Danilo Dončić ( sr-Cyrl, Данило Дончић; 20 August 1969 – 1 May 2024) was a Serbian

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 ...

player and manager.

Early life

Dončić was born in Vranje but spent most of his early life in

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 ...

. He started his youth football career with FK Beograd before joining his first professional football team, FK Rudar Ljubija playing back then in the

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav Second League ( Bosnian: ''Druga savezna liga,'' Croatian: ''Druga savezna liga'', Serbian: ''Друга савезна лига'', Slovenian: ''Druga zvezna liga'', Macedonian: ''Втора сојузна лига'', ''Vtora sojuzna l ...

Playing career

Dončić continued his professional career with famous Serbian football clubs

FK Napredak Kruševac Fudbalski klub Napredak Kruševac (), commonly known as Napredak Kruševac, is a Serbian professional football club based in the city of Kruševac. The word ''Napredak'' means "progress" in Serbian. The club's nickname is the Čarapani which ...

FK Čukarički Fudbalski klub Čukarički () is a Serbian professional football club from Belgrade, more precisely from the Čukarica municipality, that currently plays in the Serbian SuperLiga, the top tier of Serbian football. Founded in 1926, the club spe ...

before returning to FK Beograd. Having spent the majority of his early football career in Serbia, Dončić decided to try the international waters by joining

Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

where he won all possible Maltese Cups in one season 2006–07 and was the top scorerMaltese Top Scorers List
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation – archive in Malta by breaking the record of scoring 32 league goals in one season. He left Malta for one of the top Bulgarian clubs

Lokomotiv Sofia FC Lokomotiv Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently plays in the First League, the top tier of Bulgarian football. Founded as Railway Sports Club in 1929, and refounded in 2015, following ...

and continued his career by moving to Portugal playing for Imortal DC. After that he spent five years playing for Sliema Wanderers where he won three league campaigns in a row and one trophy. In those years of his most success Dončić was three times top scorer of the

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as 360Sports Malta Premier for sponsorship reasons with 360Sports (colloquialism, colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Foot ...

. In total, he played eight years in Malta with a record of 196 games played and 151 goals scored. In May 2006 at the age of 37, Dončić retired from playing football.

Coaching career

Dončić decided to concentrate on coaching and soon after he finished his career as a player, he started coaching the First Division Maltese team

San Ġwann San Ġwann () is a town in the Northern Region of Malta, with a population of 14,244 as of 2021. Prior to its establishment as a distinct municipality, it was a fragmented community comprising parts of Birkirkara and St. Julian's. San Ġwann e ...

in 2006. In the consecutive season, he signed with

Floriana Floriana ( or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a Floriana Lines, fortified town in the Port Region, Malta, Port Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014 ...

as a head coach of this premier Maltese team. Floriana, a team with a successful football history placed fifth in the Premier league and was a semi-finalist in the Trophy for the same year. Following this achievement, Dončić was invited by one of the best Serbian coaches,

Dragan Okuka Dragomir "Dragan" Okuka (; born 2 April 1954) is a Serbian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. As a player, he was predominantly associated with his time with FK Velež Mostar, Velež ...

, where he accepted to become his first assistant coach in Dončić's ex-club

.Doncic as Lokomotiv hit top gear
The Times of Malta – archiveDanilo Doncic to Take Up Coaching Role at Lokоmotiv Sofia
News.bg – archiveСърбин поема Локомотив (Сф)
Blitz.bg – archive Subsequently, Dončić moved on to a top Greek league team

Kavala Kavala (, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos and on the A2 motorway, a one-and ...

together with Dragan Okuka. After some time, Okuka resigned and Dončić continued working with Henryk Kasperczak till the year 2011. At the same time, Dončić was contacted by Sliema Wanderers for the post of a head coach and he returned to Malta to take over his ex-team Sliema Wanderers from February 2011 till May 2012. For the remainder of 2012, Dončić coached Premier League team Tarxien Rainbows. His career continued with

Mosta Mosta () is a small but densely populated city in the Northern Region of Malta. The most prominent building in Mosta is the Rotunda, a large basilica built by its parishioners' volunteer labour. It features the world's 3rd largest unsupported ...

(2013–2014) and St. Andrews (2014 – autumn 2014) as a club manager. With the start of the new football season Dončić decided to accept the offer of Al-Najma (2014–2015) on position of club manager.Danilo Lands Coaching Position in Bahrain
Article Times of Malta Sep. 2014 Following a successful year at Al-Najma Dončić took the contract with Ethnikos Achnas (2015–2016). He was back to the Maltese Premier League after reaching an agreement with St. Andrews.Danilo Replaces Borg as Coach of St. Andrews
Article Times of Malta Oct. 2016Danilo Doncic Kowc Gdid Ta St.Andrews
Article Esklussiva Oct. 2016 In February 2022 Dončić came back to

for a second spell as a manager, signing a contract until the end of the season.

Death

Dončić died of a heart attack in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, on 1 May 2024, at the age of 54.

Honours

Valletta *

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 ...

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

: 1995, 1996, 1997 Sliema Wanderers * Maltese Premier League:

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

* FA Trophy: 2004

References

External links