Marko Peter Stanojevic (; born 1 October 1979 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

) is an Italian

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer. He last played on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

for Italian Top12 club Rovigo. Before his move to Italy, he had played four seasons with

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

in England.

Playing career

Born in Birmingham to a Serbian father and Italian mother, Stanojevic played his school rugby at Warwick School. After playing for local club side Claverdon RFC he came to the attention of

in 1998, when he attended several training sessions after he matriculated at the

University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a Public university, public research university, located in and around Bristol, England, UK. With more than 39,912 students and 4,300 staff, it is the largest provider of hi ...

. Stanojevic soon began making frequent appearances in the Bristol U-21s, and signed an academy contract in 1999. After earning a degree in Information Systems at UWE, he spent the 2001–02 season at Coventry RFC, and then went to Italy for a season at Colleferro. Qualifying for Italy through his mother, he was named to the national sevens team in 2002. Stanojevic returned to Bristol Rugby, this time with the senior side, in 2003, and went on to score 17 tries during a 2004–05 season which saw Bristol promoted to the Guinness Premiership. He continued to play for Bristol through the 2006-07 season. He made his first appearance for the 15-man national team in 2006 against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. He added five more appearances for the ''Azzurri'' before the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Stanojevic scored one of two Italian tries in their blowout loss to the All Blacks in their Rugby World Cup opener.

External links

Marko Stanojevic
at the Italian Rugby Federation
Interview
at unofficial Bristol Rugby fan site {{DEFAULTSORT:Stanojevic, Marko 1979 births Living people English people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent English people of Serbian descent Italian people of Serbian descent Alumni of the University of the West of England, Bristol Male rugby sevens players Rugby union players from Birmingham, West Midlands Italian rugby union players Rugby union wings Bristol Bears players People educated at Warwick School Italian British rugby union players Italy international rugby union players 2007 Rugby World Cup players Rugby Rovigo Delta players Rugby Calvisano players