Igor Matić ( sr-Cyrl, Игор Матић; born 22 July 1981) is a retired

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who played as a

deep-lying playmaker In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He represented

Serbia and Montenegro The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

at the men's football tournament in the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Club career

Zemun

Matić began his senior football career with

FK Zemun Fudbalski klub Zemun (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Земун) is a Serbian professional football club based in Zemun, Belgrade, that competes in the Serbian First League. History Immediately after the end of the Second Wor ...

in 1998. As a 19-year-old, he was one of the players involved in Zemun's famous drive in the semifinals of the 1999-2000 Cup of Yugoslavia. He played for Zemun until 2003.

OFK Beograd

Matić joined

OFK Beograd OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English language, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club''), also known in English as OFK Belgrade and currently referred to as OFK ...

from Zemun in 2003, and played alongside

Branislav Ivanović Branislav Ivanović ( sr-Cyrl, Бранислав Ивановић, ; born 22 February 1984) is a Serbian former professional Association football, footballer. A versatile defender, Ivanović played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back ...

in one of the strongest generations of OFK Beograd that decade. One highlight of Matić's spell at OFK was making the 2004 UEFA Intertoto semifinals before being eliminated by

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

Mogren

Matić joined Mogren from Grbalj in 2010, where he would spend two years and amass 43 appearances and contribute with 10 goals. In January 2012, Matić sued Mogren in Montenegro's arbitrage court because he wasn't paid for over five months.

Napredak

After leaving Mogren on a sour note, Matić joined

Napredak Kruševac Napredak, which translates from Serbo-Croatian as ''Progress'', may refer to: *HKD Napredak, cultural society of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina *FK Napredak Kruševac, Serbian football club *FK Napredak Aleksinac, Serbian football club *FK Napred ...

in January 2012, who had just hired

Aleksandar Kristić Aleksandar Kristić (; born 5 October 1970) is a Serbian football manager and former player. Club career After starting out at Krušik Valjevo, Kristić joined the youth system of Red Star Belgrade. He spent some time on loan to Bor and Mačva ...

as their coach. This was an important factor in Matić choosing to join Napredak, as he and Kristić had known each other since he was at OFK Beograd, as Kristić was one of OFK's youth coaches at the time.

Čukarički

After only a half-season with Napredak, Matić quickly joined Čukarički, which was in 2012 the first privatized professional football club in Serbia. He would become Čukarički's playmaker and contribute to their promotion to the first-tier

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 ...

. In an October 2013 article titled "They are the 'oldies', everyone fears them", Serbia's ''

Sportal Sportal was a company of the dotcom boom at the end of the 1990s. Founded by Rob Hersov, and backed by BSkyB and Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest among others, the company, originally called Pangolin, acquired rights to host a many official websit ...

'' named Matić in an 11-man selection of the best players over the age of 28 in the

. On 18 March 2015, he suffered a hamstring injury which sidelined him for two weeks. After five years with Čukarički, Matić retired from playing football professionally in 2017.

International career

Despite having born in

Bugojno Bugojno ( sr-cyrl, Бугојно) is a town and municipality in the Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the river Vrbas, to the northwest of Sarajevo. Accord ...

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

, he opted to represent Serbia and Montenegro internationally. Matić was part of the Serbia and Montenegro national under-21 team that finished runners-up at the 2004 European Championship. He was also part of the Serbia and Montenegro team at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Managerial statistics

''As of 16 March 2024''

Honours

;Čukarički *

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. ...

(1): 2014–15

Notes and references

External links

Igor Matić
at lfp.fr

at srbijafudbal.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Matic, Igor 1981 births Living people Footballers from Bugojno Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Men's association football midfielders Serbia and Montenegro men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro men's under-21 international footballers Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Serbia and Montenegro Serbian men's footballers FK Zemun players OFK Beograd players Stade Malherbe Caen players FK Banat Zrenjanin players FC Megasport players OFK Grbalj players FK Mogren players FK Napredak Kruševac players FK Čukarički players Serbian SuperLiga players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Kazakhstan Premier League players Montenegrin First League players Serbia and Montenegro expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in France Serbian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate men's footballers in Montenegro Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Montenegro Serbian football managers FK Čukarički managers FK Novi Pazar managers Serbian SuperLiga managers