Damir Desnica

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Damir Desnica
Personal information
Date of birth (1956-12-20) 20 December 1956 (age 68)
Place of birth Obrovac, FPR Yugoslavia
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1972 Elektroprimorje
1972–1973 Konstruktor
1973–1974 Rijeka
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1974–1985 Rijeka 251 (54)
1985–1990 Kortrijk 109 (19)
1990–1991 Zadar
1991 Orijent
1992–1993 Pazinka 11 (1)
–1996 Halubjan
1996–1997 Klana
1997–1998 Lučki Radnik
International career
1978 Yugoslavia 1 (1)
Medal record
Representing Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg  Yugoslavia
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg UEFA U-21 Euro 1978
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Damir Desnica (born 20 December 1956) is a Croatian and Yugoslav retired footballer who played as a forward. Born deaf, Desnica spent the majority of his career in the 1970s and 1980s with Rijeka, with whom he won two Marshal Tito Cup titles (1978, 1979) and one Balkans Cup (1978).

Contents

Desnica played mostly as a left winger for Rijeka and relied on pace and dribbling ability to charge towards the opposition box. Remembered as one of the key figures of the club's golden era in the late 1970s, Desnica earned one full international cap for Yugoslavia in 1978, and also won a bronze medal with the Yugoslav deaf football team at the 1973 International Silent Games in Sweden.

Later in his career he spent five years with KV Kortrijk in Belgium. After returning to Croatia in 1990 he continued to play for smaller clubs, and helped NK Zadar win Yugoslav third-tier title in 1991. Following Croatia's independence and the establishment of the new league system he joined second-tier club NK Pazinka and also won promotion with them in 1992.

Club career

Born in Obrovac, Croatia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Desnica spent much of his career with HNK Rijeka, appearing in nearly 300 official games and winning two Yugoslav Cups in the process. In 1985, aged nearly 29, he moved abroad and signed for Belgium's K.V. Kortrijk.

Desnica returned to his country after five years, and joined NK Zadar. After a brief spell with NK Orijent, he signed with NK Pazinka, and retired at 41 after representing, in both Rijeka and its outskirts, lowly clubs NK Halubjan, NK Klana and NK Lučki Radnik. [1]

International career

Desnica earned one cap for Yugoslavia, scoring in a 2–3 away loss against Romania for the UEFA Euro 1980 qualifiers, on 25 October 1978.

Personal life

Desnica was one of the very few deaf persons to play football professionally – he also only communicated manually. [2] On 7 November 1984, in a match against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium for the season's UEFA Cup, he was sent off for two bookable offences by referee Roger Schoeters, the second for allegedly protesting; Rijeka finished the match with eight players and lost the tie 3–4 on aggregate. [3] [4]

Club statistics

[5] [6]

SeasonClubLeagueLeagueCupContinentalTotal
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
1974–75 Rijeka Yugoslav First League 30––30
1975–76 235––235
1976–77 90––90
1977–78 31451–365
1978–79 2974040377
1979–80 1311043184
1980–81 153––153
1981–82 32620–346
1982–83 331142–3713
1983–84 321131–3512
1984–85 3162141378
Rijeka total2515421512428463
1985–86 Kortrijk Belgian Pro League 306?–306
1986–87 274?–274
1987–88 328?–328
1988–89 181?–181
1989–90 20?–20
Kortrijk total10919?40010923
Career total (incomplete)3607321912439386

Honours

Rijeka
Zadar
Pazinka

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References

  1. ↑ Frank, Robert (21 September 2014). "Damir Desnica: Umjetnik lopte kojeg život nije mazio" [Damir Desnica: The football artist with a rough life] (in Croatian). Novi list . Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  2. ↑ Damir Desnica: King of deaf footballers; Eclectic Football Nut, 27 December 2007
  3. ↑ El sordomudo expulsado por 'protestar' (The deaf and dumb who was sent off for 'protesting'); Marca, 3 October 2013 (in Spanish)
  4. ↑ Vivoda, V. (16 July 2014). "HNK Rijeka: The Rise of the Phoenix". Hocuri. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  5. ↑ "Damir Desnica". Footballdatabase. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  6. ↑ "Topschutters tweede klasse" [Top scorers second division] (in Dutch). Belgium Soccer History. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
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