Marko Perović ( sr-Cyrl, Марко Перовић, ; born 11 January 1984) is a Serbian

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 ...

coach and former player who is the assistant coach of China national team.

Club career

Red Star Belgrade

Perović came through the ranks of KF Prishtina before moving to

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 ...

. He made an impact at Red Star, proving to be an energetic and skillful player. However, in May 2007 he fractured his tibia in the second-last game of the season against Mladost Apatin. Following his recovery he played only in a few games.

FC Basel

During the winter break of their 2007–08 season

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

reached an agreement with Red Star to loan the former captain of the Serbian U21 national team until the end of the season and in the contract was the option of a definitely signing. On 31 January 2008, Perović signed the loan contract. Perović played his domestic league debut for his new club in the home game in the

St. Jakob-Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

on 9 February, coming on as a substitute for

Scott Chipperfield Scott Kenneth Chipperfield (born 30 December 1975) is an Australian former soccer player who played as a midfielder for Wollongong Wolves, FC Basel, FC Aesch and the Australia national soccer team. His 2010 FIFA World Cup profile describes him ...

. He scored his first goal for the team in the same game as Basel won 3–0 over

Neuchâtel Xamax Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel. Since the fusion in 2021 of the municipalities of Neuchâtel, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux, and Valangin, the city has ap ...

. He had 15 appearances up until the end of the season, including one

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

and two

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 ...

games, three times in the starting 11, the rest as substitute. At the end of the 2007–08 season he won the

Double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

with the club. They won the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

Championship title with four points advantage over second placed Young Boys. In the

Basel advanced to the final, winning this 4–1 against

AC Bellinzona AC Bellinzona is a Swiss football club based in Bellinzona. It was founded in 1904, and won the Swiss Super League in 1948. After being folded in 2013 declaring bankruptcy, the team played the Ticino Group of 2.Liga, the sixth tier of the Sw ...

they won the competition. Basel pulled the buy-out option and on 2 June it was announced that Perović had signed a permanent three-year contract with them. To the beginning of the 2008–09 season he was member of the Basel team that won the

Uhrencup The Uhrencup is a association football, club football tournament, held annually in Grenchen and Biel/Bienne, Biel in Switzerland. The Uhrencup is seen as a testament to the major influence that is exercised by the local watchmaking industry on the ...

. They beat

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

6–1 and played a 2–2 draw with

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

to end the table on top slot above Dortmund and

Luzern Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

. He scored on his full Basel league debut, in a 2–1 away win over

BSC Young Boys Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss footbal ...

on 18 July. He followed up the next week by scoring the winner in a 1–0 home win over

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ), commonly referred to as Grasshopper Club or simply just GC, is a professional sports club, multisports club based in Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland. They are nicknamed the ''Grasshoppers'' or sometimes just ''Hopper ...

and was also named as Man of the Match in that game. Basel joined the

2008–09 UEFA Champions League The 2008–09 UEFA Champions League was the 54th edition of Europe's premier club football tournament and the 17th edition under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy, on 27 May 2009. ...

in the second qualifying round and with an aggregate score of 5–3 they eliminated

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

. In the next round they played against Vitória de Guimarães. The first leg ended in a goalless draw, but with a 2–1 win in the second leg they eliminated Vitória and advanced to the group stage. Here Basel were matched with

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

and

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

, but ended the group in last position winning just one point after a 1–1 draw in

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

. Perović had six appearances during these ten matches. At the end of the 2008–09 Super League season Basel were third in the table, seven points behind new champions

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and one adrift of runners-up Young Boys. Perović had 27 league appearances In the 2008–09 Swiss Cup Basel advanced via

Schötz Schötz is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Willisau (district), Willisau in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Lucerne (canton), Lucerne in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipality of Ohmstal merge ...

Bulle Bulle (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Gruyère (district), Gruyère in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Fribourg (canton), Fribourg in Switzerland. In January 2006 Bulle incorporated the formerly inde ...

