Nikola Ninković ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Нинковић; born 19 December 1994) 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 an

attacking 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. ...

for Tekstilac Odžaci.

Club career

Partizan

On 11 July 2011, alongside

Lazar Marković Lazar Marković ( sr-Cyrl, Лазар Марковић, ; born 2 March 1994) is a Serbian professional association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), winger for UAE Pro League club Baniyas Club, Baniyas. He start ...

, Ninković signed his first professional contract with Partizan, on a five-year deal. He made his competitive debut for the club in the return leg of the

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second qualifying round, coming on as a substitute for

Zvonimir Vukić Zvonimir Vukić (; born 19 July 1979) is a Serbian former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. A former Serbia and Montenegro international, Vukić appeared at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Club career Vukić started out at his hometo ...

in a 1–0 away win over Shkëndija on 19 July 2011. After missing the vast majority of the 2011–12 season due to

mononucleosis Infectious mononucleosis (IM, mono), also known as glandular fever, is an infection usually caused by the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). Most people are infected by the virus as children, when the disease produces few or no symptoms. In young adu ...

, Ninković made his league debut in a 4–1 away victory against Rad on 31 March 2012. He recorded three more appearances until the end of the season, as the club won the league title. On 11 August 2012, Ninković scored his first competitive goal for Partizan in a 7–0 home league victory over BSK Borča. He became the club's youngest captain ever on 31 October 2012 at 17 years, 10 months and 12 days, coming on as a substitute in a 1–2

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. ...

loss to Borac Čačak, thus surpassing

Stevan Jovetić Stevan Jovetić (, ; born 2 November 1989) is a Montenegrin professional footballer who plays as a striker for Omonia and captains the Montenegro national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest Montenegrin footballers of all time. Joveti ...

. The record was later broken by

Andrija Živković Andrija Živković ( sr-Cyrl, Андрија Живковић, ; born 11 July 1996) is a Serbian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Winger (association football), winger for Super League Greece, Greek Super League club P ...

. On 30 October 2013, Ninković scored a brace in a 3–0 Serbian Cup win away at Radnički Niš. He also scored an 86th-minute winning goal in a 2–1 home league victory over the same opponent on 1 March 2014, before being sent off in the 88th minute of the game. On 22 July 2014, Ninković scored his first goal for Partizan in

UEFA competitions UEFA competitions (), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur association football and futsal. Th ...

, scoring an equalizer in a 3–1 away win against

HB Tórshavn HB or Hb may refer to: Academia * H-b index, an extension of the h-index used in determining academic impact * H-B Woodlawn, a secondary education program in Arlington, Virginia, US * Hathaway Brown School, an all-girls private school in Shaker ...

. He made a total of 38 appearances and scored six goals in all competitions during the 2014–15 campaign.

Genoa

On 1 February 2016, Ninković was transferred to Italian club

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 ...

, being immediately loaned to fellow

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side

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until the end of the 2015–16 season. He subsequently returned to Genoa for the 2016–17 season, making 19 appearances and scoring three goals in the process. Under coach

Ivan Jurić Ivan Jurić (; born 25 August 1975) is a Croatian professional association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of Serie A, Italian Serie A club Atalanta BC, Atalanta. ...

, he was deployed as a play-making left back in a 3-4-2-1 formation.

Ascoli

On 18 August 2018, Ninković signed a three-season contract with Serie B team Ascoli.

Brescia

On 1 February 2021, Ninković signed with

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club

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International career

Ninković represented

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 the 2011 UEFA Under-17 Championship that was hosted by his country. He was also a member of the team at the 2012 UEFA Under-19 Championship that took place in Estonia. In the second game of the group stage, Ninković scored directly from a corner kick in a 1–2 loss to

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 ...

on 6 July 2012. On 7 September 2012, Ninković scored the equalizing goal on his under-21 debut in a 1–1 away draw with

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. He also appeared in a 0–1 home loss to

in the UEFA Under-21 Championship 2013 qualification play-offs. On 25 October 2012, alongside Ognjen Mudrinski, Ninković received a one-year ban from the

Football Association of Serbia The Football Association of Serbia () is the governing body of football in Serbia, based in Belgrade. It organizes Serbian football leagues, namely the Serbian Superliga, the Serbia national football team, as well as the Second Leagues. FSS was ...

following incidents after the game with England. In late 2016, ahead of the UEFA Under-21 Championship 2017 qualification play-offs, Ninković was called up to the under-21 team for the first time after the Kruševac incident.

Career statistics

Honours

Partizan *

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 ...

: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15 Empoli *

: 2017–18 Torpedo Kutaisi * Georgian Super Cup:

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ninkovic, Nikola 1994 births Living people People from Bogatić Sportspeople from Mačva District Men's association football midfielders Serbian men's footballers Serbia men's youth international footballers Serbia men's under-21 international footballers FK Partizan players Genoa CFC players AC ChievoVerona players Empoli FC players Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players Brescia Calcio players FK Proleter Novi Sad players FK Borac Banja Luka players FC Torpedo Kutaisi players FK Tekstilac Odžaci players Serbian SuperLiga players Serie A players Serie B players Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina players Erovnuli Liga players Serbian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Georgia (country) Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Georgia (country)