Damir Desnica

Last updated

Damir Desnica
Personal information
Date of birth (1956-12-20) 20 December 1956 (age 67)
Place of birth Obrovac, FPR Yugoslavia
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
Elektroprimorje Rijeka
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 retired footballer who played as a forward.

Contents

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

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HNK Rijeka</span> Croatian football club

Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka, commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional football club from the city of Rijeka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NK Međimurje</span> Croatian football club

NK Međimurje is a Croatian football club based in Čakovec. The club is named after Međimurje, the region in northern Croatia where the city of Čakovec is located.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josip Skoblar</span> Croatian association football player and manager

Josip Skoblar is a Croatian former professional football player and manager. He was primarily a forward, and also capable of playing on both wings. In 1971, he won the European Golden Shoe with 44 goals.

Mladen Mladenović is a Croatian professional football manager and retired player who played as a midfielder.

The 1992 Croatian First Football League was the first season of the top Croatian football league. It was the inaugural season of the league established following Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia. Affected by the political and social upheavals stemming from the breakup of Yugoslavia and the early stages of the 1991–95 war, the season was drastically shortened and played over the course of less than four months, from 29 February to 13 June.

The 1992–93 Croatian First Football League was the second season of the top football league in Croatia since its establishment after Croatia gained independence from Yugoslavia. Games were played from 23 August 1992 to 12 June 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NK Pazinka</span> Croatian football club

NK Pazinka is a Croatian football club based in the town of Pazin in Istria. Founded in 1948, their greatest success was competing in the Croatian top flight 1. HNL for two seasons between 1992 and 1994. They are currently competing in the Croatian Third Football League.

Srećko Juričić is a Croatian former professional footballer, who is currently the sporting director for HNK Rijeka. Juričić has also had a career as a manager coaching: HNK Rijeka, Koper, Primorje, HIT Gorica, Istra, Al-Riffa, Ittihad Kalba, Al-Ahli Dubai, Sharjah FC, Qatar SC, Al Wasl FC, Al Taawoun FC and national teams UAE, UAE U-20, Bahrain, Oman and Yemen.

Ive Jerolimov is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a defender or midfielder.

Miloš Hrstić is a Croatian football coach and former player. During his club career he played for HNK Rijeka, Deportivo de La Coruña and Olimpija Ljubljana. He earned ten caps for the Yugoslavia national team, and participated in the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

Nenad Gračan is a Croatian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the coach of the Croatia women's national football team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marin Tomasov</span> Croatian footballer (born 1987)

Marin Tomasov is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a winger or an attacking midfielder for Kazakhstan Premier League club Astana.

Milan Ružić was a Croatian football player. He was capped twice for Yugoslavia.

Damir Milinović is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He was named manager of Dubrava in June 2022.

Janko Janković is a Croatian retired footballer who played as a forward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filip Bradarić</span> Croatian footballer (born 1992)

Filip Bradarić is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Zrinjski Mostar and the Croatia national team.

Aliyu Okechukwu is a Nigerian footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for NK Rudeš in Croatia.

HNK Rijeka are a Croatian football club. This article details their record in UEFA club competitions.

This page details football records in Croatia. It counts only results and records from 1992 onwards, as that year marked both Croatia's re-admittance into FIFA and start of Croatian First Football League. Prior 1992 Croatian clubs were part of Football Association of Yugoslavia. Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. In 1993 Croatia was admitted into UEFA.

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.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.