Nikola Maksimović ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Максимовић, ; born 25 November 1991) 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 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 ...

Club career

Early career

Maksimović began his career with Kosmos Bajina Bašta, before moving to Sloga Bajina Bašta. He represented both clubs in youth competitions. Maksimović made his senior debut for

Sevojno Sevojno ( sr-cyr, Севојно) is a town in western Serbia, a suburb of Užice Užice ( sr-cyr, Ужице, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the Zlatibor District in western Serbia. It is located on the b ...

in the

2008–09 Serbian First League The Serbian First League (Serbian: Prva liga Srbije) is the second-highest football league in Serbia. The league is operated by the Football Association of Serbia, Serbian FA. 18 teams will compete in this league for the 2008–09 season. Five tea ...

. He also played against

FBK Kaunas Kauno futbolo ir beisbolo klubas, commonly known as FBK Kaunas, was a Lithuanian football club from the city of Kaunas. History Banga Kaunas (1960–1993) The roots of the club can be traced back to 1960 when Banga Kaunas was founded and they p ...

and

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

in the

2009–10 UEFA Europa League The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years. Spai ...

. In the summer of 2010, Sevojno merged with

Sloboda Užice A sloboda was a type of settlement in the history of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for 'freedom' and may be loosely translated as 'free settlement'.

. On 19 September 2010, Maksimović received the first

yellow card Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative co ...

of his career during a match against Spartak Subotica, and scored the first goal of his professional career on 5 March 2011 in

Lučani Lučani ( sr-cyr, Лучани) is a town and municipality located in the Moravica District of western Serbia. The population of the town is 2,921, while the population of the municipality is 16,933 (2022 census). Settlements Aside from the town ...

Red Star

During the 2012 winter

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, Maksimović was signed by

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 ...

for a reported fee of 300,000

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

. He made his debut on 3 March 2012 in a match against Spartak Subotica. At the end of the season, 51% of his contract was acquired by Cypriots

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship tit ...

Torino

On 23 July 2013, he was loaned to Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

with a buyout clause; he made his official debut on 6 October as a substitute against

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

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, finishing 2–2. Over the course of the season he earned a spot in the starting lineup, first, as a central defender, then as a right-sided midfielder. On 27 May 2014, Torino exercised the right to purchase him outright; Maksimović signed a contract until 2018.

Napoli

On 31 August 2016 he was transferred to

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

on loan with obligation to buy. On 28 September 2016, Maksimović made his debut in 4–2 home victory over Benfica. On 23 October 2016, he scored his first goal in

, in 2–1 away victory over

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

Spartak

On 26 January 2018, he joined the Russian champions

FC Spartak Moscow FC Spartak Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet Top League, Soviet championships (second only to FC Dynamo Kyiv, Dynamo Kyiv) and 10 Russian Premier League, Russian champ ...

on loan until the end of the 2017–18 season.

Genoa

On 31 August 2021, Maksimović signed with

for free.

Hatayspor

After not playing in the 2022–23 season, on 7 July 2023 Maksimović joined

Hatayspor Hatayspor Kulübü, known as Atakaş Hatayspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club located in Antakya, Hatay Province. Hatayspor, founded in 1967 through a merger of three local clubs, aimed to promote sports and po ...

in Turkey on a two-year contract.

Montpellier

On 31 October 2024, Maksimović signed with

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

for free.

International career

He made 4 appearances for the Serbia national youth teams: two with the under-19 and two with the under-21. He was first called up to the Serbia national team on 31 May 2012, for two friendly matches against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, in which he was played as a starter. He returned for two friendlies against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

(where he entered in the second half) and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

(from the onset), a 3–1 win. As of November 2024, Maksimović has earned a total of 25 caps (no goals) and his final international was a September 2020 Nations League match away against

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Style of play

Able to play 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 grew up playing mainly 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 ...

. He is agile for his considerable height of , combined with a predisposition for the air and marking opponents. At home he has been repeatedly compared to

Nemanja Vidić Nemanja Vidić ( sr-Cyrl, Немања Видић, ; born 21 October 1981) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Widely considered to be one of the greatest defenders in history, Vidić is best known for his t ...

Career statistics

Club

''As of match played 22 May 2022.''

International

Honours

Club

Red Star Belgrade *

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије / Kup Srbije), also known as Mozzart Serbian Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. ...

: 2011–12 Napoli *

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

: 2019–20

Individual

* Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Year: 2011–12

References

External links

Profile
at utakmica.rs * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maksimovic, Nikola 1991 births Living people Footballers from Bajina Bašta Men's association football central defenders Serbian men's footballers Serbia men's under-21 international footballers Serbia men's international footballers FK Sevojno players GFK Sloboda Užice players Red Star Belgrade footballers Torino FC players SSC Napoli players FC Spartak Moscow players Genoa CFC players Hatayspor footballers Montpellier HSC players Serbian First League players Serbian SuperLiga players Serie A players Russian Premier League players Süper Lig players Ligue 1 players Serbian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in France Serbian expatriate sportspeople in France