Nemanja Matić ( sr-Cyrl, Немања Матић, ; born 1 August 1988) 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 ...

who plays as a defensive midfielder for Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

club

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council * Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

. Starting his career as an attacking midfielder, Matić shifted to a defensive midfielder during his spell at Benfica. He is known for his consistent performances on the pitch and his combative style of play. Matić began his senior career at Kolubara, before joining Slovak side

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of a ...

in 2007. He moved to English club Chelsea for £1.5 million in 2009. Used sparingly during his first spell at the club, he spent the 2010–11 season on loan at Dutch club Vitesse, and in the summer of 2011, he moved to Benfica as part of a swap deal involving

David Luiz David Luiz Moreira Marinho (born 22 April 1987) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for Flamengo. Primarily a centre back, he can also be deployed as a defensive midfielder. After starting out at Vitoria, David Luiz moved to Be ...

. He won the

Primeira Liga Player of the Year The Portuguese League for Professional Football Primeira Liga Player of the Year (often called the LPFP Primeira Liga Player of the Year, the Primeira Liga Player of the Year or simply the Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player ...

award for his performances in 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. Matić returned to Chelsea in January 2014, for £21 million. He was named in the PFA Team of the Year for the 2014–15 season. In July 2017, he was reunited with former Chelsea manager José Mourinho after signing for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. Matić represented Serbia at under-21 level. He made his senior international debut in 2008 and scored twice in 48 appearances. He was part of Serbia's squad at the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

Club career

Early career

Matić was born in Šabac, SR Serbia. He began playing football at age five with FK Vrelo from the eponymous

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

, coached by his own father. He began his senior career at Kolubara, before signing for Slovak club

in 2007. While living in the country, he also received Slovak citizenship.

Chelsea

On 18 August 2009, Matić signed for Chelsea from Košice for a fee of around £1.5 million on a four-year contract, having been on trial at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. He was given the number 24 shirt by Chelsea but was not able to make his debut immediately due to the injury he picked up at the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. He was on the bench for Chelsea's League Cup match against Queens Park Rangers on 23 September 2009, but did not take any part in the 1–0 victory. Matić made his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

debut for Chelsea on 21 November, coming on as a substitute for

Florent Malouda Florent Johan Malouda (born 13 June 1980) is a French football coach and former professional player. A left winger, he spent most of his career at Lyon and Chelsea, winning four consecutive Ligue 1 titles with the former and the UEFA Champi ...

in the 69th minute in a 4–0 win over

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Ro ...

. On 23 August 2010, Matić transferred to

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

club Vitesse on a one-year loan, together with teammates Slobodan Rajković and Matej Delač.

Benfica

On 31 January 2011, Matić agreed to join Portuguese club Benfica in the summer of 2011, as part of a deal for Chelsea to sign Brazilian centre-back

. Under Benfica manager Jorge Jesus, Matić was converted from a

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativity ...

into a defensive midfielder. On 14 April 2012, Matić started for Benfica in the

2012 Taça da Liga Final 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 ...

against

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often re ...

, where he won his first trophy with the Lisbon-based club. On 13 January 2013, Matić scored Benfica's first goal in a 2–2 draw with '' O Clássico'' rivals

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...

. The next day, he was awarded with a contract extension lasting until 2018, with the buyout clause set at €45 million. In the second leg of Benfica's Europa League round of 32 tie against Bayer Leverkusen, Matić headed in a late goal after a cross from

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of t ...

to seal a 3–1 aggregate victory. Matić was an integral member throughout the 2012–13 Primeira Liga campaign as Benfica looked to claim the club's first league championship since

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. Going into the penultimate game of the season against Porto, both teams were undefeated in league play, but a stoppage-time winner from substitute

Kelvin The kelvin, symbol K, is the primary unit of temperature in the International System of Units (SI), used alongside its prefixed forms and the degree Celsius. It is named after the Belfast-born and University of Glasgow-based engineer and ph ...

gave Porto a 2–1 victory. On 15 May, Matić faced former employers Chelsea in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

final in Amsterdam but was on the losing side as Benfica fell to a 2–1 defeat, courtesy of a last minute

Branislav Ivanović Branislav Ivanović ( sr-Cyrl, Бранислав Ивановић, ; born 22 February 1984) is a Serbian former professional footballer. A versatile defender, Ivanović played as a right back, although he can also play as a centre back. Ivanovi ...

header. On 4 July 2013, he was named

after having won the monthly award three times over the course of the season. In the 2013–14 season, Matić played half of the season, with 22 matches and 3 goals, he helped Benfica to win the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

and

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seas ...