Thun Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...

and

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

to the semi-finals. But here they were stopped by YB. After a goalless 90 minutes and extra time, YB decided the penalty shoot-out 3–2 and advanced to the final to become runners-up, as Sion became cup winners. In their following season under new head coach

Thorsten Fink Thorsten Fink (born 29 October 1967) is a German football coach and a former footballer, who is the head coach of Belgian Pro League club KRC Genk. Playing career Fink began his career with Borussia Dortmund's reserve squad before moving to S ...

Perović saw little first-team football and he was demoted to the U-21 reserve team. During the winter break of that season Perović left the club. During his two years with the club, Perović played a total of 86 games for Basel scoring a total of 15 goals. 40 of these games were in the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

, four in the

, nine in the UEFA competitions (Champions League UEFA Cup and Europa League) and 33 were friendly games. He scored ten goals in the domestic league, one in the cup and the other four were scored during the test games.

New England Revolution

2010 Season

The 2009–10

season saw Perović play just 12 minutes of football under

, and in January 2010, at the suggestion of his agent, Perovic agreed to trail with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

side

New England Revolution The New England Revolution are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

. Revolution General Manager Mike Burns said on March 19, 2010, that the Revolution were attempting to make a deal happen with Perovic. Perović noted that he'd never considered moving to MLS before his agent's suggestion. In an interview with the Revolution, he noted several challenges he faced when coming to the league, including the language barrier and travel. MLS travel included long plane flights, with which he had no familiarity, as his former teams traveled primarily by bus. He cited the outreach and support of his teammates as factors that helped him settle in. After a successful trial, and a successful pre-season stint which included two friendlies, the New England Revolution elected to sign Perović. Basel committed to a free transfer. After squaring away his P-1 visa and contract situation with Basel, Perović signed with New England on 26 March 2010, the same day the Revolution announced the return of winger Khano Smith. He made his MLS debut as a substitute in the second half of the Revolution's 4–1 victory over

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

on 10 April 2010. Deployed at left

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

, Perović scored his first goal for the Revs, a "dazzling" 30-yard free kick, on 24 April 2010, against the eventual

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

champion

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

Gillette Stadium Gillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Foxborough, Massachusetts, United States. The stadium is southwest of Downtown Boston and 18 miles (29 km) northeast of Providence, Rhode Island. It serves as the home stadium and admi ...

in front of a crowd of 8,142. It was the Revolution's first set piece goal of the season. Perović scored his second goal for the Revolution on 29 May 2010, in the 8th minute against the

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conferenc ...

. Though the Revolution would go on to win the game 3–2, the game is most remembered for the broken fibula suffered by starting goalkeeper Preston Burpo in a collision with New York's Dane Richards. Perović truly began to shine during the month of July. During a five-game stretch from 10–31 July, he scored four of the Revolution's six goals while assisting on another, scored by Zack Schilawski. These included a 67th minute game winner against the

LA Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

on 10 July, and an equalizer against the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the Union began ...

in the Revolution's first-ever trip to

PPL Park Subaru Park is a soccer-specific stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania, located next to Commodore Barry Bridge on the waterfront along the Delaware River. The venue is home to the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. Subaru Park was designed ...

on 31 July. On the 17 and 20 July, in SuperLiga Group B play, Perović scored on the Chicago Fire and Monarcas Morelia. His goal against the Galaxy proved to be the first goal for the Revolution in 347 minutes of open play. Perović concluded the 2010 season as the Revolution's top scorer, with 6 regular season goals (8 across all competitions), and an additional 3 assists. He was voted 2010 Team MVP on 16 October. In what would be his only full season with the Revolution, Perovic established himself as an instant success and a fan favorite. In 2010 he not only led the team in scoring (8 goals in all competitions) but also won the Team MVP. He is remembered for his dynamic attacking play and free kick specialty.

2011 Season, Injury, Contract Disputes

Perović's first goal of the 2011 season also proved to be his last for the club. Assisted by

Benny Feilhaber Benny Feilhaber (; born January 19, 1985) is an American soccer coach for the Oakland Roots and a former professional player. A midfielder, Feilhaber played for clubs in Germany, Denmark, England, and the United States. Born in Brazil but raise ...

