Dejan Damjanović (, ; born 27 July 1981), also known mononymously as Dejan, is a former Montenegrin professional footballer who played as a forward. Regarded as one of the greatest K League players in history, he is the all-time leading goalscorer of the AFC Champions League.
Early life Damjanović was born in the town of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina (then part of Yugoslavia) on 27 July 1981. He fled from the Yugoslav Wars to Belgrade in Serbia. He joined under-14 team of Sinđelić Beograd, starting to learn football professionally in Serbia.
Club career Early career Damjanović made his senior debut for the third division team Sinđelić Beograd in 1998, scoring 6 goals in 21 matches in his first season. He moved to Železnik in 2000 and later also played with Sremčica, Srem, Radnički Beograd and Bežanija. He experienced all the first, second, and third division of FR Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro. In December 2006, he and his team Bežanija were in financial trouble. Bežanija wanted to get transfer fees and he also wanted to leave Serbia. He left to Guam, where K League club Incheon United held the off-season training. After tryouts, he succeeded in signing with Incheon, moving to South Korea. He scored 20 goals for a year at Incheon.
FC Seoul
Damjanović signed a contract with FC Seoul on 7 December 2007. He was the second highest scorer in 2007, 2008 and 2009 K League. With 23 goals for Seoul in 2011 season, he was crowned the league's top scorer. In July 2009, he managed to score two goals against Manchester United in United's Asian tour. However, FC Seoul lost 3–2, United's goals being scored by Wayne Rooney, Federico Macheda and Dimitar Berbatov.
In January 2012, Chinese Super League club Guangzhou R&F offered $5 million to FC Seoul for Damjanović, but it was rejected by Seoul. In the first match of the 2012 K League, Damjanović was substituted out after 22 minutes against Daegu FC. It had been speculated that the FC Seoul manager, Choi Yong-soo, and Damjanović had a rift. Damjanović wanted to leave but FC Seoul would not let him. However, as time went on, FC Seoul issued an official statement by Choi saying there was no tension between the two. Damjanović scored his 100th career goal with FC Seoul from a penalty goal, along with the 101st in the same match over a 3–1 win against his former club Incheon United on 28 May 2012. On 25 July 2012, he became the top foreign goalscorer in the history of the K League by scoring his 105th goal in the match against Daejeon Citizen. The previous record holder is Saša Drakulić who made 104 goals in K League. Afterwards, he scored 31 goals in 40 appearances, thus breaking the record held by Kim Do-hoon in 2002. He finished the 2012 season with many accolades and records broken. He won the league with FC Seoul as well as becoming the Most Valuable Player, top goalscorer, and one of the Best XI. In January 2013, IFFHS ranked Damjanović seventh in the world for most goals in a top-division league during a year.
In September 2013, Damjanović scored in both of two legs of the AFC Champions League quarter finals against his former team Al-Ahli. His scoring continued against the first leg of the semi-final against Esteghlal. However, despite scoring in both legs of the 2013 AFC Champions League final against Guangzhou Evergrande, FC Seoul lost on away goals and thus ending the competition as runners-up. At the end of the 2013 season, he became the first player to receive the K League Top Scorer Award for three consecutive seasons.
Jiangsu Sainty In December 2013, Damjanović transferred to Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Sainty with transfer fee $4.2 million. He agreed to draw an annual salary of $2 million, more than double his salary at Seoul.
Beijing Guoan On 17 July 2014, Damjanović transferred to fellow Chinese Super League side Beijing Guoan. He once again played with Ha Dae-sung, his teammate at Seoul. At Chinese Super League, he scored the fifth and the third highest number of goals in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Return to FC Seoul On 28 December 2015, Damjanović returned to FC Seoul, signing a two-year contract. On 3 August 2016, he scored his 150th goal in 254th appearance in the K League, setting a record for the quickest player to reach 150 goals in the K League history. He helped Seoul regain the league title for the first time in four years.
However, Damjanović was in conflict with manager Hwang Sun-hong in the 2017 season. He publicly expressed discontent at his reduced playing time. He scored 19 goals at the league, but the club decided not to extend his contract. The next year, he joined Seoul's arch-rivals Suwon Samsung Bluewings, and was criticised as a betrayer by Seoul fans. After his retirement, he still expressed his love toward Seoul, whereas he explained his sadness about Seoul's unilateral notice and indifferent farewell. Apart from this, he criticised Hwang's treatment of foreign players and managerial style.
Suwon Samsung Bluewings On 4 January 2018, Damjanović signed for Suwon Samsung Bluewings. He scored 10 goals in 13 matches until the semi-finals at the 2018 AFC Champions League.
In the 2019 season, Australian international Adam Taggart became Suwon's main striker instead of Damjanović. He was released in December 2019.
Daegu FC In late December 2019, Daegu FC announced the signing of Damjanović on a free transfer. On June 14, he scored his first goal since moving against Seoul. He had 9 goals and 3 assists in 23 appearances, helping Daegu qualify for the 2021 AFC Champions League.