. On 13 January 2014, Matić placed second in the 2013 FIFA Puskás Award.

Return to Chelsea

On 15 January 2014, Matić rejoined Chelsea for a fee of £21 million (€25M), on a five-and-a-half-year contract. He made his second debut for the club four days later, replacing Willian in a 3–1 win against

. On 3 February, Matić made his first

start in Chelsea's fixture away at championship rivals Manchester City. He was named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It h ...

as Chelsea ended City's unbeaten run at the

City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the List of Engli ...

with a 1–0 win. Matić scored his first Premier League goal on 30 August 2014, in a 6–3 win at Everton. A month later, Matić scored the only goal as Chelsea won away at Sporting CP in the group stage of the Champions League; on 5 November in the same competition, his goal earned Chelsea a 1–1 draw at

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, the seat of the Drava stati ...

. Matić was given a straight red card in Chelsea's 1–1 home draw against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

on 21 February 2015, for pushing over

Ashley Barnes Ashley Luke Barnes (born 30 October 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Burnley. Barnes previously played for Paulton Rovers, Plymouth Argyle, Oxford United, Salisbury City, Eastbourne Borough, Torqua ...

following a high tackle by him, which resulted in the bending of Matić's shin. On appeal, his suspension was shortened to two matches, including the

League Cup Final The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

. On 26 April 2015, Matić was named as one of four midfielders in the PFA Team of the Year, alongside teammate Eden Hazard. Four more Chelsea players were included in the selection. On 12 September 2015, Matić scored his first goal of the 2015–16 Premier League season against Everton, but it was not enough to save Chelsea from a 3–1 loss. Matić was sent off for two yellow cards in the first half of Chelsea's 2–1 loss at

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium ...

on 24 October 2015. For the majority of the 2016–17 Premier League season, Matić played as a central midfielder in a 3–4–3 formation. He scored the 4th goal in Chelsea's 4–2 FA Cup semi-final win over Tottenham Hotspur on 22 April 2017. On 8 May 2017, he scored his first ever goal at Stamford Bridge, in a 3–0 victory over

Manchester United

On 30 July 2017, a photo was leaked of Matić wearing a Manchester United training kit printed with the number 31 vacated by Bastian Schweinsteiger the previous March, fuelling rumours that Matić was on the verge of a reunion with former Chelsea manager José Mourinho. Manchester United confirmed the deal the next day, with Matić signing a three-year contract with an option for an extra year, for a fee reported to be in the region of £40 million. Two days after signing, he made his first appearance in a friendly against

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s ...

, finishing in a 2–1 win over the Italian side. On 13 August 2017, Matić made his league debut in a 4–0 win over West Ham United at Old Trafford, in which he was named Man of the Match. On 5 March 2018, Matić scored his first goal for the club with a half-volley in a 3–2 comeback win over Crystal Palace after being 2–0 down. The goal was later voted Manchester United goal of the season. During the boxing day matches of the 2018–19 Premier League, Matić scored his first goal of the season and his second for Manchester United in a 3–1 win over Huddersfield Town. On 29 January 2020, Matić scored the only goal in a 1–0

derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gain ...

win; however he was also sent off during the game which United lost 3–2 on aggregate. On 17 March 2020, Manchester United announced that they would be triggering a clause in Matić's contract to extend it by another year rather than allowing it to expire in the summer of 2020, keeping him at the club for a fourth year. On 6 July 2020, Matić signed a new three-year contract with the club, securing his future until 2023. On 15 April 2022, Matić announced he would be leaving the club at the end of the season.

Roma

On 14 June 2022, it was announced that Matić had agreed to join

on a one-year contract, following the expiry of his Manchester United contract. On 14 August, he made his debut for the club, as a substitute, in a 1–0 away win against Salernitana in the Serie A.

International career

Matić's debut for the Serbia under-21 team came in a match against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

on 11 October 2008. After three matches and two goals for the Serbia under-21 squad, he was called up to the Serbian senior squad and made his debut in a friendly against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

on 14 December 2008, in a 1–0 loss. He played in the Cyprus International Football Tournament in 2009 where Serbia made it to the final. Matić took part in the 2009 UEFA Euro Under-21 Championship, where he played 85 minutes in the first group match against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in a 0–0 draw. Matić, however, injured himself after contact with Italian forward Sebastian Giovinco. He broke the fifth metatarsal in his right foot and was forced to undergo surgery. In December 2012, Matić announced he would not play for the Serbian national team while Siniša Mihajlović was the coach. The reason he gave for this decision is that he felt he was not given the right opportunity by the coach not playing a single minute in his last five call-ups. On 6 September 2013, Matić returned to his national team on a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification match against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, being sent off in the 75th minute. He scored his first international goal on 29 March 2015, in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match away to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

at the Estádio da Luz, equalising via an

overhead kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

, albeit in a 2–1 defeat. On 11 October, in a loss against the same opponents by the same score at the Partizan Stadium, Matić received a straight red card within a minute of teammate Aleksandar Kolarov's dismissal. Ser-Swi (27)

In June 2018, he was selected in the Serbian squad for the 2018 World Cup, playing all three group stage matches. On 28 August 2020, the Football Association of Serbia announced that he had retired from international football; he made 48 appearances and scored two goals for Serbia. He earned his final cap against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

on 10 September 2019.

