Matija Nastasić ( sr-cyr, Матија Настасић; born 28 March 1993) 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 as a

centre-back 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 ...

for side Leganés and the

Serbia national football team The Serbia men's national football team ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалска репрезентација Србије, translit=Fudbalska reprezentacija Srbije) represents Serbia in men's international Association football, football competition. It is ...

. He began his career at Partizan, and after a loan to Teleoptik joined Italian side Fiorentina in 2011. After one season there he transferred to

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 ...

for €15 million and a swap with Stefan Savić, winning the

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 ...

in 2014, despite injury problems. In 2015, he joined Schalke, where he remained for seven years, before returning to Fiorentina in 2021. Nastasić made his senior international debut for Serbia in 2012, and has gone on to earn over 30

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

Club career

Partizan

Matija Nastasić is a product of Partizan youth academy. Unable to find space in the Partizan first team setup, he was sent out on loan to Serbian second division side FK Teleoptik from

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown ...

. There, the young, left footed centre back made 21 appearances and caught the eye of Fiorentina sporting director at that time, Pantaleo Corvino, who signed him in a deal for €4 million.

Fiorentina

Nastasić spent some time in the

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

youth side but, due to a lack of quality centre backs in the squad and suspensions and injuries, he trained with the first team on many occasions. Fellow Serbian and Fiorentina manager

Siniša Mihajlović Siniša Mihajlović ( sr-Cyrl, Синиша Михајловић, ; 20 February 1969 – 16 December 2022) was a Serbian football manager and professional footballer who played as a defender. Mihajlović had an illustrious playing career, winni ...

handed him his

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

debut on 11 September 2011 in a 2–0 win against

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. He went on to make a further 25 appearances that season but one stood out more than any and it was during this performance that he announced himself to Italian and World football. It was a match between ''La Viola'' and

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

at the

Stadio Artemio Franchi The Stadio Artemio Franchi is a football stadium in Florence, Italy. It is currently the home of ACF Fiorentina. The old nickname of the stadium was "Comunale". When it was first constructed, it was known as the ''Stadio Giovanni Berta'', after ...

. Nastasić showed many of his qualities – tackling, comfort on the ball, tactical astuteness. It was these qualities that led to a deadline day transfer to English side

in a move worth €24.4 million, excluding the value of Stefan Savić who was given to Fiorentina as part of the exchange.

Manchester City

Nastasić signed a five-year contract with Manchester City, ending on 30 June 2017. He was part of an exchange deal with Stefan Savić. He made his debut for the club on 18 September 2012, starting in a Champions League away fixture against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (, ) is a retractable roof association football, football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a seating capacity of around 83,000 following its extensive renovation completed in late 2024, the stadium has the second-largest ...

. He made his

debut on 29 September in a 2–1 win against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. He cemented his place in the starting XI and his great form won him the club's Player of the Month Award for November. Quickly becoming a fan favourite, the youngster pushed 30-year-old Joleon Lescott out of the starting lineup in centre-back position and was selected to start in the 2013 FA Cup Final, a 1–0 defeat by

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

. In May 2013, he was named Manchester City's Young Player of the Season. Nastasić had a less successful season in 2013–14, missing the majority of the campaign through injury. He made 13 league appearances and Manchester City won the

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

Schalke 04

On 13 January 2015, having not featured for City during the season, he was loaned to German club Schalke 04 for its remainder. He made his debut on 31 January, starting in a 1–0 home win over

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

. Having not featured in the Champions League that season, he featured in both legs of Schalke's elimination by Real Madrid in the Last 16. On 11 March 2015, Schalke 04 activated the transfer clause on his loan deal, believed to be €12 million, and Nastasić signed a four-year contract with the German club. On 8 August 2015, Nastasić marked his

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 ...

debut by scoring his first goal for the club, in a 5–0 win at

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jer ...

in the first round of the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

. In June 2018, along with goalkeeper

Ralf Fährmann Ralf Fährmann (; born 27 September 1988) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. Club career Fährmann made his professional debut for Schalke 04 on 13 September 2008 in 3–3 draw away to Borussia Dortmund. On 16 Septem ...

, Nastasić sign a contract extension with Schalke to stay with the club until the summer of 2022.

Return to Fiorentina

In August 2021, Nastasić signed for Fiorentina again following Schalke 04's relegation from the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

as a replacement for Germán Pezzella, who moved to

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

Balompie the same week.

Mallorca

On 1 September 2022, Nastasić signed a one-year contract with

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

in Spain, with an option to extend. On 26 April 2023, he scored his first goal for Mallorca against

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 ...

, a header from a corner kick. On 1 September 2023,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Nastasić returned to Mallorca again on a one-year deal.

Leganés

On 30 August 2024, Nastasić joined fellow Spanish top tier side Leganés on a two-year contract. Nastasić scored the only goal in 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid on 18th of January 2025.

International career

Having represented Serbian youth football teams, Nastasić made his debut for the senior squad on 29 February 2012 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

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. He was named in Serbia's preliminary squad for 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 ...

in Russia, but did not appear in the 23-man final squad. As of January 2025, he earned a total of 34 caps.(no goals)

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Manchester City *

: 2013–14 Individual *

Young Player of the Year: 2012–13

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nastasic, Matija 1993 births Living people Footballers from Valjevo Men's association football central defenders Serbian men's footballers Serbia men's youth international footballers Serbia men's under-21 international footballers Serbia men's international footballers FK Partizan players FK Teleoptik players ACF Fiorentina players Manchester City F.C. players FC Schalke 04 players RCD Mallorca players CD Leganés players Serbian First League players Serie A players Premier League players Bundesliga players La Liga players Serbian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Serbian expatriate sportspeople in England Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Spain