Kitchee On 9 January 2021, Kitchee announced the signing of Damjanović on a free transfer. He made his debut for Kitchee on 27 February, coming off the bench in the 67th minute in a 2–1 win against Southern. On 4 March, He scored his first goal in Hong Kong in just 1 minute after being substituted. In stoppage time, he scores his second to assist the team in a 2–0 victory over Pegasus. On 23 May, Kitchee successfully defended their Hong Kong Premier League title after beating Eastern Long Lions 2–0, courtesy of two goals by Damjanović at the Hong Kong Stadium. On 24 June, he scored a goal in a group stage match against Port F.C. at the 2021 AFC Champions League, making him joint-top goalscorer along with Lee Dong-gook in Champions League history with 37 goals. On 27 June, he scored a goal against Cerezo Osaka to become the sole leader in Champions League's all-time scoring chart. He later scored twice from the penalty spot, one each in two matches against Guangzhou, to reach his 40th goal in the Champions League.
On 1 May 2022, he scored his 42nd goal in the Champions League in a 2–2 draw against Vissel Kobe in the 2022 edition, which helped Kitchee to reach the knockout stages of the competition for the first time in their history.
International career Damjanović's first match as a Montenegrin international was against Italy on 16 October 2008.
Damjanović scored his first two international goals against Cyprus in one of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Damjanović played as a main striker for Montenegro at the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification. On 16 October 2012, he scored the winning goal in a 1–0 win over Ukraine. On 26 March 2013, during a 1–1 draw with England, he came on as a substitute for Mitar Novaković in the 46th minute, and scored the equaliser thirty minutes later. On 6 September, he provided the only goal for Montenegro again as they tied 1–1 with Poland in Warsaw. On 11 October, he scored the only goal for Montenegro in their 4–1 defeat to England at Wembley Stadium. Montenegro finished third in the UEFA Group H, failing to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Damjanović earned 30 caps and 8 goals during his international career. His last international match was a European Championship qualifier against Moldova on 8 September 2015.
Personal life Damjanović's daughter and son were born in South Korea.
Career statistics Club + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueNational cupLeague cupContinentalTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsSinđelić Beograd1998–99Serbian League Belgrade216——2161999–2000Serbian League Belgrade00——00Total216——216Železnik2000–011. Liga of FR Yugoslava30——302001–021. Liga of FR Yugoslava100——100Total130——130Sremčica (loan)2001–02Serbian League Belgrade2110——2110Srem (loan)2002–032. Liga SCG80——80Radnički Beograd (loan)2003–042. Liga SCG124——124Bežanija2003–042. Liga SCG1813——18132004–052. Liga SCG198——1982005–06Serbian 1. Liga2411——24112006–07Serbian SuperLiga155——155Total7637——7637Radnički Beograd (loan)2004–051. Liga SCG60——60Al-Ahli (loan)2005–06Saudi Premier League108—108Incheon United2007K League261441105—4020FC Seoul2008K League29151040—34152009K League231420209536192010K League28131076—36192011K League302433009542322012K League423120——44312013K League Classic291921—1374427Total1811161141363117236143Jiangsu Sainty2014Chinese Super League11500——115Beijing Guoan2014Chinese Super League161021——18112015Chinese Super League291621—924019Total452642—925830FC Seoul2016K League Classic361341—11551192017K League Classic371920—434322Total733261—1589441Suwon Samsung Bluewings2018K League 1331344—131050272019K League 121330——243Total541674—13107430Daegu FC2020K League 123920——259Kitchee2020–21Hong Kong Premier League1417—006420212021–22Hong Kong Premier League4421785218152022–23Hong Kong Premier League15171177002325Total33383214151166161Career total613321371437267943766404
International Scores and results list Montenegro's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Damjanović goal.
+ List of international goals scored by Dejan DamjanovićNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition1 6 June 2009 Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca 1–2 2–2 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification2 2–23 16 October 2012 Olympic Stadium, Kyiv 1–0 1–0 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification4 26 March 2013 Podgorica City Stadium, Podgorica 1–1 1–1 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification5 6 September 2013 National Stadium, Warsaw, Warsaw 1–0 1–1 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification6 11 October 2013 Wembley Stadium, London 1–2 1–4 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification7 5 March 2014 Podgorica City Stadium, Podgorica 1–0 1–0 Friendly8 14 June 2015 Friends Arena, Solna 1–3 1–3 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
Honours Radnički Beograd Second League of Serbia and Montenegro: 2003–04
Bežanija Serbian First League: 2005–06
Al-Ahli Saudi Crown Prince Cup runner-up: 2006
FC Seoul K League 1: 2010, 2012, 2016 Korean FA Cup runner-up: 2016 Korean League Cup: 2010 AFC Champions League runner-up: 2013
Suwon Samsung Bluewings Korean FA Cup: 2019
Kitchee Hong Kong Premier League: 2020–21, 2022–23 Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield: 2022–23 Hong Kong FA Cup: 2022–23
Individual K League All-Star: 2007, 2009, 2013 K League Players' Player of the Year: 2010 Korean League Cup top goalscorer: 2010 K League 1 Best XI: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 K League 1 top goalscorer: 2011, 2012, 2013 K League 1 Most Valuable Player: 2012 K League FANtastic Player: 2012 AFC Champions League Dream Team: 2013 AFC Champions League All-Star Squad: 2016, 2018 AFC Champions League Opta Best XI: 2018 Hong Kong Premier League top goalscorer: 2020–21, 2022–23 Hong Kong FA Footballer of the Year: 2020–21 Hong Kong FA Top Footballers: 2020–21 K League Hall of Fame: 2025
Records AFC Champions League all-time top goalscorer: 42 goals
References
External links