Miloš Veljković ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Вељковић, ; born 26 September 1995) is a 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

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 ...

. Born in Switzerland, he represents

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 international level.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

in Switzerland to Serbian parents, Veljković started his professional footballing career at Swiss side

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 ...

Tottenham Hotspur

Miloš Veljković joined

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

in 2011 from FC Basel. He made his

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 ...

debut on 8 April 2014 against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

in a 5–1 home win, replacing

Paulinho Paulinho is a Portuguese nickname for people named ''Paulo'' (Paulo - inho, little Paulo). People known as Paulinho include: Music *Paulinho da Costa (born 1948), Brazilian percussionist *Paulinho da Viola (born 1942), Brazilian sambista *Paulinho ...

after 88 minutes. He got a longer run out on 11 May against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

when he came on for

Sandro Sandro is an Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swiss, Georgian and Croatian given name, often a diminutive of Alessandro or Alexander. It is also a surname. Sandro may refer to: Given name or nickname Sports * Sandro (footballer, born 1973), Braz ...

in the 62nd minute. Veljković went on loan to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

on 16 October 2014 for three months. Due to the form of the midfield duo of

Grant Leadbitter Grant Leadbitter (born 7 January 1986) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He made more than 500 appearances in the Premier League and Football League, which included 212 for Middlesbrough, 180 for Sunderland ...

and

Adam Clayton Adam Charles Clayton (born 13 March 1960) is an English-Irish musician who is the bass guitarist of the rock music, rock band U2. Born in Oxfordshire, England, he lived in County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland after his family moved to ...

in central midfield, he was limited to a few substitute appearances and his loan was not extended in January. On 20 January 2015, Veljković joined

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

on loan until the end of the season. However, he picked a shoulder injury in his third match for Charlton which ruled him out of contention.

Werder Bremen

Veljković joined

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

on 1 February 2016, signing a three-and-a-half-year deal, for a reported fee of €300,000. On 24 September 2016, he made his first appearance for the first team of the 2016–17 season in a 2–1 victory against

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

on matchday 5, the club's first win of the season; he played the full 90 minutes as centre-back after Lamine Sané had dropped out with knee problems in the warmup to the match. He agreed a contract extension with the club in June 2018. In June 2022, after Werder Bremen's return to 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 ...

in the 2021–22 season, Veljković signed another contract extension with the club, reportedly until 2025.

Red Star Belgrade

On 11 March 2025,

announced that had reached an agreement with Veljković on a three-year deal. Veljković's contract with Werder expired in the summer, which the Serbian club used to acquire him as the first summer reinforcement.

International career

Veljković was born in Switzerland to Serbian parents, he initially represented Switzerland U16's before pledging his allegiance to Serbia. He played for the Serbia U19 team which won the

2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship, since its reclassification from an under-18 tournament in 2002, and the 62nd since the tournament was created in 1948. It was hosted in Li ...

. In the summer of 2015, he also won the

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

for Serbia U20's as part of a Golden Generation coming through for the Serbia national team. Veljković played every game as centre back. He made his debut for the Serbia national team on 11 November 2017 in a friendly match against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

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

, where he appeared in the match against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. In November 2022, he was selected in Serbia's squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

in Qatar. He played in all three group stage matches, against

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

, 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 ...

. Serbia finished fourth in the group. Veljković was part of the Serbia squad for

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

and started the team's opening match of the tournament against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, playing the full 90 minutes in the 1–0 loss.

Style of play

Veljković has played both as

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

and as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He revealed that he prefers to play as a defensive midfielder in club football, and prefers to play as a centre back during international football.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Serbia U19 * UEFA Under-19 Championship:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Serbia U20 *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Individual *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Veljkovic, Milos 1995 births Living people Swiss people of Serbian descent Footballers from Basel-Stadt Swiss men's footballers Serbian men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Serbia men's international footballers Serbia men's youth international footballers Switzerland men's youth international footballers Serbia men's under-21 international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2022 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2024 players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players SV Werder Bremen players SV Werder Bremen II players Red Star Belgrade footballers Premier League players English Football League players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Swiss expatriate men's footballers Serbian expatriate men's footballers Serbian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany 21st-century Swiss sportsmen