Milan Đurđević (; born 4 November 1967) is a Serbian former 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. Nicknamed ''Kempes'', due to his physical resemblance to the famous Argentine footballer, Đurđević is best remembered for his stints with Partizan and

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

Club career

Đurđević made his senior debut for

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 ...

in the second half of the 1985–86 season, as the club suffered relegation from the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

. He spent three more years with the ''Romantičari'', netting 24 goals in the

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav Second League ( Bosnian: ''Druga savezna liga,'' Croatian: ''Druga savezna liga'', Serbian: ''Друга савезна лига'', Slovenian: ''Druga zvezna liga'', Macedonian: ''Втора сојузна лига'', ''Vtora sojuzna l ...

. In August 1989, Đurđević was transferred to Partizan. He spent two seasons at the

Stadion JNA The Partizan Stadium (Serbian: Стадион Партизан / ''Stadion Partizan'') is a football and track-and-field stadium in Autokomanda, Belgrade, Serbia. The home ground of FK Partizan, it was formerly known as JNA Stadium (Stadion JNA / ...

, making 59 appearances and scoring 19 goals across all competitions. In the summer of 1991, Đurđević moved abroad to Greece and signed with

. He stayed there over the next two years, scoring 17 league goals in 45 appearances. After leaving PAOK, Đurđević briefly played for fellow Greek side

Panachaiki Panachaiki G.E. (Greek: Παναχαϊκή Γυμναστική Ένωση, ''Panachaiki Gymnastiki Enosi'', "Pan- Achaean Gymnastic Union") is a Greek multi-sport club based in the city of Patras, Greece. The history of Panachaiki began in 1891, ...

in the 1993–94 campaign, but failed to help them avoid relegation from the top flight. In 1994, Đurđević went to Spain and spent one season 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

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 ...

, receiving limited playing time. He then shortly played for Portuguese club Leça and French club

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

, before returning to his homeland. After a spell at

Železnik Železnik ( sr-cyr, Железник, ) is an List of Belgrade neighborhoods, urban neighborhood of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Čukarica. Location Železnik is located in the central part of the Čukarica mun ...

, Đurđević moved back to Greece, spending half a season with

PAS Giannina PAS Giannina Football Club (), or with its full name Panipirotikós Athlitikós Síllogos Giánnina (, ''Panepirotic Athletic Club Giannina'') is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in the city of Ioannina, the capita ...

and another one with

Kastoria Kastoria (, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria (regional unit), Kastoria regional unit, in the Geographic regions of Greece, geographic region ...

, before retiring from the game.

International career

Đurđević made one appearance for the Yugoslavia national under-18 team on 27 March 1986, a 3–1 win over

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, in which

Davor Šuker Davor Šuker (; born 1 January 1968) is a Croatian Association football, football administrator and former professional player who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He served as the president of the Croatian Football Federatio ...

scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

Personal life

In January 2012, Đurđević got arrested in

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 ...

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 ...

, as one of the leaders of an organized criminal group on charges of

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

loan-sharking A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high or illegal interest rates, has strict terms of collection, and generally operates outside the law, often using the threat of violence or other illegal, aggressive, and extortionate ...

, and

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

. His daughter Electra plays for

.Τρίτη χρονιά στον ΠΑΟΚ Morris για την Ηλέκτρα Τζούρτζεβιτς acpaok.gr
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Career statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Durdevic, Milan 1967 births Living people Footballers from Belgrade Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro men's footballers OFK Beograd players FK Partizan players PAOK FC players Panachaiki F.C. players RCD Mallorca players Leça F.C. players Canet Roussillon FC players FK Železnik players PAS Giannina F.C. players Kastoria 1980 F.C. players Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav Second League players Super League Greece players Segunda División players Primeira Liga players Ligue 2 players First League of Serbia and Montenegro players Serbia and Montenegro expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in France Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in France