Nikola Krstović ( cnr-Cyrl, Никола Крстовић; born 5 April 2000) is a Montenegrin professional

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

and the Montenegro national team.

Club career

FK Zeta

On 23 April 2016, Krstović made his competitive debut for

Zeta Zeta (, ; uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ; , , classical or ''zē̂ta''; ''zíta'') is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 7. It was derived from the Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician letter zay ...

, being assigned the number 13 jersey. He came on as a second-half substitute for Filip Kukuličić in their 1–1 league draw away against Iskra Danilovgrad, becoming the youngest player ever to appear in a 1. CFL game at the age of 16 years and 18 days old. Until the end of the

2015–16 Montenegrin First League The 2015–16 Montenegrin First League was the tenth season of the top-tier football in Montenegro. The season began on 8 August 2015 and ended on 29 May 2016. Rudar are the defending champions. Teams FK Iskra Danilovgrad, the 2014-15 Second L ...

, Krstović would go on to play in three more fixtures (all as a substitute) as the club hovered around the middle of the table. On 5 November 2016, Krstović made his first appearance of the 2016–17 season, entering the field during the second half of a 1–0 home league win over Bokelj. He scored his first senior goals in March of the following year, netting a brace in a 3–0 away victory over

Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje Fudbalski klub Jedinstvo ( Montenegrin: Фудбалски клуб Јединство), known as Jedinstvo Franca for sponsorship reasons, is football club from Bijelo Polje, Montenegro, currently competing in the Montenegrin First League. The cl ...

, making him the first player born in the 2000s to find the back of the net in the top flight of Montenegrin football. In his first full season at Zeta, Krstović played in 19 games (all in the league) and bagged seven goals. On 29 June 2017, Krstović appeared as a starter for Zeta wearing the number 9 shirt in a 1–0 away loss to Željezničar Sarajevo in the first leg of the

2017–18 UEFA Europa League The 2017–18 UEFA Europa League was the 47th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 9th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Parc Olymp ...

first qualifying round. He later scored an equalizer in the return tie a week later at home (the game ended in a 2–2 draw). In October of the same year, Krstović netted his first senior

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

and led his team to a 4–2 home win over Kom. He tallied 15 goals in 39 matches across all competitions throughout the season.

Red Star Belgrade

On 25 February 2019, Krstović signed with Serbian club

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

until the summer of 2023 with an option for another year. He remained on loan at Zeta until the end of the season, becoming the

Montenegrin First League The Montenegrin First League (Montenegrin language, Montenegrin: ''Prva crnogorska fudbalska liga'' — ''Prva CFL'' — ''1. CFL''; ), referred to as the Meridianbet 1. CFL for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional Association football, ...

top scorer with 17 goals.

DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda

On 5 September 2021, DAC has announced the signing of Krstović on a four-year contract. DAC's sporting director Jan Van Daele claimed that DAC had scouted Krstović since his youth years in Montenegro. He was given the jersey number 45. Krstović claimed gladness and honour following the contract signing. In 2022–23 Fortuna Liga season, Krstović became the league's top scorer, scoring 18 goals in 27 appearances, up from 4 goals in 11 matches in the previous season.

Lecce

On 17 August 2023, he was signed by Italian

side

and on 27 August he scored on his debut against

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

, securing a 2–2 draw. Then he scored the opening goal at the Stadio Via del mare as giallorossi beat

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919 is an Italian professional football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recently in 2011. The current ...

2–0 and a goal in a draw against

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

(1-1), thus becoming the first Lecce player to score in his first three games with the club.

International career

Krstović was capped for Montenegro at all youth levels from under-17 through to under-21. He made his debuts for the national under-21 team at the

Valeriy Lobanovskyi Memorial Tournament Valeriy Lobanovskyi Memorial Tournament () is an international football tournament established in honour and memory of Valeriy Lobanovskyi since his death on 13 May 2002, hence the name Memorial. The idea was initiated by the FC Dynamo Kyiv managem ...

in June 2017, appearing in both of his side's matches whilst scoring a brace in a 3–2 victory over Slovenia U21 in the third-place game. Later that year, Krstović netted a goal in a UEFA Under-21 Championship 2019 qualifier away to

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, as Montenegro suffered a 3–1 loss. On 28 March 2022, he made his senior debut in a home friendly match against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Krstović scored his first international goal in his fourth appearance on 24 March 2023, to give

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

a 1–0 win away at

in a 2024 European Championship qualifying match.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Red Star Belgrade *

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије / Kup Srbije), also known as Mozzart Serbian Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. ...

Individual *

Slovak Super Liga The Slovak First Football League (), officially known as Niké liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Slovakia and the highest level of the Football in Slovakia, Slovak football league system. It was formed ...

Player of the Month: May 2022, July 2022, October 2022, March 2023 *

Goal of the Month: May 2022, July 2022 *

Top Score:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Team of the Season:

* Montenegrin Footballer of the Year: 2024

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Krstovic, Nikola 2000 births Living people People from Podgorica Municipality Men's association football forwards Montenegrin men's footballers Montenegro men's international footballers Montenegro men's under-21 international footballers Montenegro men's youth international footballers Montenegrin First League players Serbian SuperLiga players Slovak First Football League players Serbian First League players Serie A players FK Zeta players Red Star Belgrade footballers RFK Grafičar Beograd players FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda players US Lecce players Montenegrin expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Italy