Slobodan Rajković

Slobodan Rajkovic

Rajković with Serbia in 2008.
Personal information
Full name	Slobodan Rajković
Date of birth	3 February 1989
Place of birth	Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current team	SV Darmstadt 98
Number	35
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
2005–2007	OFK Beograd	37	(1)
2007–2011	Chelsea	0	(0)
2007–2008	→ PSV (loan)	13	(0)
2008–2010	→ Twente (loan)	23	(1)
2010–2011	→ Vitesse Arnhem (loan)	24	(0)
2011–2015	Hamburger SV	42	(2)
2015–	SV Darmstadt 98	12	(1)
National team^‡
2007–2010	Serbia U21	8	(0)
2008–	Serbia	16	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 March 2016. † Appearances (goals) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 29 March 2016

Slobodan Rajković (Serbian Cyrillic: Слободан Рајковић) (born 3 February 1989) is a Serbian footballer who currently plays for SV Darmstadt 98.

Club career

Born in Belgrade, Rajković started his career with OFK Beograd. He was included in the club's first team at the age of 15. During his second season in the first team, Rajković's reputation grew so such that in November 2005 the English Premier League club Chelsea decided to pay €2million for the 16-year-old centre-half;

Under the terms of the deal, Rajković stayed at OFK Beograd as a loaned player from Chelsea until the end of the 2006–07 Serbian SuperLiga season.

Loans to Eredivisie

During June 2007, Chelsea decided to loan Rajković to PSV Eindhoven ahead of the 2007–08 season, as part of the deal surrounding Alex's move to Chelsea.^[1]

After the year-long loan spell at PSV, the Dutch club wanted to extend the loan period for another year, but Chelsea declined due to the lack of playing time Rajković was receiving in his season at Eindhoven.

Rajković, however, still returned to the Eredivisie. On 9 July 2008, FC Twente agreed a one-year loan deal with Chelsea.^[2]

After spitting at a ref at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Rajković was banned for 12 months by FIFA. In June 2009, his loan was extended until June 2010.^[3]

On 23 August 2010, Rajković transferred to another Dutch Eredivisie club, this time Vitesse Arnhem together with his former Chelsea team mates Nemanja Matić (who is now a back at Chelsea F.C.) and Matej Delač on a season-long loan.^[4]

Chelsea

Having returned to Chelsea prior to the 2011–12 season at the request of new manager André Villas-Boas, Rajković played his first game in a Chelsea shirt in a friendly against Wycombe Wanderers on 12 July 2011 at Chelsea's Cobham Training Centre. Rajković played the second half and scored his side's third goal, volleying home a Yuri Zhirkov corner.^[5]

Four years after signing for Chelsea, Rajković still was not eligible for either a work permit or an EU passport so is not allowed to play in matches open to the public (hence why he played in the closed door game with Wycombe, but couldn't play against Portsmouth).^[6] But Slobodan finally made his debut in a pre-season friendly game against a Malaysian XI, in which he played the whole of the first half. He also played against Kitchee SC in the 2011 Barclays Asia Trophy in Hong Kong.

Hamburg

On 23 August 2011, Rajković joined Bundesliga club Hamburger SV from Chelsea on a four-year deal for €2 million. He did not manage to be amongst the first priorities for the club during four years, having only 46 appearances in all competitions.

Darmstadt

On 29 September 2015, Rajkovic signed for SV Darmstadt 98 on a two-year deal.^[7]

International career

By the age of sixteen he was a regular in the Serbia national under-21 football team. He was the youngest player ever to appear in a qualifying match of the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.^[8] On 17 June 2007, during the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, which the Serbia national under-21 football team eventually finished as runners-up, Rajković was part of a controversial second goal for England. He was lying on the ground, injured, and while Serbian players expected their rivals would kick the ball out of the field, Matt Derbyshire went on against a bewildered Serbian defence to score the second goal of the night for England, provoking a turbulent reaction from the Serbian players. Rajković was called for a national team match in 2016, after more than two years.^[9]

Style of play

Rajkovic is known as a highly aggressive player. After his arrival to Hamburg, he stated in an interview: I like to play more aggressive than the referees like. He is very short-tempered, thus receives a lot of bookings.

Career statistics

As of 15 March 2016

Club performance			League		Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Serbia			League		Serbian Cup		Europe		Total
2004–05	OFK Beograd	Super Liga	6	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
2005–06			20	1	1	0	2	0	23	1
2006–07			11	0	0	0	1	0	12	0
Netherlands			League		KNVB Cup		Europe		Total
2007–08	PSV Eindhoven (loan)	Eredivisie	13	0	0	0	5	0	18	0
2008–09	FC Twente (loan)		13	1	0	0	3	0	16	1
2009–10			10	0	0	0	3	0	13	0
2010–11	Vitesse (loan)		24	0	3	0	0	0	27	0
Germany			League		DFB-Pokal		Europe		Total
2011–12	Hamburger SV	Bundesliga	16	1	1	0	0	0	17	1
2012–13			13	0	0	0	0	0	13	0
2013–14			2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
2014–15			11	1	2	0	0	0	13	1
2015–16	Darmstadt		12	1	2	0	0	0	14	1
			League		Cup		Continental		Total
Total	Serbia		37	1	1	0	3	0	41	1
	Netherlands		60	1	3	0	11	0	74	1
	Germany		54	3	5	0	0	0	59	3
Career total			151	5	9	0	14	0	174	5

International

Serbia national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2008	2	0
2009	0	0
2010	2	0
2011	7	0
2012	2	0
2013	1	0
2014	0	0
2015	0	0
2016	2	0
Total	16	0

Honours

Club

PSV Eindhoven

• Eredivisie: 2007–08

FC Twente

• Eredivisie: 2009–10

References

1. "Blues to place defender at PSV". jesternix.net.
2. "FC Twente huurt Rajkovic van Chelsea" (in Dutch). FC Twente. 9 July 2008. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
3. "FC Twente huurt Rajkovic opnieuw". FC Twente (in Dutch). 17 June 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
4. "Op weg naar Vitesse: Rajkovic en Matic" (in Dutch). Vitesse. 23 August 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
5. "MATCH REPORT: CHELSEA 3 WYCOMBE WANDERERS 0". Chelsea FC. 12 July 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
6. "Raj has been Slobbing around". London: The Sun. 17 July 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
7. "Lilien verstärken sich mit Slobodan Rajkovic" (in German). sv98.de. 29 September 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
8. In May 2010, Rajković was called up to the Serbian national team for the first time when he was announced in the 30-man Serbian world cup squad. U21 Championship: Facts and figures by UEFA Archived 10 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine.
9. "Posle dve i po godine Slobodan Rajković se vraća u reprezentaciju". mozzartsport.com (in Serbian). 15 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.

^[1]

External links

• Rajković: "Svima sam zahvalan", B92, 15 April 2009

1. "Aris set to complete Rajkovic deal". 21 June 2015.