Nikola Žigić (, ; born 25 September 1980) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward.
Žigić was born in Bačka Topola, in what was then SFR Yugoslavia. He began playing football as a youngster with AIK Bačka Topola, and scored 68 goals from 76 first-team matches over a three-year period in the third tier of Yugoslav football. Military service took him to Bar in 2001, where he was able to continue his goalscoring career with the local second-level club Mornar. A brief spell back in the third tier with Kolubara preceded his turning professional with First League side Red Star Belgrade in January 2003. He spent time on loan at third-tier Spartak Subotica before making his Red Star debut later that year. Despite suggestions that his height, of , made him better suited to sports other than football, Žigić ended the season as First League top scorer, domestic player of the year, league champion and scorer of the winning goal in the cup final. He won a second league–cup double in 2005–06, a second player of the year award, and finished his three-year Red Star career with 70 goals from 109 appearances in all competitions.
In August 2006, Žigić signed for Spanish club Racing Santander; his goals and his partnership with Pedro Munitis helped them achieve a mid-table finish in La Liga. He then moved to Valencia, but was unable to establish himself as a regular in the starting eleven. He spent the second half of the 2008–09 La Liga season back with Racing on loan, for whom he scored 13 goals in just 19 matches. Žigić joined Birmingham City of the Premier League in 2010, and in his first season, he scored in their League Cup win. Even after relegation to the Championship, and despite increasing efforts to remove his large salary from the financially struggling club's wage bill, he remained with Birmingham for the full four years of his contract. Having been without a club for a few months, he rejoined Birmingham for the second half of the 2014–15 season.
Žigić made his senior international debut for Serbia and Montenegro in March 2004, and following the breakup of Serbia and Montenegro in 2006, he played internationally for Serbia until 2011. He won 57 caps for his country and scored 20 goals. He was a member of the 2006 and 2010 World Cup squads, and briefly captained his country in 2011.
Personal life Žigić was born in Bačka Topola, in what was then SFR Yugoslavia, the son of Jovan, a former footballer, and his wife Milica, who had been a basketball player. He completed his secondary education at the mechanical engineering school in Bačka Topola. His brother Branko, 15 months his junior, also became a footballer, as a central defender with clubs including Cement Beočin and Serbian First League club Proleter Novi Sad. During the Yugoslav Wars in 1999, Žigić's hometown was beneath the flight-path of NATO bombers heading for Belgrade; for much of that part of the conflict, the family home was without electricity or running water.
Žigić is married to Sanja; the couple have two daughters and a son. , they were living near Valencia, Spain, and Žigić was assisting in his agent's business.
Club career
Early career He joined his hometown football club, AIK Bačka Topola, as a youngster, and graduated to the senior side in 1998–99. He began as a centre back, but soon realised he preferred scoring goals to defending. Žigić's parents did not want him to take football seriously until he completed his education, and he remained with AIK Bačka Topola until 2001, scoring 68 goals in 76 matches in the Serbian League Vojvodina, the third level of Yugoslav football. When military service took him to Bar, he was able to play for the local club, Mornar, for whom he scored 15 goals from 23 appearances in the 2001–02 Second League of FR Yugoslavia. After trials in France with Saint-Étienne and Créteil came to nothing, Žigić returned home where he played 8 matches for third-tier club Kolubara, scoring 3 goals.
Žigić signed his first professional contract in January 2003, with Red Star Belgrade, the biggest club in the country. Because he was not considered ready for first-team football at that level, he spent the latter part of the 2002–03 season on loan at Spartak Subotica, another third-tier side, for whom his goalscoring rate was even higher: 14 goals from just 11 league games.
Red Star Returning head coach Slavoljub Muslin brought Žigić into Red Star's senior squad for the 2003–04 First League season, and gave him his debut in the starting eleven on the opening day. That first game ended in defeat, and Žigić's physical appearance – a growth spurt from the age of 16 had brought his height to – provoked suggestions that he might be better suited to basketball. He opened the scoring as they beat Hajduk Kula 2–0 in the next league match. In between, he produced a hat-trick against Nistru in the 2003–04 UEFA Cup qualifying round, and went on to contribute a further three goals as Red Star beat Odense 6–5 on aggregate in the first round. He scored twice in the 3–0 win in the Eternal Derby against Partizan, and celebrated by miming a basketball shot. By the mid-season break, he had 12 league goals as well as the 6 in the UEFA Cup, and was named Player of the Year for 2003, both by the captains of the First League teams voting via the Večernje novosti newspaper and by the Football Association. He finished the season as the league's top scorer, with 18, as Red Star won their 23rd title, and scored the winning goal in the cup final.
Resuming the partnership with Marko Pantelić begun in the second half of 2003–04, Žigić continued to score freely in the new season. With Red Star two goals and a man down in the first leg of the Champions League qualifier against Young Boys, he netted twice in the last 12 minutes to give his team an away draw. Domestically, Pantelić top-scored with 21 league goals and Žigić contributed 15 as Red Star finished in second place, behind Partizan. Žigić scored against Partizan to help Red Star reach the cup final, but was one of five regular starters unavailable for that match through injury or suspension, and his team lost to a last-minute goal to ten-man Železnik.
In September 2005, Žigić signed a one-year extension to his contract, which had been due to expire at the end of the season. He helped his team progress through the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Cup, and according to Reuters' correspondent, "capped a brilliant individual performance with two goals" as well as providing the cross for Milan Purović as Red Star beat Roma 3–1 in the third match of the group stage. His first goal, a header, appeared to have been scored from an offside position, but for the second, in the 86th minute, he dispossessed Philippe Mexès, evaded two more opponents, and bent the ball into the top corner from with his weaker left foot. He said afterwards, "I've never scored a goal like that in my entire career. I was going to pass the ball but there was no one ahead of me so I just decided to go for it and see what happens". The win left Red Star needing to win their last group match to stand a chance of qualifying for the knockout rounds, but they failed to do so.
For the second time in three years, Žigić was chosen as domestic player of the year in the captains' poll, and was also honoured by the Red Star Sport Association as best male athlete of 2005, an award open to athletes representing the club in any sport, not just in football. After Pantelić's departure for Hertha BSC, Red Star's goals were spread more evenly among the remaining forward players. In the league, Žigić and Boško Janković were joint-top scorers with 12, and Purović contributed one fewer, as the club won their 24th title. They completed the double with a defeat of city rivals OFK in the cup final, coming back from 2–0 down via Žigić's 67th-minute free kick under the defensive wall and Purović's equaliser to take the match into extra time, during which Žigić gave Red Star the lead with a header and Dušan Basta made the final score 4–2. After the match, Žigić refused to answer questions about his Red Star future.
Racing Santander Žigić began the season with Red Star, but on 29 August 2006, he signed a four-year contract with La Liga club Racing Santander. The fee, officially undisclosed, was variously reported at anything from €4.5M to €7M. Although better offers had been rejected, those offers had arrived at the wrong time: the pressure on Red Star to win the domestic title meant they were unlikely to dispose of a major player in mid-season. The player felt he was more likely to start matches with a club at Racing's level. Partnering the diminutive Pedro Munitis, he contributed 11 goalsincluding a hat-trick in a 5–4 win over Athletic Bilbaofour assists and five penalties won in league competition over the season as Racing finished tenth. The efficacy of the pair earned them the nickname of (the Two Point-getters); ahead of the coming season, new coach Marcelino García Toral recalled how "we all know how many points Racing picked up when Žigić and Munitis weren't there. Without them, Racing didn't add points". His performances earned him the captains' vote as best player based abroad for 2006, and contributed to his 2007 Football Association of Serbia Golden Ball award.
Valencia Žigić signed for Valencia in August 2007. The fee was unconfirmed, but suggestions appeared in the media of €15M, €18M, and around €20M, a figure possibly including the player's wages over the five years of his contract. He had been linked with numerous other moves, and Fenerbahçe made an offer that was better financially for both Racing and the player, but Žigić preferred to stay in "the best league in Europe" in a country where he was accustomed to the language and culture. He was suffering from an ankle injury when he arrivedwhich delayed his integration into the first-team group and, according to Mundo Deportivo, undermined the coaching staff's confidence in himthen aggravated the injury by playing in a Euro 2008 qualifier in September, and did not appear for Valencia until October.
He made his debut as a second-half substitute in Valencia's Champions League group-stage defeat at home to Chelsea, and started the next league match, another home defeat against Espanyol, but was selected only infrequently either by Quique Flores, who had signed him, or by successor Ronald Koeman. With the transfer window approaching, Koeman had given Žigić two weeks to convince him he was worth keeping. Prior to the Copa del Rey on 19 December, Valencia had not scored for six matches, For match results, click on Matches tab. and they were soon 1–0 down to third-tier opponents Real Unión. Žigić came on and scored twice to turn the match around, and followed up with another goal three days later as Valencia came from behind to secure a 2–2 draw at Real Zaragoza. A mooted loan to English club Portsmouth fell through when Koeman changed his mind about the player leaving, but he made only nine league appearances (two starts) in what remained of the season, and was sent off in the first of those.
Speculation regarding moves to the Premier League came to nothing. By October, Žigić had appeared just once for Valencia, in the UEFA Cup, and an opportunity arose to join his former club, Racing Santander, on an emergency loan. This depended on the league allowing Racing to release Luis Fernández on medical grounds, because of a degenerative condition of his knee, thus freeing up a space in the first-team squad. The LFP's medical committee decided that the condition was not yet clearly career-ending, so any agreement with Žigić had to be held over until the January 2009 transfer window. In the meantime, he played in four more cup matches for Valencia, two domestic and two UEFA, and scored in three of them, but took no part in the league campaign.