Damjan Đoković ( sr-Cyrl, Дамјан Ђоковић, Damjan Djoković; born 18 April 1990) is a Croatian 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

. Born in Croatia, Đoković represented several sides in the Netherlands at junior level, before making his senior debut for Slovak team

Spartak Trnava FC Spartak Trnava () is a professional football club based in Trnava, Slovakia. The club competes in Slovak First Football League, the top flight in the Slovak league system, having participated in more seasons than any other club. Founded in ...

in 2010. He went on to compete professionally in Croatia, Italy, Romania, France, Germany, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Đoković achieved most success playing for CFR Cluj in Romania, amassing over 110 league games combined during his first two spells and winning five domestic honours.

Club career

Early career

Đoković spent his junior years at Dutch clubs

Haaglandia VV Haaglandia was an association football club from Rijswijk, Netherlands. The club was established on 1 July 2005 through a merger of amateur sides RVC/Rijswijk (who merged years earlier themselves) and FC Kranenburg. It later played in the Hoofd ...

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

Excelsior Rotterdam Excelsior Rotterdam, commonly known as Excelsior, is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in the 2024– ...

, and

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

, respectively. He made his senior debut for Slovak team

in 2009, recording only one appearance. The following year, he returned to his country of birth by signing for Croatian side

HNK Gorica Hrvatski nogometni klub Gorica (), commonly referred to as HNK Gorica, is a Croatian football club based in the town of Velika Gorica, located just south of the Croatian capital Zagreb. They play their home matches at the Gradski stadion Velik ...

, but did not play any match.

Italy

Đoković joined Italian club

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

in January 2011. He amassed four goals from 10

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into ...

games, throughout a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

which ended in relegation for the ''Biancorossi''. On 31 August 2011, Đoković was signed by

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

for €220,000 and the loan of two other players. He made his

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

debut on 23 October 2011, replacing

Erjon Bogdani Erjon Bogdani (born 14 April 1977) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player. He is nicknamed "Bogu" or "Er-Bomber". Regarded as one of the most successful Albanian players of all time, Bogdani began his career at Partizani T ...

in the 88th minute of a 0–2 away loss to

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

. He ended the campaign with 15 appearances, and stayed at the club for one more year after its relegation to the

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

. On 25 June 2013, Đoković moved to

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

in a swap deal which took Andrea Ingegneri in the opposite direction, with both players being held in a co-ownership deals. He signed a three-year contract, but was immediately sent on loan to Romanian team

. In June 2014, the co-ownership deals were renewed, and on 27 August he again left on loan to Serie B side

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

. Đoković was released by Bologna on 22 July 2015, without registering his debut in any competition.

Gazélec Ajaccio

On 22 July 2015, Đoković signed for French club

Gazélec Ajaccio Gazélec Football Club Ajaccio (), commonly referred to as GFC Ajaccio, GFCA, Gazélec Ajaccio or simply Gazélec (), is a French football club from Ajaccio, Corsica. Founded in 1910, Gazélec played one season in Ligue 1 in the 2015–16 seaso ...

, newly-promoted to the

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

. He played 35 league matches and scored two goals, but left as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

following their relegation to the

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

Greuther Fürth

Đoković changed countries again on 15 October 2016, after agreeing a deal until the end of the

with 2. Bundesliga team Greuther Fürth.

Spezia

On 28 January 2017, less than four months after joining Greuther Fürth and having made seven league appearances, Đoković returned to Italy by signing for Serie B side

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

Rijeka

On 19 June 2017, Đoković agreed to a three-year contract with Croatian defending champions

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as HNK Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka competes in Croatia's top division, Croatian First Football League, Supersport HNL, o ...

. He only featured in three games during his two-and-a-half-month spell, including an appearance in a 5–1 away victory over Welsh club

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, commonly known as The New Saints () or TNS FC, are an English professional football club that play in the , but are based completely within England, in Oswestry, Shropshire. They a ...

in the

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

on 18 July.

Return to CFR Cluj

Đoković returned to CFR Cluj on 4 September 2017. On 20 May 2018, he won his first career trophy after scoring the only goal of the final

fixture against

Viitorul Constanța ''Viitorul'' ("The Future") was a daily newspaper published in the Kingdom of Romania, out of Bucharest, as a central organ of the National Liberal Party (PNL). It was formed just months after peasants' revolt of March 1907, being originally li ...

. On 1 August 2018, Đoković recorded his first

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

goal after opening the scoring in a Champions League

match against

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

(1–1 away draw, 1–2 loss on aggregate). On 12 December 2019, he scored in a 2–0 home defeat of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

, with CFR Cluj advancing to

knockout phase A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

from second place in

Group E Group E may refer to: * E-Group: E-Groups are unique architectural complexes found among a number of ancient Maya settlements * Group E (vase painting), a group of Attic vase painters of the black-figure style, active between 560 and 540 BC. * On ...

. Đoković amassed 124 games and ten goals in all competitions during his second stint in

Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

, winning the national title in every possible season as well as the

2018 Supercupa României The 2018 Supercupa României was the 20th edition of the Supercupa României, the annual super cup in Romania. The game was contested by the winners of the previous season's 2017–18 Liga I, Liga I and 2017–18 Cupa României, Cupa României co ...

Turkey

On 25 January 2021, Đoković was transferred by Turkish club

Çaykur Rizespor Çaykur Rizespor Kulübü is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in Rize, a city on the eastern Black Sea region, Black Sea coast. The team competes in the Süper Lig, the top tier of Football in Turkey, Turkish footba ...

for a rumoured fee of €400,000. He made 19

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

appearances and netted twice during the remainder of the

, including a goal in a 2–3 home loss to

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

on 28 April. On 27 August 2021, Đoković scored a double in a 2–3 away league loss to

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional multi-sport club based in Antalya, southern Turkey. The club's colours are red and white. The association football, football side play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the cl ...

. In February 2022, he moved to fellow Süper Lig team

Adana Demirspor Adana Demirspor Kulübü is a multi-sports club based in Adana, Turkey. The football department is the most popular department which relegated to TFF 1. Lig on 16 March 2025 after 4 seasons at the Super Lig. Founded by railway workers of Turk ...

on a short-term loan.

Late career

On 25 July 2022, Đoković joined

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

club

Al-Raed Al Raed Saudi Football Club ( ''Nādī ar-Rāʾid''; ) is a Saudi football club based in Buraidah, and the first of its kind in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia. One of the club's notable founders is Abdulaziz Al-Aboudi. Established in 1954, Al R ...

on a free transfer. He totalled two goals from 29 league appearances during his stint. Đoković returned to Romania by signing a contract with

FCSB Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of the Romanian football le ...

on 27 June 2023. He scored his first goals for the ''Roș-albaștrii'' on 3 August, his double helping defeat CSKA 1948 3–2 at home and 4–2 on aggregate in the

of the

Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

. On 7 January 2023, after falling out with FCSB owner

Gigi Becali George "Gigi" Becali (; born 25 June 1958) is a Romanian businessman, writer, politician and former convict, mostly known for his ownership of the FCSB football club. Becali was a Member of the European Parliament between June 2009 and Decembe ...

, Đoković moved to city rivals

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

on a one-and-a-half-year deal. On 10 February, he scored the only goal of an away victory over his former team CFR Cluj. Đoković also failed to impress at Rapid București, and on 21 August 2024 returned to CFR Cluj for a third spell. Five days later, he scored a long-range goal in a 3–0 Liga I defeat of

Botoșani Botoșani () is the capital city of Botoșani County, in the northern part of Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu, Nicolae Iorga and Grigore Antipa. Origin of the ...

Personal life

Đoković was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

SR Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), commonly abbreviated as SR Croatia and referred to as simply Croatia, was a ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, to a

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

father and a Croatian mother; he moved to the Netherlands at age three.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Spartak Trnava *

Slovak Cup The Slovak Cup (), currently named Slovnaft Cup due to sponsorship agreement with Slovnaft, is the only nationwide Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in Football in Slovakia, Slovak football. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Euro ...

runner-up: 2009–10 CFR Cluj *

: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20,

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 ...

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

: 2024–25 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

; runner-up:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

FCSB *Liga I: 2023–24 Individual *Liga I Team of the Championship Play-Offs: 2018–19

References

External links