Marko Pantelić ( sr-Cyrl, Марко Пантелић, ; born 15 September 1978) is a Serbian retired 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 striker. He represented

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 ...

at the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

Club career

Early years

As Pantelić was coming up through the

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 system, he was offered a job

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

and went there alone in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Pantelić was still only 16 years old when he signed a professional contract with Iraklis Thessaloniki. At 18, he accepted an offer in France to play for

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

and soon found himself training and playing alongside stars like

Raí Raimundo Souza Vieira de Oliveira (born 15 May 1965), popularly known as Raí (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. The younger brother of Sócrates,

Marco Simone Marco Simone (; born 7 January 1969) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. As a player, he was a striker and winger. He most prominently played for Milan, with whom he won four Serie A championships and two UEFA Ch ...

and Leonardo. After shining in PSG he moved on to

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

for a season, scoring 8 goals in 21 Swiss league matches. Next stop was Spain at Celta Vigo. During this time, he was sent out on loan to Sturm Graz in Austria.

Obilić, Smederevo and Red Star

In the summer of 2002, after a two-year absence from professional football, Pantelić returned home to Serbia, and signed with Obilić. Barely 24 years of age, he was essentially starting over as many were quick to write him off as yet another prospect whose career was derailed by going abroad too soon. In January 2003 he moved to Sartid Smederevo. After settling in, he quickly established himself as the team's leader, spearheading them to the

Serbia and Montenegro Cup The Serbia and Montenegro Cup was an association football knockout cup tournament of Serbia and Montenegro played between 1992 and 2006, after which Serbia and Montenegro became separate nations. The competition was the continuation of the old ...

title in 2003. Glowing performances in

Smederevo Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, ...

did not go unnoticed by Red Star, and in January 2004, Pantelić became their biggest mid-season signing.

Hertha BSC

After securing a loan move to Hertha for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

250,000 on 31 August 2005, the last day of the transfer window, he went on to score 11 goals in 28 league matches during the 2005–06 season. In April 2006, he permanently moved to Hertha for an additional €1.5 million fee and soon established himself as one of the most formidable strikers in the Hertha squad. Right after getting signed permanently, he responded with an even better season with 14 goals from 32 matches in the 2006–07 season. The 2007–08 season brought more steady play with 13 goals from 28 league matches. The next season, Pantelic was often benched in favor of Andriy Voronin as Hertha contended for the Bundesliga title. Hertha fell short, finishing in 4th place. On 17 March 2009, Pantelić denied that he had held talks with any other clubs and coupled with his refusal to sign a new contract with the club, he became a free agent during the summer 2009.

Ajax

On 1 September 2009, after completing several medical tests, Pantelić signed a one-year contract with Dutch side

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

, and was given the number 9 shirt. During the season, Pantelić scored 16 goals and delivered 9 assists in 25 league matches. Following the season, Pantelić expressed his desire to sign a new contract with Ajax, preferably a multi-year deal, however Ajax preferred a one-year deal. Pantelić did not accept the Ajax offer of a one-year deal with an option of another, because he wanted a sure future for his family. Ajax signed

Mounir El Hamdaoui Mounir El Hamdaoui (; born 14 July 1984) is a former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Born in the Netherlands, he represented Morocco national football team, Morocco internati ...

as his successor.

Olympiacos

On 21 August 2010, Pantelić joined

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, ...

on a free transfer. He signed a two-year contract worth €1.6 million per year. He scored his first goal against

Panserraikos Panserraikos Football Club (), the ''All-Serres Football Club'', is a Greece, Greek Association football, football club based in Serres in Central Macedonia, Greece. Panserraikos is one of the most important and well-supported clubs in northern G ...

. On 11 December 2011, Pantelić managed to score four goals and to secure a victory against Kerkyra.

International career

Though he debuted for the national team in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in 2003, Pantelić started getting more frequent call-ups only in 2006 when he was almost 28 years of age. In June 2010, he was selected in Serbia's squad for the

, where he appeared in group stage matches against

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. He scored his first World Cup goal against Australia in a 2–1 loss. Pantelić also scored three goals in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers. He has not featured for his country since the failed

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

campaign. He totalled 10 goals in 43 caps.

Outside football

Pantelić is widely known in his home country for his

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...

"Pantela", which was created when an anonymous editor of ''

Kurir ''Kurir'' is daily tabloid newspaper published in Belgrade, Serbia. History The first issue of ''Kurir'' appeared at newsstands on 6 May 2003. While Kurir's history is relatively short, it is also a checkered one. It goes back to the state of ...

'' allegedly began writing columns under the nickname "Pantela" to reflect the real Pantelić's wit and charisma. The phenomenon became so popular that anonymous fans created profiles on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

to mimic Pantelić's humorous personality. Pantelić himself confirmed that he is not the owner of either profiles, but admitted to ''Kurir'' that he found his alter egos funny and claimed that he would even want to meet the people behind his social networking profiles.

Career statistics

Club

''Source:''

International

Honours

Club

Lausanne *

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

: 1998–99 Sartid Smederevo *

: 2002–03 Red Star Belgrade * First League of Serbia and Montenegro: 2003–04 * Serbia and Montenegro Cup: 2003–04 Hertha BSC *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Ajax *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

: 2009–10 Olympiacos *

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 ...

: 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13 *

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 ...

: 2011–12, 2012–13

Individual

* Best Sportsman of

SD Crvena Zvezda Sportsko društvo Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Спортско друштво Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Sports Society), commonly abbreviated as SD Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, СД Црвена звезда, link=no) and commonly known i ...

: 2004 * First League of Serbia and Montenegro Top Scorer: 2004–05 *

Top Goalscorer: 2011–12 (6 goals)

Notes

References

External links