Filip Kljajić ( sr-cyr, Филип Кљајић; born 16 August 1990) 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, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

for

Torpedo Kutaisi FC Torpedo Kutaisi ( Georgian: საფეხბურთო კლუბი ტორპედო ქუთაისი) is a Georgian professional football club based in Kutaisi, Georgia's third largest city. The team competes in the Erovnuli ...

. He is the son of Dušan Kljajić.

Club career

Early years

Born in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, Kljajić spent some period in

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

youth categories. He started his senior career with Hajduk Beograd, making 8 appearances in

Serbian First League The Serbian First League (), referred to as the Mozzart Bet First League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier in professional Serbia's football league. The league was formed in 2005, following a reshuffle of the second tier Serbo-Montenegr ...

. He was declared as a

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

3 times with average rating 7.31. He left for Šumadija Jagnjilo ahead of 2009–10 season. Kljajić played 28 times, with average rating 7.31, and was declared as a

2 times. He also played for Šumadija in first half of 2010–11 season and made 13 appearances.

Metalac Gornji Milanovac

Kljajić signed with

Metalac Metalac a.d. ( sr-cyr, Металац) is a Serbian manufacturing company based in Gornji Milanovac, Serbia. With around 2,000 employees, it is one of the largest companies in Moravica District. History Metalac was founded in 1959 in Gornji Mila ...

for second half of season, and mainly was a reserve for Dejan Bogunović. He was licensed with squad number 9, atypically for

s. He was in first 11 3 times. On the beginning of season, Kljajić changed his jersey number, and took 12. He shared his position with

Živko Živković Živko Živković (Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: Живко Живковић; born 14 April 1989) is a Serbian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Internation ...

, but he was selected as a first choice in front of goal 17 times. He was also declared as the best on the field 3 times.

Rad

After Metalac's relegation from

SuperLiga Superliga (''super league'') may refer to: Sports Superliga can refer to different sports leagues: Association football *Albanian Superliga, the Albanian top-flight men's division * Argentine Superliga, the Argentine top-flight men's division *D ...

, Kljajić joined Rad. Coach Nikolić included him in first 11 24 times in front of his competitors

Branislav Danilović Branislav Danilović (Serbian Cyrillic: Бранислав Даниловић; born 24 June 1988) is a Serbian football goalkeeper who plays for Diósgyőri VTK Diósgyőri Vasgyárak Testgyakorló Köre, more commonly Diósgyőri VTK () is ...

, Aleksandar Jovanović and Boris Radunović. On 10 November 2013, Kljajić saved penalty kick from Dragan Mrđa. For the first half of 2013–14 season Kljajić made 14 appearances, and was declared as a man of the match 1 time. After 2014, he received the contract termination on the detriment of the club.

Partizan

On 14 February 2014, Kljajić signed a four-year contract with Partizan and took the number 12 shirt. Immediately after, Kljajić was sent on loan to Teleoptik. He played 12 games in the remainder of the 2013–14 season. Kljajić returned to Partizan at the beginning of new season, as a competitor of

Milan Lukač Milan Lukač (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан Лукач; born 4 October 1985) is a Serbian retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Lukač started his career in the team FK Mladost from Bački Jarak, with whom he competed in S ...

and

, his former Metalac teammate. Coach Marko Nikolić, who also trained Kljajić in Rad included him in first 11 in

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије / Kup Srbije), also known as Mozzart Serbian Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. ...

against Sloga Petrovac. He was in protocol several times, but made no league debut. He has also been on the bench four times, in

UEFA 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 ...

, two times against

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 ...

, one time against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

and

Asteras Tripolis Asteras Tripolis Football Club (), currently known as Asteras AKTOR for sponsorship reasons, commonly referred to as Asteras, is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Tripoli in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Asteras Tripolis ...

. During the season, he was not given a chance beside Milan Lukač and Živko Živković, mainly defended in friendly matches and several times was on the bench. On 1 November 2015, Kljajić made his debut for Partizan in

against his former club, Metalac in a 1–0 away defeat. Four days later, he made his debut for the club in Europa League

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

against

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

at San Mamés. Two weeks later, Kljajić made his second cap in Europa League in a 1–2 away victory over AZ. In 2015–16 season Kljajić made 13 appearances in all competitions. After he succeeded

Bojan Šaranov Bojan Šaranov (Serbian Cyrillic: Бојан Шаранов; born 22 October 1987) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Serbian League Belgrade club Brodarac. Club career OFK Beograd Born in Vršac, Šaranov starte ...

, Kljajić played mostly matches in the 2016–17 season as a first choice goalkeeper. At the beginning of May 2017, Kljajić earned a hand injury and missed the rest of a season. In summer 2017, Kljajić extended his contract with Partizan until 2021. He also started the next season as a first choice, but after the club signed

Vladimir Stojković Vladimir Stojković (, ; born 28 July 1983) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. During his career he played for the two biggest clubs in his country, Red Star and Partizan, but also represented teams in nine other c ...

, Kljajić spent the rest of the same year as a back-up pick. On 30 December 2017, Kljajić moved on six-month loan deal to

Platanias Platanias (Greek: Πλατανιάς) is a village and municipality on the Greek island of Crete. It is located about west from the city of Chania and east of Kissamos, on Chania Bay. The seat of the municipality is the village Gerani. Platani ...

, without an option to purchase the contract.

International career

Kljajić made his international debut for the

Serbia national football team The Serbia men's national football team ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалска репрезентација Србије, translit=Fudbalska reprezentacija Srbije) represents Serbia in men's international Association football, football competition. It is ...

in a friendly 3-0 loss to

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

, played on 29 September 2016, under coach

Slavoljub Muslin Slavoljub Muslin ( sr-Cyrl, Славољуб Муслин, ; born 15 June 1953) is a Serbian football manager and former player. Muslin began his head coaching career in 1988 and has since had stints in France, Morocco, Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

;Partizan *

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 ...

: 2014–15, 2016–17 *

: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2018–19 ;Torpedo Kutaisi *

Georgian Super Cup The Georgian Super Cup is a super cup tournament in Georgian football. Founded in 1996 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2023 by four teams, those being the first, second, and third placed teams in the Erovnul ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

References

External links

Filip Kljajić stats
at utakmica.rs * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kljajic, Filip 1990 births Living people Footballers from Belgrade Men's association football goalkeepers Serbian men's footballers Serbia men's international footballers FK Hajduk Beograd players FK Metalac Gornji Milanovac players FK Rad players FK Partizan players FK Teleoptik players Platanias F.C. players RB Omiya Ardija players FK Novi Pazar players FC Torpedo Kutaisi players Serbian First League players Serbian League players Serbian SuperLiga players Super League Greece players J2 League players Erovnuli Liga players Serbian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Georgia (country) Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Georgia (country)