Adrian Zeljković (born 19 August 2002) is a Slovenian

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 a

defensive 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

Czech First League The Czech First League () also known as the Chance Liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Czech Republic and the highest level of the Czech Republic football league system. Seasons typically run from A ...

club

Viktoria Plzeň Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victor ...

and the Slovenia national team.

Club career

Zeljković started playing football in his hometown of

Žalec Žalec (; ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 4: ''Štajersko''. 1904. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 44.) is a town in central Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Žalec. It lies ...

. He went on to play for the youth teams of several Slovenian football clubs, including

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

Celje Celje (, , ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, third-largest city in Slovenia. It is a regional center of the traditional Slovenian region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria and the administrative seat of the City Municipality of Celje. Th ...

and Olimpija Ljubljana. Zeljković joined Slovak club

Spartak Trnava FC Spartak Trnava () is a professional football club based in Trnava, Slovakia. The club competes in Slovak First Football League, the top flight in the Slovak league system, having participated in more seasons than any other club. Founded in ...

in July 2023, signing a four-year contract. On 12 May 2025, Zeljković signed a four-year contract with

club

for a reported transfer fee of €1.5 million.

International career

In November 2023, Zeljković scored his first goal for the Slovenia under-21 team in a 1–1 friendly draw against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. He made his debut for the senior team in a January 2024 friendly against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Personal life

Zeljković's older brother Aleksandar is also a footballer.

Honours

Spartak Trnava *

Slovak Cup The Slovak Cup (), currently named Slovnaft Cup due to sponsorship agreement with Slovnaft, is the only nationwide Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in Football in Slovakia, Slovak football. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Euro ...

: 2024–25 Individual *Spartak Trnava Footballer of the Year: 2024

References

External links

* * * 2002 births Living people People from the Municipality of Žalec Men's association football midfielders Slovenian men's footballers 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Slovenia men's youth international footballers Slovenia men's under-21 international footballers Slovenia men's international footballers NK Olimpija Ljubljana (2005) players NK Tabor Sežana players FC Spartak Trnava players FC Viktoria Plzeň players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Slovak First Football League players UEFA Euro 2024 players Slovenian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic {{Slovenia-footy-bio-stub