Džoni Novak (born 4 September 1969) is a Slovenian former 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 played as a

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 ...

. He represented his country at

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

and the 2002 World Cup.

Club career

Born in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, he started his professional career playing at Olimpija in 1988. He played for two seasons before signing for Serbian club Partizan. He played in Belgrade for a season and a half, appearing in 20 matches and scoring nine league goals for the club before leaving it for Fenerbahçe. After only a season in Turkey, he returned to Olimpija. Playing for Olimpija, Novak appeared in 63 league matches and scored ten goals. He also won the Slovenian championship twice with the club, in 1994 and 1995, and the Slovenian Cup in 1996. Later he moved to French club

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

. He played there for the next three seasons, appearing in 68 matches before leaving to join another French team, CS Sedan. He spent only one season with Sedan and left the club, making 11 appearances. He moved on to Germany and signed with

SpVgg Unterhaching Spielvereinigung Unterhaching () is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich. The club is widely known for playing in the first-division association football league ...

. He stayed there two seasons, making 37 appearances and scoring one goal. After that he played for six months for Greek side Olympiacos before retiring.

International career

During his spell at Partizan, he earned four caps for

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. Even after the

independence of Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

, Novak was included by Yugoslavia in their squad for

Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having been inv ...

, along with Darko Milanič. However, the nation would be suspended due to the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

. He was also capped 71 times and scored three goals for

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. He was a participant at

and the 2002 World Cup. His final international game was at the latter tournament against

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

International goals

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

Honours

Partizan *

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

: 1991–92 Olimpija * Slovenian Championship: 1993–94, 1994–95 * Slovenian Cup: 1995–96 Olympiacos *

Alpha Ethniki The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

: 2002–03

References

External links

Džoni Novak
at NZS * {{DEFAULTSORT:Novak, Dzoni 1969 births Living people Footballers from Ljubljana Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Slovenian men's footballers Slovenia men's international footballers Dual internationalists (men's football) UEFA Euro 2000 players 2002 FIFA World Cup players NK Olimpija Ljubljana (1945–2005) players FK Partizan players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Le Havre AC players CS Sedan Ardennes players SpVgg Unterhaching players Olympiacos F.C. players Yugoslav First League players Süper Lig players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Ligue 1 players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Super League Greece players Slovenian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in France Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany