Deni Hočko ( sr-cyrl, Дени Хочко; born 22 April 1994) 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 central

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 the

Montenegro national football team The Montenegro national football team ( cnr-Latn, Fudbalska reprezentacija Crne Gore) has represented Montenegro in men's international football since 2007. It is controlled by the Football Association of Montenegro, the governing body for foot ...

Club career

Budućnost

Hočko was born in

Cetinje Cetinje ( cnr-Cyrl, Цетиње, ) is a List of cities and towns in Montenegro, town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital ( cnr-Latn-Cyrl, prijestonica, приjестоница, separator=" / ") of Montenegro and is the location of sev ...

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 ...

. He joined Budućnost from his hometown club

Lovćen Lovćen ( cnr-Cyrl, Ловћен, ) is a mountain and national park in southwestern Montenegro. It is the inspiration behind the names ''Montenegro'' and ''Crna Gora'', both of which mean 'Black Mountain' and refer to the appearance of Mount ...

in 2013. In his first season at the club, Budućnost fielded the youngest team in the entire Montenegrin First League that season. One teammate at Budućnost belonging to Hočko's generation was

Momčilo Raspopović Momčilo Raspopović (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Момчило Распоповић; born 18 March 1994) is a Montenegrin professional footballer who plays as a right back the Montenegro national football team. Club career Budućnost Born in Podgori ...

, who was also born in 1994. They both ended up playing together in Montenegro's national team from 2019.

Famalicão

On 21 July 2017, Hočko signed a two-year contract with Portuguese club Famalicão. In his second season at the club, Famalicão finished in second place in the

2018–19 LigaPro The 2018–19 LigaPro (also known as Ledman LigaPro for sponsorship reasons) was the 29th season of Portuguese football's second-tier league, and the fifth season under the current LigaPro title. A total of 18 teams competed in this division, incl ...

, earning promotion to Portugal's

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

for the first time since the 1993–94 season.

Mouscron

On 28 June 2019, Hočko signed a three-year contract with Belgian club

Royal Excel Mouscron Royal Excel Mouscron (, ), commonly known as Mouscron or familiarly as REM, was a Belgian professional football club based in Mouscron. The team was formed as ''Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz'' in the spring of 2010 as a result of the merging between ...

Pafos

On 14 July 2021, he moved to

Pafos Paphos, also spelled as Pafos, is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos. It is the fourth-largest cit ...

in Cyprus for an undisclosed fee.

Beitar Jerusalem

On 23 August 2023 signed for the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

club

Beitar Jerusalem Beitar Jerusalem Football Club (), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply Beitar (), is an Israeli professional football club based in the city of Jerusalem, that plays in the Israeli Premier League, the top tier in Israeli football ...

International career

On 28 May 2018, Hočko made his debut for

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 ...

under coach

Ljubiša Tumbaković Ljubiša Tumbaković (, ; born 2 September 1952) is a Serbian professional football manager. He is the most successful coach in the history of Serbian powerhouse Partizan which he led to six national championship titles and three national cup w ...

in a 0–0 tie with

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hocko, Deni 1994 births Footballers from Cetinje Living people Montenegrin men's footballers Montenegro men's youth international footballers Montenegro men's under-21 international footballers Montenegro men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders FK Lovćen players FK Budućnost Podgorica players F.C. Famalicão players Royal Excel Mouscron players Pafos FC players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players FC Košice (2018) players Karmiotissa FC players Montenegrin First League players Liga Portugal 2 players Belgian Pro League players Cypriot First Division players Israeli Premier League players Montenegrin expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Israel Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia