Predrag Mijatović ( sr-cyrl, Предраг Мијатовић; born 19 January 1969) is a Montenegrin

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

administrator and former player who played as a striker. At club level, Mijatović played for six clubs: Budućnost, Partizan,

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

and Levante. Internationally, he played for

FR Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

and at the

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

. During his career at Real Madrid he was widely considered as one of the best strikers in the world. Mijatović scored 28 goals in the

1995–96 La Liga The 1995–96 La Liga season was the 65th since its establishment. It began on 2 September 1995, and concluded on 26 May 1996. __TOC__ Team information Clubs and locations Notes * With Mérida's promotion every Spanish autonomous commu ...

season for

, which prompted a move to

, where he scored a goal in the

1998 UEFA Champions League final The 1998 UEFA Champions League final was a football match that took place at the Amsterdam Arena in Amsterdam, on 20 May 1998 to determine the winner of the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League. It pitted Real Madrid of Spain and Juventus of Italy. Ju ...

which ensured Madrid's first European Cup in 32 years. In 1997, Mijatović was named runner-up for the

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual association football, football award presented by French magazine ''France Football'' since 1956 Ballon d'Or, 1956 to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season. Conceived ...

, behind Ronaldo and ahead of

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; ; ''Zineddin Lyazid Zidan''; ; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as an attacking midfi ...

. After his playing career, he served as

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

for Real Madrid from 2006 to 2009.

Club career

Budućnost

From the 1987–88 season, Mijatović became a regular at Budućnost under new head coach

Stanko Poklepović Stanko "Špaco" Poklepović (19 April 1938 – 24 December 2018) was a Croatian professional Association football, football Football player, player and Manager (association football), manager. Poklepović managed a number of teams over 46 years, ...

. In October 1987, he was a member of the Yugoslav youth squad which competed in and won the

1987 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Chile from 10 to 25 October 1987. The 1987 championship was the 6th edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship and won for the first time by Yugoslavia. Remarkably, in the course of the tourn ...

in Chile. Upon his return to Budućnost, Mijatović's spot on the squad was now cemented alongside

Dejan Savićević Dejan Savićević ( cyrl, Дејан Савићевић, ; born 15 September 1966) is a Montenegrin former professional association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Since 2001, he has been the president of the Football ...

, Dragoljub Brnović and Branko Brnović, who also represented Yugoslavia in Chile. Mijatović made 31 league appearances and contributed four goals as Budućnost finished the season in ninth position. During the winter of 1989–90, Mijatović nearly signed with Hajduk Split after negotiating with Hajduk's sporting director

Jurica Jerković Jurica "Jure" Jerković (25 February 1950 – 3 June 2019) was a Croatian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. During his time with Hajduk Split in the 1970s, he was known for his amazing playmaker skills and for his romantic appro ...

, with even a DM50,000 pre-contract payment given to the player. However, Partizan club president Mirko Marjanović stepped in and convinced Mijatović to join the

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

-based club instead. In December 1989, Partizan ultimately paid a DM1 million transfer fee to Budućnost for Mijatović. This was at time the highest transfer within the Yugoslav league. In later interviews, Mijatović said a deteriorating political and security situation in Yugoslavia was a factor in his decision not to join the Croatian club Hajduk.

Partizan

Though he scored on his Partizan debut against his former club Budućnost, Mijatović's debut half season in the new club under head coach Ivan Golac was mostly spent settling into the new surroundings. He failed to score in his following 14 league appearances until the end of the 1989–90 league season. However, Mijatović continued improving, becoming the squad's undisputed leader during 1991–92 season under head coach

Ivica Osim Ivan Osim (6 May 1941 – 1 May 2022), best known as Ivica Osim, was a Bosnian professional Football player, footballer and Manager (association football), football manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Bosnian football managers of all ...

, and leading Partizan to the 1992 Yugoslav Cup title over reigning

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

champions

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 ...

. He was also named Yugoslav Footballer of the Year award en route. At Partizan, Mijatović had been linked with various top European sides, which included

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. He joined

in the summer of 1993.

Valencia

Mijatović made his Valencia debut on 5 September 1993 against Real Oviedo. He won the Spanish Footballer of the Year award in the 1995–96 season, having scored 28 goals in 40

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

matches. As the second best goal-scorer in the league, he was the runner-up for the

Pichichi Trophy In Spanish Association football, football, the Pichichi Trophy () is awarded by the sports newspaper ''Marca (newspaper), Marca'' to the top goalscorer of each La Liga season. Named after the Athletic Bilbao striker Pichichi (footballer), Rafael ...

, second only to Juan Antonio Pizzi. Mijatović's contributions helped Valencia finish in second place behind

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

that season.

Real Madrid

On 13 February 1996, Mijatović signed an advanced contract with

mandating that he join the club from Valencia in the summer of 1996. The deal was confirmed a month later when the club met his buyout clause with a transfer fee of Pts. 1.486 billion. Former Yugoslavia teammate

Davor Šuker Davor Šuker (; born 1 January 1968) is a Croatian Association football, football administrator and former professional player who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He served as the president of the Croatian Football Federatio ...

, as well as

Clarence Seedorf Clarence Clyde Seedorf (; born 1 April 1976) is a Dutch former professional Association football, football manager and player. He is regarded by many as one of the greatest midfielders of all time. He is currently working primarily remotely as ...

and Roberto Carlos, also joined Real Madrid in the summer 1996 transfer window. Coach

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional association football, football manager (association football), manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL, AS Roma, Roma, AC Milan and Juventus FC, Juventus. H ...

often deployed Mijatović in a strike tandem with Šuker, reviving their partnership from their time in Yugoslavia's youth team at the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship. Over the course of the 1996–97 La Liga season, Mijatović scored a total of 14 goals; he scored one goal in Real Madrid's 2–0 victory over

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

the '' El Clásico'' on 7 December 1996, escaping from Miguel Ángel Nadal and

Laurent Blanc Laurent Robert Blanc (; born 19 November 1965) is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a centre-back and is the manager of Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad Club (J ...

before lifting the ball over

Vítor Baía Vítor Manuel Martins Baía, OIH (; born 15 October 1969) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. One of the most decorated goalkeepers of all time, his career was intimately connected with FC Porto, which h ...

to score. By the end of the season, Real Madrid were first in La Liga and also claimed the 1997 Supercopa de España over

. On 20 May 1998, Mijatović scored the winning goal in Real Madrid's 1–0 victory over

in the

. This was Real Madrid's first

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

title after 32 years. The following season was Mijatović's final season with ''Los Blancos''; at the end of the season, the 30-year-old Mijatović was sold 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

Fiorentina

On 28 June 1999, Mijatović signed a three-year contract with

for 17 billion Italian lire. His earliest performances at Fiorentina were promising; despite Fiorentina's attacking depth with the likes of

Gabriel Batistuta Gabriel Omar Batistuta (; born 1 February 1969) is an Argentine former professional Association football, footballer. During his playing career, Batistuta was nicknamed Batigol () as well as El Ángel Gabriel (; Spanish for ''Archangel Gabriel, A ...

, coach

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), popularly nicknamed "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian former Association football, football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Football in Italy, Italian football ...

initially chose Mijatović as a starter. On 26 July 1999, Mijatović scored the opening goal in Fiorentina's 4–0 victory over

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

in the Gotham Cup finals in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, a pre-season exhibition tournament. He played at Fiorentina for two seasons, scoring four goals within the Serie A, and added a

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 ...

title to his honours. Additionally, he featured in Fiorentina's

1999–2000 UEFA Champions League The 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League was the 45th season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the eighth season since its rebranding from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The com ...

campaign, which resulted in a third-place finish in Group B of the second group stage behind

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and former club

Levante

Mijatović joined

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

in the summer of 2002. He played there for one season, after which Levante finished in fourth place in the Segunda División 2002–03 season. He subsequently retired from professional football after struggling with lingering injuries.

International career

Mijatović was included in Yugoslavia's squad for the

, winning the tournament. Mijatović made his senior debut for

Yugoslavia national football team The Yugoslavia national football team; ; ; represented Yugoslavia in international association football. Although the team mainly represented the pre-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the post-war SFR Yugoslavia, various iterations of the state ...

in an August 1989

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. He was also called by the main team to

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having been inv ...

, but the nation would be suspended due to the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

1998 FIFA World Cup

Mijatović was the top scorer for the FR Yugoslavia national football team during the

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification The 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations. Each confederation — the Asian Football Confederation, AFC (Asia), Confederation of African Football, CAF (Afr ...

. Seven of his 14 goals came in the

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eith ...

tie against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, as Yugoslavia won 12–1 on aggregate to qualify for the final tournament. Mijatović was one of the key players for FR Yugoslavia in the

, appearing in all four of his team's games and scoring a goal in a 2–2 draw against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in the group stage. He however missed a penalty in the match versus the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the round of 16, eventually losing 2–1.

UEFA Euro 2000

Mijatović played for FR Yugoslavia at

, appearing in all games as the team exited in the quarter-finals following a 6–1 loss to the Netherlands. Mijatović has earned a total of 73 international caps, scoring 27 goals. His final international game was a June 2003 European Championship qualification match against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

Post-playing career

After retiring in 2004, Mijatović continued living in the city of

and soon became a player agent. In 2006, Mijatović became Real Madrid's

, serving in the position for three seasons under the leadership of Ramón Calderón as club president. During this time, Mijatovic signed important players in Real Madrid's history such as

Fabio Cannavaro Fabio Cannavaro (; born 13 September 1973) is an Italian professional association football, football coach and former player who last was the head coach of Croatian club GNK Dinamo Zagreb, Dinamo Zagreb. He is regarded as one of the greatest De ...

Ruud van Nistelrooy Rutgerus Johannes Martinus van Nistelrooij (; born 1 July 1976), commonly known as Ruud van Nistelrooy (), is a Dutch professional Association football, football manager and former player who is the current manager of EFL Championship club Leic ...

Marcelo Marcelo is a given name, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Marcellus (name), Marcellus. Marcelo may refer to: Given name *Marcelo Costa de Andrade (born 1967), Brazilian serial killer, rapist, and necrophile *Marcelo Arriagada (born 1973), Chile ...

, Gonzalo Higuaín and Pepe. Through his friendship with Anzhi Makhachkala general manager German Chistyakov, Mijatović was reportedly part of the three-man delegation (the other two were Anzhi's transfer man German Tkachenko and Serbian player agent Vlado Lemić) the Russian club deployed to

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

on 9 August 2011 for initial negotiations with Internazionale (represented by sporting director Marco Branca and vice-president Rinaldo Ghelfi) over the transfer of striker

Samuel Eto'o Samuel Eto'o Fils (; born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian Association football, football administrator and former Football player, player who is the current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation. He is often regarded as one of the ...

. In October 2024, Mijatović was appointed vice president of

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; ), often referred to in English as Partizan Belgrade, is a Serbian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Belgrade. It forms ...

under president

Rasim Ljajić Rasim Ljajić ( sr-Cyrl, Расим Љајић, ; born 28 January 1964) is a Serbian politician and sports administrator who currently serves as president of FK Partizan. A prominent Bosniak politician from Novi Pazar and president of Social D ...

Personal life

Born in

Titograd Podgorica ( cnr-Cyrl, Подгорица; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city is just north of Lake Skadar and close to coastal destinations on the Adriatic Sea. Histor ...

(now Podgorica), Mijatović grew up in the Masline neighbourhood. He is married to Aneta Milićević. On 3 June 2009, the official website of Real Madrid stated that Mijatović's son Andrej, aged 15, died after a long illness, and offered its "deepest sympathies on behalf of the entire club and its members".

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Yugoslavia's and Serbia and Montenegro's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mijatović goal.''

Honours

Partizan *

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

: 1992–93 *

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

: 1991–92 Real Madrid *

: 1996–97 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

: 1997–98 * Intercontinental Cup:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Fiorentina *

: 2000–01 Yugoslavia *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

runner-up:

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

Individual

Awards * FR Yugoslavia Player of the Year: 1992, 1993, 1998 * La Liga Best Foreign Player: 1995–96 *

: Runner-up

* ADN Eastern European Footballer of the Season: 1997

Notes

References

External links

*
Real Madrid profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mijatovic, Predrag 1969 births Living people Footballers from Podgorica Cuce Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Serbia and Montenegro men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro men's international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players UEFA Champions League–winning players FK Budućnost Podgorica players FK Partizan players Valencia CF players Real Madrid CF players ACF Fiorentina players Levante UD footballers Yugoslav First League players La Liga players Serie A players Serbia and Montenegro expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Italy Association football agents Real Madrid CF non-playing staff