Luka Milivojević ( sr-Cyrl, Лука Миливојевић, ; born 7 April 1991) 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 for Shabab Al Ahli 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 ...

. Milivojević began his career with Radnički Kragujevac and then played for Rad before signing for

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 ...

in January 2012. He later won the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

with

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

and the

Super League Greece 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 ...

twice with

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

before a €16 million transfer to

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

in January 2017. Appointed

club captain The captain of a football/soccer team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavily influ ...

in 2018, he amassed nearly 200 appearances and scored 29 goals for the club before departing in 2023. Milivojević made his senior international debut for the Serbian national team in 2012 and represented his country at the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

. He earned a total of 38 caps, scoring 1 goal. He retired from international football in 2020.

Club career

Early years

Milivojević's first season as senior was with his home town club Radnički Kragujevac during the 2007–08 season, then playing in the

Serbian League West Serbian League West () is one of four sections of the Serbian League, the third tier of professional football in Serbia. The other three sections are Serbian League Belgrade, Serbian League East and Serbian League Vojvodina. It is also the highest ...

. At the end of that season he moved to the top league club Rad entered into the senior team in the 2008–09 season. He played as right side midfielder.

Red Star Belgrade

Milivojević signed for

on 19 December 2011. His arrival to Red Star was largely due to the desire of coach

Robert Prosinečki Robert Prosinečki (; born 12 January 1969) is a professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Born in West Germany, he internationally represented Yugoslavia and later Croatia. He is the current manager of the Mont ...

, who believed that Milivojević had bright potential. On 17 November 2012, Milivojević scored an impressive goal against city rivals Partizan.

Anderlecht

On 26 July 2013, Milivojević signed a five-year contract with Belgian football giants

. On 1 September 2014, it was announced that Milivojević had joined

on loan from Anderlecht. After the 2014–15 season, Milivojević reiterated his desire to stay with Olympiacos. The two clubs could have started new negotiations after the season ended; Milivojević stated that his wish was to make the move permanent. According to reports in Belgium, Olympiacos were to meet Anderlecht's asking price in order to complete the permanent transfer of Milivojević. Olympiacos were in negotiations with the Belgian club as they were reluctant to pay the €2.7 million Anderlecht asked for Milivojević.

Olympiacos

On 4 June 2015, Anderlecht confirmed that it had reached an agreement with Olympiacos for the permanent transfer of Milivojević. He had spent a season with the club, and joined the Greek champions by signing a four-year contract, for a fee of €2.3 million. On 30 June 2015, Olympiacos turned down a bid in the region of €5 million from Fenerbahçe.

Crystal Palace

On 31 January 2017, Milivojević signed for Crystal Palace on a three-and-a-half-year contract for €16 million. On 10 April 2017, he scored his first goal for Palace with a penalty kick in his team's 3–0 home win over

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, and got his other goal of the season on 14 May in a 4–0 win at

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst, in the London Borough of Croydon, England, which is the home ground of Premier League club Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted interna ...

against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

, which secured his team's place in the top flight for next season and relegated the opponents. In 2017–18, Milivojević was Palace's top scorer with 10 goals as the Eagles recovered from a poor start to the season to finish 11th under new manager

Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson (born 9 August 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstad in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to t ...

. He developed a reputation for taking penalties, scoring nine of the ten he took in his first 1 seasons with Palace; he had never taken a penalty in a professional match prior to joining Crystal Palace. The one he did miss was on 31 December 2017 in added time at the end of a goalless draw against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

, with Ederson making a save for the team who had won their last 18 matches. On 28 October 2018, Milivojević scored two penalties in a 2–2 home draw with Arsenal, ending the visitors' run of 12 consecutive victories. Away to Manchester City on 22 December, he scored the winning goal from the penalty spot in a 3–2 victory over the title holders. In August 2019, Milivojević signed a contract extension with Crystal Palace keeping him at the club until 2023. On 24 May 2023, it was confirmed he would leave the club upon the expiry of his contract.

Shabab Al-Ahli

On 8 August 2023, Milovojević joined Emirati club Shabab Al Ahli.

International career

He was a member of the Serbia u21 team. He was called-up in the Serbia national team on 29 September 2011, to face

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

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 ...

in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying phase. He made his debut for Serbia on 14 November 2012 for a friendly match with

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. On 6 October 2017 he scored his first goal for Serbia in a World Cup Qualifying match with

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. In June 2018, he was included in the final 23-man squad for the

. There he appeared in two matches, against

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. In March 2021, he retired from international duty at the age of 29. His final international had been an October 2020 Nations League match against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Serbia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Milivojević goal''.

Honours

Club

Red Star Belgrade *

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. ...

: 2011–12 Anderlecht *

: 2013–14 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Olympiacos *

: 2014–15, 2015–16 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 2014–15

Individual

Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season The Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season is an annual award given to a set of 11 footballers in the top tier of Football in Serbia, Serbian football, the Serbian SuperLiga, SuperLiga, who are seen to be the best 11 players of the calendar season. S ...

: 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Crystal Palace F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Milivojevic, Luka 1991 births Living people Footballers from Kragujevac Men's association football midfielders Serbian men's footballers Serbia men's under-21 international footballers Serbia men's international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players FK Radnički 1923 players FK Rad players Red Star Belgrade footballers Serbian SuperLiga players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Belgian Pro League players Olympiacos F.C. players Super League Greece players Crystal Palace F.C. players Premier League players Shabab Al Ahli Club players UAE Pro League players Serbian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Serbian expatriate sportspeople in England Serbian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates