifth most populous city in the country, with a population o ...

with the rest of the team. Although he was initially scared, the mine left a strong impression with him, as he had never gone down a mine before.

Radnički Niš

On 16 January 2019, Kojašević joined Serbian club Radnički Niš. Coach

Nenad Lalatović Nenad Lalatović (, ; born 22 December 1977) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. Club career Lalatović came through the youth system of hometown club Red Star Belgrade. He also spent a few seasons on loan at OFK Beogr ...

had insisted on Kojašević's signing, referring to him as one of the best

playmakers ''Playmakers'' is an American drama television series created by John Eisendrath that aired on ESPN from August 26 to November 11, 2003. It depicts the lives of the Cougars, a fictional professional football team playing in an unidentified ci ...

in the

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

. On 29 January 2019, he scored his first goal for Radnički Niš in a 3-0 friendly win against Russian club Avangard. On 7 April 2019, he scored two goals in a 5–1 win against

OFK Bačka OFK Bačka (Serbian Cyrillic: ОФК Бачка) is a football club based in Bačka Palanka, Serbia, that competes in the Serbian League Vojvodina. In 2016, the club achieved promotion to the Serbian SuperLiga. It is known as one of the most su ...

Sutjeska Nikšić

On 14 June 2019, Kojašević signed a one-year contract with Montenegrin club Sutjeska Nikšić. On 10 July 2019, he scored a goal in a 1–1 tie against Slovan Bratislava in the first leg of the first qualifying round for the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League. On 6 August 2019, he scored from a

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

in a 1–2 loss against Linfield in the first leg of the third qualifying round for the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.

International career

Kojašević was called up to the senior

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

squad for a friendly against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

in June 2016. However, he did not make his debut until substituting Marko Vešović in a match against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

on 4 September 2016. Less than 10 minutes after coming on the field, Kojašević made an assist for teammate

Stevan Jovetić Stevan Jovetić (, ; born 2 November 1989) is a Montenegrin professional footballer who plays as a striker for Omonia and captains the Montenegro national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest Montenegrin footballers of all time. Joveti ...

, whose goal tied the game 1-1. On 27 March 2017, he made another assist for teammate Stefan Mugoša in his goal against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, although Montenegro ended up losing 1–2. As of September 2020, he has earned a total of 9 caps, scoring 1 goal.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Montenegro's goal tally first.''

Honours

Budućnost Podgorica *

Montenegrin First League The Montenegrin First League (Montenegrin language, Montenegrin: ''Prva crnogorska fudbalska liga'' — ''Prva CFL'' — ''1. CFL''; ), referred to as the Meridianbet 1. CFL for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional Association football, ...

: 2011–12 Astana *

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League (, ''Qazaqstan Premier Ligasy''), commonly referred to as the Kazakh Premier League or simply the Premier League, is a professional association football league in Kazakhstan and the highest level of the ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Kazakhstan Cup The Kazakhstan Cup is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Kazakhstan Football (soccer), football, run by the Football Federation of Kazakhstan. The tournament was initially founded in 1936 as a competition for club ...

: 2012 Vardar *

Macedonian First League The Macedonian First Football League (), also called Macedonian First League, 1. MFL, and Prva Liga, is the highest professional football competition in Macedonia. It is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of t ...

: 2015–16, 2016–17

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kojasevic, Damir 1987 births Living people Footballers from Podgorica Men's association football wingers Montenegrin men's footballers Montenegro men's international footballers FK Dečić players Jagiellonia Białystok players GKS Górnik Łęczna players FK Zeta players FK Sarajevo players FK Budućnost Podgorica players FC Astana players PFC Lokomotiv Tashkent players OFK Titograd players FK Vardar players FK Vojvodina players FC Shakhter Karagandy players FK Radnički Niš players FK Sutjeska Nikšić players FC Feronikeli 74 players FC Fushë Kosova players Montenegrin First League players Ekstraklasa players I liga players III liga players Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina players Kazakhstan Premier League players Uzbekistan Super League players Macedonian First Football League players Serbian SuperLiga players Football Superleague of Kosovo players Montenegrin expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Bosnia and Herzegovina Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate men's footballers in Uzbekistan Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Uzbekistan Expatriate men's footballers in North Macedonia Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in North Macedonia Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate men's footballers in Kosovo Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Kosovo