Ranko Despotović ( sr-Cyrl, Ранко Деспотовић, ; born 21 January 1983) is a Serbian retired

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 played as a forward, and the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

of UD Caravaca.

Club career

Born in

Loznica Loznica ( sr-cyrl, Лозница, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city located in the Mačva District of western Serbia, on the right bank of the Drina river. In 2022 the city had a total population of 19,515, while the administrative area had a ...

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 ...

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, Despotović made his professional debuts with local

FK Loznica FK Loznica (Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: ФК Лозница) is a professional Association football, football club from Loznica, Serbia. History LSK The first soccer ball arrived in the town of Loznica in 1919. It was brought fr ...

aged only 17, and proceeded to score almost 30 goals overall in his first three years, subsequently being acquired by

FK Vojvodina Fudbalski klub Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Војводина), commonly known as Vojvodina and colloquially as Voša ( sr-Cyrl, Воша), is a Serbian professional football club based in Novi Sad, Serbia, the second large ...

. After parts of seasons loaned to lowly

FK Mačva Šabac Fudbalski klub Mačva Šabac () is a Serbian professional football club based in Šabac, which competes in the Serbian First League. One of the oldest football clubs in Serbia, their nickname is (), which was first used in 1927, when the Urugua ...

, he returned, having a stellar 2006–07 season and helping the team to the third place in

the league ''The League'' is an American television sitcom that aired on FX and later FXX from October 29, 2009, to December 9, 2015, for a total of seven seasons. The series, set in Chicago, is a semi-improvised comedy show about a fantasy football l ...

and coming up second in the domestic cup; to help achieve this, he topped the nation's goal charts by netting 17 times. In January 2008, Despotović signed with

FC Rapid București Fotbal Club Rapid 1923, commonly known as Rapid București () or simply as Rapid, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest, that competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1923 by employees of the Grivi� ...

in Romania, and continued abroad for the ensuing summer as he joined Spain's

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in , playing home matches at Estadio Nueva Condo ...

for three years and

€ 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 ...

1.5 million. He was brought to the club by head coach

Javier Clemente Javier Clemente Lázaro (; born 12 March 1950) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Forced to retire from playing in his early 20s through injury, he embarked on a coaching career with his first managerial ...

, who became aware of the player while coaching the Serbia national team. For the 2009–10 campaign, Despotović stayed in the country and its second division, moving on a season-long loan to

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and black ...

. The following year, still in that level, he led

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

with 18 goals (seventh-best in the competition) as the

Catalans Catalans ( Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; ; ; or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, a nationality and autono ...

finished comfortably in mid-table. On 1 July 2011, Despotović signed for Japan's

Urawa Red Diamonds The or simply Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, ''Urawa Rezzu''), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, are a professional association football, football club in the city of Saitama (city), Saitama, part of t ...

. In late 2013, following an unsuccessful trial at former club Girona, he moved to

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

, after being convinced to join by former Vojvodina teammate Nikola Petković. He made his debut for his new team against

Wellington Phoenix FC Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League Men, under Professional sports league organization#Systems around the world, licenc ...

, coming on as a substitute and scoring the 2–1 winner in

injury time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the ga ...

. Despotović returned to Spain on 7 July 2014, joining second-level side

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually known as Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Basque ...

. He subsequently competed in the country's lower leagues, with

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in Segunda División, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20,724. Salvadoran ...

and Marbella FC.

International career

Despotović made his debut for

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 ...

in a

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

qualifier against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

, a 1–0 home success on 24 November 2007. His fourth and final international was a June 2011

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 ...

away against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* *; at Srbijafudbal * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Despotovic, Ranko 1983 births Living people Footballers from Loznica Men's association football forwards Serbia and Montenegro men's footballers Serbian men's footballers Serbia men's international footballers FK Loznica players FK Vojvodina players FK Mačva Šabac players FC Rapid București players Real Murcia CF players UD Salamanca players Girona FC players Urawa Red Diamonds players Sydney FC players Deportivo Alavés players Cádiz CF players Marbella FC players Second League of Serbia and Montenegro players First League of Serbia and Montenegro players Serbian SuperLiga players Liga I players Segunda División players J1 League players A-League Men players Segunda División B players Serbian expatriate men's footballers Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Serbian football managers Tercera Federación managers Serbian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Spain