Goran Đorović

Goran Đorović
Personal information
Full name Goran Đorović
Date of birth 11 November 1971 (1971-11-11) (age 40)
Place of birth Pristina, Yugoslavia
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Defender
Youth career
1980–1989 FK Priština
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1993 FK Priština 97 (4)
1993–1997 Red Star 100 (2)
1997–2001 Celta 100 (5)
2001–2004 Deportivo La Coruña 11 (0)
2003–2004 Elche (loan) 15 (0)
Total 324 (11)
National team
1994–2001 Yugoslavia 49 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Goran Đorović (Serbian Cyrillic: Гopaн Ђopoвић, born 11 November 1971 in Pristina) is a retired Serbian footballer. Mainly a central defender, he could also appear as a left back.

Contents

Club career

Having initially played for hometown club FK Priština, Đorović joined Red Star Belgrade in 1993; he went on to appear in exactly 100 league matches. In 1997, aged almost 26, he moved abroad, signing with Spain's Celta de Vigo.

Soon, interest arose from major teams, such as Italy's U.C. Sampdoria and England's Arsenal. However, he decided to stay at least for 1998–99 at Celta, where he would eventually share team with his brother Zoran (whom had absolutely no impact for the Galicians) and appear in, once again, 100 first division contests.

Having had one attempt to sign the player previously rebuffed, Deportivo de La Coruña boss Javier Irureta signed Đorović in 2001, having already bought him from Red Star four years earlier. However, the player's career at Depor would be constantly marred by injuries, as he earned over 2 million per season, one of the highest in the squad.

In 2003–04, Đorović was loaned, alongside Dani Mallo, Roberto Acuña and José Manuel, to Elche CF, in the second division. After only appearing in 15 matches out of 42, he returned to Deportivo and was immediately released despite still having one year in his contract.[1] He retired shortly after.

International career

Đorović made his debut for Yugoslavia national team on 23 December 1994, playing the second half of a 0–2 friendly loss in Brazil, in Porto Alegre.

He gained 45 caps more in the next seven years, being part of the setups at the 1998 FIFA World Cup (playing in all the matches and minutes during the tournament, as the nation bowed out in the round of 16) and UEFA Euro 2000.

References

  1. ^ Room for Bent at Everton; UEFA.com, 23 June 2004

External links