Style of play

A left-footed defensive midfielder, Matić's poise and power, in addition to his in-game intelligence and tactical awareness, have enabled his attacking teammates to flourish. He is often used at a holding position and screens the defence while providing cover for attacking movements. Just before he joined Manchester United, he had a tackle success rate of 75% in 123 Premier League appearances, a higher rate than N'Golo Kante, Ander Herrera,

Fernandinho Fernandinho is a hypocorism of the name Fernando and means "Little Fernando" or "Fernando Jr." in Portuguese. Fernandinho may refer to: Footballers *Fernandinho (footballer, born January 1981), Éldis Fernando Damasio, Brazilian footballer who ...

and Jordan Henderson. José Mourinho commented on Matić, "At this moment, he is a giant, not for his size but for the way he plays." Matić's qualities have led to comparison to his ex-teammate at Manchester United, Michael Carrick. Prior to joining Benfica, he played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, before being shifted to a

holding midfield A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

role.

Personal life

Matić's younger brother,

Uroš __NOTOC__ Uroš ( sr-Cyrl, Урош) is a South Slavic given or last name primarily spread amongst Serbs, and Slovenians (mostly of Serbian descent). This noun has been interpreted as "lords", because it usually appears in conjunction with ''velmõ ...

, is also a professional

, playing for

Abha Club Abha Football Club () is a professional Saudi Arabian association football club based in Abha that is currently playing in the Saudi Professional League, the highest tier of Saudi football. Their home stadium is Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Sta ...

, a team in Saudi Arabia. Matić is of partial

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 ...

descent as his maternal grandfather is from Volkovija. Matić has three children with his wife, Aleksandra. Matić has admired former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane from an early age. In November 2018, Matić refused to wear a

Remembrance poppy A remembrance poppy is an artificial flower worn in some countries to commemorate their military personnel who died in war. Remembrance poppies are produced by veterans' associations, who exchange the poppies for charitable donations used to g ...

on his shirt for a match against Bournemouth. After the match, Matić was castigated and got threats by a number of people via social networks for not respecting servicemen who have died in war. Matić stated that he will not wear a poppy because his village of Vrelo was hit by the

NATO bombing of Yugoslavia The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an ...

in 1999.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Serbia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Matić goal''

Honours

Košice *

Slovak Cup The Slovak Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Slovakia, Slovak football (soccer), football. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League. History The competition was first contested in 1969. Until 1993, the winner of the ...

: 2008–09 Chelsea *

: 2014–15, 2016–17 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

: 2009–10; runner-up: 2016–17 Benfica *

: 2013–14 * Taça da Liga: 2011–12 *

runner-up:

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

runner-up:

Manchester United *

runner-up: 2017–18 *

runner-up:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Individual * LPFP Primeira Liga Player of the Year:

* Serbian Footballer of the Year: 2014, 2015 * SJPF Player of the Month: December 2012,MATIC ELEITO O MELHOR DE DEZEMBRO/JANEIRO (Matic voted best player of December/January)
; SJPF, 1 February 2013 (Portuguese) January 2013, April 2013 * PFA Team of the Year:

2014–15 Premier League The 2014–15 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 23rd season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992, and the ...

*Manchester United Goal of the Season: 2017–18 (vs. Crystal Palace, 5 March 2018)

References

External links

Profile on Serbian national football team website
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matic, Nemanja 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Šabac Serbian footballers Serbia under-21 international footballers Serbia international footballers Association football midfielders FK Kolubara players FC VSS Košice players Chelsea F.C. players SBV Vitesse players S.L. Benfica footballers Manchester United F.C. players A.S. Roma players Slovak Super Liga players Premier League players Eredivisie players Primeira Liga players FA Cup Final players 2018 FIFA World Cup players Serbian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Slovakia Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Italy Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Serbian expatriate sportspeople in England Serbian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Naturalized citizens of Slovakia Serbian people of Macedonian descent Slovak people of Macedonian descent Slovak people of Serbian descent