Ivan Kecojević (

Montenegrin Cyrillic The Montenegrin alphabet is the collective name given to "" ( Montenegrin Latin alphabet; in Cyrillic) and "" ( Montenegrin Cyrillic alphabet; in Latin), the writing systems used to write the Montenegrin language. It was adopted on 9 June 2009 ...

: Иван Кецојевић, born 10 April 1988) is a Montenegrin

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 defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

, he started playing in his hometown club

FK Mornar FK Mornar Bar is a Montenegro, Montenegrin professional association football, football club based in the coastal town of Bar, Montenegro, Bar, which competes in the Montenegrin First League. History FK Mornar (''FC Sailor'') was founded in Decemb ...

. He made his debut for the senior squad in the 2004–05 Montenegrin First League. After 2006 when Montenegro separated and formed its own league, Kecojević still played the first six months of the 2006–07 season, when, during the winter break he moved to Serbia and signed with

FK Teleoptik FK Teleoptik () is a football club based in Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia. They compete in the Serbian League Belgrade, the third tier of the national league system. History The club was founded by the manufacturing company of the same name in 1952. Th ...

. Teleoptik is known for being

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; ), often referred to in English as Partizan Belgrade, is a Serbian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Belgrade. It forms ...

's satellite club, and most better players end up having good prospects of later earning a chance in Partizan's main team, or other Serbian top league clubs. Kecojević played with Teleoptik for two and a half seasons, before getting a chance in the

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 ...

by being loaned to Čukarički. There he became a regular player making 25 league appearances that season. Unsurprisingly, in the following summer of 2010, he signed a three-year contract with another SuperLiga club,

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 ...

Gaziantepspor

Kecojević signed for Gaziantepspor in August 2012 on a four-year contract. In a match 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 ...

, he attempted to go on the field in only

briefs Briefs (or a brief) are a type of short, form-fitting Undergarment, underwear and swimsuit, swimwear, as opposed to styles where material extends down the thighs. Briefs have various different styles, usually with a waistband attached to fabric ...

without any shorts on.

Zürich

On 9 January 2013, Kecojević signed for

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

, after which club chairman Ancillo Canepa told journalists that "In Ivan we got an excellent, experienced player, focused one hundred percent on football." He won the

2013–14 Swiss Cup The 2013–14 Swiss Cup was the 89th season of Switzerland's annual football cup competition. The competition started on 14 August 2013 with the first game of Round 1 and ended in May 2014 with the Final. The winners of the competition qualified f ...

and 2015–16 Swiss Cup with Zürich. In June 2017, his contract expired.

Cádiz / Albacete

On 9 August 2017, Kecojević signed a one-year contract with

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

club

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

. On 18 August 2019, he moved to fellow league team

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 5 July 1939, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish foo ...

on a three-year deal.

International career

Since 2008, he has been a regular player of the

Montenegro national under-21 football team The Montenegro national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Montenegro and is controlled by the Football Association of Montenegro. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two yea ...

. Under coach

Branko Brnović Branko Brnović (Cyrillic: Бранко Брновић; born 8 August 1967) is a Montenegrin manager and retired professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Club career After making his professional debuts with local club Budu ...

, he began appearing for the Montenegrin senior side in the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

qualification phase. He made his senior 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 ...

in a November 2012

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

match against

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

and has earned a total of five caps, scoring no goals. His final international appearance was an October 2013 World Cup qualification match against

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

References

External links

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Ivan Kecojević Stats
at Utakmica.rs {{DEFAULTSORT:Kecojevic, Ivan 1988 births Living people Footballers from Bar, Montenegro Men's association football central defenders Montenegrin men's footballers Montenegro men's under-21 international footballers Montenegro men's international footballers FK Mornar players FK Teleoptik players FK Čukarički players OFK Beograd players Gaziantepspor footballers FC Zürich players Cádiz CF players Albacete Balompié players Montenegrin First League players Serbian SuperLiga players Süper Lig players Swiss Super League players Segunda División players Montenegrin expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Spain CF Intercity players