(In Benny's league debut), in the 12th minute, he curled a 25-yard ball past Kansas City's on 23 April 2011. This goal snapped the Revolution's 192 minute scoreless streak. Perović was subbed off in the 60th minute of the same game with a left knee injury. Though nothing serious was apparent at the time of the injury, it was later determined to have aggravated a previous condition. The injury resulted in major surgery "requiring surgeons to reconstruct his left ACL, repair a medial meniscus tear and perform a chondroplasty on his medial femoral condyle." This effectively ended Marko's season, as it was learned he would miss 6–9 months due to the gravity of the procedure Almost a month after surgery, New England declined on their option to extend Perović's contract on 1 July 2011. The announcement led to controversy and some backlash from fans and Perović. The Revolution were in the midst of what would become their worst season in club history and had limited attacking options. Marko had two and a half years left on his contract at the time of his injury, but The Revolution were insistent that Marko had specifically asked for his option to be dropped. In an interview with fan blog ''The Bent Musket'', Perović denied this, stating:

"I only have to tell you that I had a contract with the club and the deal would not comply. Took advantage of what I had hurt and offered me conditions that were not in agreement, this is blackmail, because I do not have the right to negotiate as an injured player... "Wanted more link to me for a year. All the players at the club know that I came here because my half of the money given to FC Basel and was now turn to New England to regulate."

Though the situation remains unclear, the blog speculates that Perović may have asked for his option to be dropped so that he could renegotiate his contract in hopes of a raise, coming off his stellar 2010 season, and this may have led to a misunderstanding with the club. Perović's additional statements, such as "All players know what is happening at the club" and "I know how all club functions. P riots club is the only important." and "In any case eoplehere are not thinking for the future," led fans to believe that the organization had in fact cut him without thought of renegotiating his deal. These statements were compounded by prior states from Revolution players like Jeff Larentowicz, who had stated " n New Englandwe had a great practice field and locker room, but we were, rightfully so, second fiddle to he Patriots" Despite the contentious words, Perović signed off with a positive note, saying "The whole truth is that I love Boston, club and fans and I wanted to stay here or my entire career" Though he'd return for a trial in January 2014 as an unsigned free agent, he would make no more appearances for the Revolution.

Red Star Belgrade

On 16 December 2011, he returned to Red Star Belgrade. He signed a contract with Iranian side

Persepolis Persepolis (; ; ) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by the southern Zagros mountains, Fars province of Iran. It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and ...

on 20 December 2012 but he was released at the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

R&F

On 27 July 2017, it was reported that Perović had agreed to join

Hong Kong Premier League The Hong Kong Premier League () is a Hong Kong professional football league organised by the Football Association of Hong Kong, China. It is currently sponsored by BOC Life and officially known as BOC Life Hong Kong Premier League (). The inau ...

club R&F. He had arrived in Hong Kong only seven months earlier and spent the past half season at

South China South China ( zh, s=, p=Huá'nán, j=jyut6 naam4) is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is ...

Guangzhou R&F

In January 2018, Perović joined R&F's mother team

Guangzhou R&F Guangzhou City Football Club () was a Chinese professional football club which last competed in the Chinese Super League. The team was based in Guangzhou, Guangdong. The club's name between 2011 and 2020 was Guangzhou R&F, which was short for ' ...

in the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

International career

Perović was also a member of the Serbia U21. He broke his leg in May 2007 against Mladost Apatin during

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

's second-last game of the season. This injury caused him to miss the

2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007 were held from 10 to 23 June 2007. It was the 16th staging of UEFA's UEFA European Under-21 Championship, European Under-21 Championship. Summary For the first time, a host nation was chosen ahead of th ...

, in which

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 ...

eventually reached the final, losing to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Honours

Red Star Belgrade *

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 ...

: 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07 *

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. ...

: 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2011–12 FC Basel *

: 2007–08 *

: 2007–08 Persepolis *

Hazfi Cup Hazfi Cup (, ) formerly known as Pahlavi Cup () is an Iranian knockout football competition held annually by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran. The Iranian Football League, Iranian football league was not held during the 1980s, h ...

runner-up: 2012–13 Individual * New England Revolution Most Valuable Player:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

References

External links