Igor Duljaj (; born 29 October 1979) 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

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. ...

. He is best remembered for his tenacious playing style and stamina. During his footballing career, Duljaj played with only three clubs, namely Partizan, Shakhtar Donetsk and

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

. He won 14 major trophies at club level, including the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. At international level, Duljaj earned 47 caps 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 ...

(and its predecessors). He represented

Serbia and Montenegro The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

Club career

Born in Topola, Duljaj was spotted by Partizan in 1990. He initially traveled to

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 ...

to attend training sessions for several years, before permanently relocating to the capital city. Duljaj is probably the best defensive midfielder who came out of the youth academy of Partizan in the 90s as he passed all club selections. In the 1997–98 season, Duljaj was promoted to the main squad, appearing in five league games and scoring once. He became a first-team regular in his

third year Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

as a senior, collecting 41 appearances in all competitions while scoring one goal in the league. Over the course of the next three seasons, Duljaj was an irreplaceable member of the team that won

one 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

national cup and back-to-back championships in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

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 ...

. He subsequently helped the side progress to the group stage of the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League, eliminating Newcastle United in the last qualifying round. In February 2004, Duljaj was transferred to Shakhtar Donetsk. He penned a five-year contract with the club, rejoining his former Partizan teammate

Zvonimir Vukić Zvonimir Vukić (; born 19 July 1979) is a Serbian former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. A former Serbia and Montenegro international, Vukić appeared at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Club career Vukić started out at his hometo ...

. Over the following seven seasons, Duljaj won four

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

titles, two

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( ) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003–04 season, the Cup winner qu ...

s, two Ukrainian Super Cups, and

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. He amassed a total of 195 appearances in all competitions and scored six goals. In July 2010, Duljaj signed with fellow Ukrainian club

. He spent four seasons with the side, two in the top flight and two in the second tier, before retiring from the game.

International career

Duljaj was capped for FR Yugoslavia at under-18 and under-21 level. He also represented the country at the

Millennium Super Soccer Cup The Millennium Super Soccer Cup, known as the Sahara Cup for Sahara India Pariwar, sponsorship reasons, was an international Association football, football tournament held in India from 10 January to 25 January 2001. FR Yugoslavia national footba ...

in early 2001. Led by manager Ilija Petković, Duljaj appeared in all five of his team's games and scored two goals, helping the side win the tournament. However, these caps are not officially recognized by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

. Previously, Duljaj made his full international debut for

FR Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

in a 2–1 friendly loss against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

on 15 November 2000. He went on to represent his country on 52 occasions, including 5 unofficial at the 2001

and being a member of the team at the

Post-playing career

In the summer of 2016, Duljaj joined the coaching staff at Shakhtar Donetsk, becoming an assistant to manager Paulo Fonseca. In December 2019, it was announced that Duljaj would be joining Savo Milošević's staff at Partizan. On 16 August 2022, it was announced that Duljaj became the new manager at Teleoptik. Duljaj finished in fourth place with Teleoptik in the first part of the 2022–23 Serbian League Belgrade season. After the resignation of

Gordan Petrić Gordan Petrić (; born 30 July 1969) is a Serbian football manager and former player. Club career Petrić made his senior debut with OFK Beograd in the 1985–86 season, as the club suffered relegation from the top flight of Yugoslav football. ...

at the end of February 2023, Duljaj was appointed head coach of Partizan. With five matches left before the end of the 2023–24 season, he was replaced by a unanimous decision made at a meeting of the club's Board of Directors. Instead of Duljaj, Albert Nađ, who was previously part of the coaching staff as an assistant, was appointed as the head coach.

Personal life

Duljaj has two brothers, Joakim and Nenad. Together they run the ''Duljaj Football Academy'' in their hometown of Topola.

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial statistics

''As of 28 April 2024 ''

Honours

Partizan *

First League of FR Yugoslavia The First League of Serbia and Montenegro () was the top football league of Serbia and Montenegro, before the country's dissolution in 2006. The league was formed as the First League of FR Yugoslavia following the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992, ef ...

: 1998–99, 2001–02, 2002–03 *

FR Yugoslavia Cup The Serbia and Montenegro Cup was an association football knockout cup tournament of Serbia and Montenegro played between 1992 and 2006, after which Serbia and Montenegro became separate nations. The competition was the continuation of the old ...

: 1997–98, 2000–01 Shakhtar Donetsk *

: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10 *

: 2003–04, 2007–08 * Ukrainian Super Cup:

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 ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

: 2008–09 Sevastopol *

Ukrainian First League The Persha Liha ( ) or Ukrainian First League is a Ukrainian football league system, level of national football competitions (second tier) in Ukraine governed by the Professional Football League of Ukraine, Professional Football League at the disc ...

: 2012–13 Individual * Partizan Player of the Year: 2003

Notes

References

External links

Duljaj Football Academy
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duljaj, Igor 1979 births Living people People from Topola Sportspeople from Šumadija District Gorani people Men's association football midfielders Serbia and Montenegro expatriate men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Serbia and Montenegro men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro men's under-21 international footballers Serbia and Montenegro men's international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players Serbian men's footballers Serbia men's international footballers FK Partizan players FC Shakhtar Donetsk players FC Sevastopol players UEFA Europa League–winning players First League of Serbia and Montenegro players Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian First League players Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Serbian expatriate men's footballers Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Serbian football managers FK Teleoptik managers FK Partizan managers FC Shakhtar Donetsk non-playing staff FK Partizan non-playing staff Bakers