Miodrag Pivaš (; born 17 May 2005) 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 for English club

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, as a

central defender 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 ...

and

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. ...

Early life

Born in

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

, Pivaš's family moved to Austria when he was 12.

Club career

Pivaš made his senior debut aged 16 for Austrian side

Grödig Grödig is a market town of Salzburg-Umgebung District in the state of Salzburg in Austria. Geography Grödig is located south of the Salzburg city limits in the historic ''Flachgau'' region, near the border with Bavaria, Germany. The market t ...

, and at the age of 18 returned to Serbia without his family. During his time in Austria he also played for Grödig II. He won promotion to the

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 ...

in his sole season with Jedinstvo Ub. In July 2024, Pivaš signed for English

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 ...

club

. On 2 September 2024, he joined

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

side Willem II on a season-long loan deal.

International career

Pivaš is a Serbia youth international, playing for the under-17 team, including playing for them at the

2022 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2022 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2022) was the 19th UEFA European Under-17 Championship (38th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth football championship organise ...

Playing style

Pivaš plays as both a

and a

. Pivaš was compared by

Ivan Radovanović Ivan Radovanović (; born 29 August 1988) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. At international level, Radovanović earned ten caps for Serbia between 2010 and 2013. Club career After coming through the youth system at ...

, his manager at Jedinstvo Ub, to Branislav Ivanovic and Nemanja Vidic. Pivaš has said that he wants to follow in the footsteps of Ivanovic, Vidic, and Aleksandar Mitrovic. His mentality and smartness was also praised by

Heimo Pfeifenberger Heimo Pfeifenberger (born 29 December 1966) is an Austrian professional football manager and a former player. He is the manager of SV Grödig. Club career On club level Pfeifenberger played for USV Zederhaus (youth career), Austria Salzburg, ...

, his manager at SV Grödig.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pivas, Miodrag 2005 births Living people Footballers from Novi Sad Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Serbian men's footballers Serbia men's youth international footballers SV Grödig players FK Jedinstvo Ub players Newcastle United F.C. players Willem II Tilburg players Austrian Landesliga players Austrian Regionalliga players Serbian First League players Eredivisie players Serbian expatriate footballers Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Serbian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Serbian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands