Nebojša Jelenković ( sr-Cyrl, Небојша Јеленковић; born 26 May 1978) is a former Serbian professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He has played more than 290 domestic games with Litex Lovech and holds the record for the second most domestic games played by a foreigner in the Bulgarian A Group. He is also the first foreigner to become a captain of a Bulgarian team. In 2004, he obtained a Bulgarian passport.

Career

In Serbia

Jelenković began his career at hometown club Novi Sad. In the summer of 1998, he signed with FR Yugoslavia champions Obilić.

Litex Lovech

In 1999 Jelenković moved to Litex Lovech. He made his first appearance for Litex in a Champions League qualification match against Widzew Łódź, on 28 July 1999. His league debut came on 8 August, in a 1–0 loss against Slavia Sofia on the opening day of the 1999–00 season. On 20 November 1999, Nebojša scored his first goals, scoring twice in a 3–1 away win over Velbazhd Kyustendil. He scored his final goal of the season in a 6–0 win at home over Volov Shumen on 1 April 2000. On 29 August 2002, Jelenković scored his first-ever European goal in a 3–1 away win over Lithuanian

Atlantas Klaipėda FK Atlantas was a Lithuanian association football, football team from the port city of Klaipėda. The club's name has changed several times. It was established in 1962 as ''Granitas'', and became ''PSK Aras'' in 1993. Since 1996, when FK Siri ...

in their

2002–03 UEFA Cup The 2002–03 UEFA Cup was the 32nd edition of the UEFA Cup, the second-tier European club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played between Portuguese side Porto and Scottish side Celtic at the Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla, Sev ...

qualifying round second leg tie. Three weeks later, he scored an own goal in a 1–0 home loss against Panathinaikos in the first round of the tournament. In 2006, Jelenković was on the radar of then Bulgarian manager

Hristo Stoichkov Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov ( bg, Христо Стоичков Стоичков, ; born 8 February 1966) is a Bulgarian former professional Association football, footballer who is a football commentator for TUDN. A prolific Forward (association ...

as a prospective candidate for the national team, but eventually did not meet the eligibility criteria because of having appeared in matches for the FR Yugoslavia U-21. In the same year CSKA Sofia attempted to secure the services of the Serbian midfielder. On 30 August 2007, Kuban Krasnodar confirmed Jelenković has joined on loan for three months. He spent most of his time with Kuban on the bench, making only three Russian Premier League appearances. In December Jelenković returned to Litex and earned 12 appearances in the

Bulgarian A PFG The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

, scoring one goal to the end of the season.

Spartak Trnava

At the end of 2007–08 season his contract expired and Jelenković signed with Spartak Trnava on a one-year contract for the 2008–09 season. He earned 27 appearances playing in the Corgoň liga, scored one goal and the team finished in third place.

Return to Litex Lovech

On 12 June 2009, Jelenković again came back to Litex Lovech on a long term contract. On 12 March 2011, he made his 250th appearance for Litex in the

, in a 2–1 win over

Pirin Blagoevgrad Futbolen klub Pirin ( bg, Футболен клуб „Пирин“), also known as Pirin Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian football club based in Blagoevgrad, which currently competes in the First League, the top division of Bulgarian football. T ...

. Jelenković announced his retirement at the end of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season. He has featured on 293 occasions in the A PFG and is currently second on the all-time appearance list among foreign players in the top flight of Bulgarian football (after

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...

Vančo Trajanov Vančo Trajanov ( mk, Ванчо Трајанов; born 9 August 1978) is a former Macedonian footballer who played as a midfielder. He was the first – and, to date, only – non-Bulgarian to have made more than 300 Bulgarian First League app ...

Career statistics

Awards

;Litex Lovech **

2009–10, 2010–11 *** Bulgarian Supercup 2010 **3 times Bulgarian Cup winner: 2001, 2004 and 2008

References

External links

FK Obilić Team Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jelenkovic, Nebojsa 1978 births Living people Footballers from Novi Sad Serbian footballers Association football midfielders RFK Novi Sad 1921 players FK Obilić players PFC Litex Lovech players FC Kuban Krasnodar players FC Spartak Trnava players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Russian Premier League players Slovak Super Liga players Serbian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate footballers in Russia Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Slovakia Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia