Danijel "Daniel" Bogdanovic (Serbian: Данијел Богдановић (born March 26, 1980 in Misurata, Libya) is a Maltese professional footballer of Serbian descent^[1] playing for Championship side Barnsley, where he plays as a forward.

[edit] Playing career

In the 2006/07 season Bogdanovic scored 31 goals winning him the Golden Boot and also the Maltese Player of the Year. He integrated well in Maltese society and, unlike most foreign-born Malta-based footballers, is very fluent in the Maltese language.

Bogdanovic spent a week on trial at Premiership side Watford in January 2007.

[edit] Marsaxlokk

Bogdanovic joined Marsaxlokk for the 2006/07 Maltese season, Daniel scored a few important goals early on in the season and Marsaxlokk showed themselves to have a realistic chance of challenging for the Maltese Premier League title.

With Marsaxlokk front runners and the season drawing to a close, Bogdanovic found himself well ahead in the goalscoring charts and capped of a great season with the final goal in a 4-1 defeat of second-placed Sliema Wanderers.

Marsaxlokk were crowned as champions for the first time in their history and Bogdanovic finished as the leagues top goalscorer with 31 goals in 31 appearances, and ended the season one goal short of the record set by Danilo Doncic, who hit 32 goals in a season, set while playing for Valletta during the 2001/02 season.

Following Marsaxlokk's triumph in the Maltese Premier League, and the end of the players one-year contract, Bogdanovic decided not to renew and instead decided to search for a club elsewhere in continental Europe.

[edit] Cisco Roma

Following weeks of various different trials, Bogdanovic joined Italian side Cisco Roma, just in time to feature for the new season in Italy, Bogdanovic went onto form a good partnership with Paolo Di Canio.

During his time with the club Bogdanovic made sixteen appearances and found the net four times.

[edit] Lokomotiv Sofia

In August, 2008 Bogdanovic signed a two-year deal with Bulgarian club Lokomotiv Sofia, following a successful trial.

Bogdanovic had initially joined Lokomotiv Sofia two weeks prior at a training camp in Holland, he appeared as a second half substitute in a friendly match against Israeli outfit Maccabi Petah Tikva, a game in which Lokomotiv came out 1-0 winners. Bogdanovic was again included in the next friendly match against German Bundesliga team FC Schalke 04, where he played the full match.

The teams next game was against Turkish side Ankaraspor, in which Bogdanovic played no part, but he was back for the final game against a second division outfit called Sportist Svoge, in which he made a second half substitute appearance and scored the second goal in his teams 4-2 victory.

Lokomotiv had earlier on in the season appointed Danilo Doncic as assistant to manager Dragan Okuka, and it was at the request of the former Floriana coach Doncic that Bogdanovic received his trial.

[edit] Barnsley

On 26 January 2009 it was confirmed that Bogdanovic had signed for Barnsley for an undisclosed fee, signing a deal until 2010. He received clearance and played in the 1–2 defeat to Ipswich Town, scoring Barnsley's goal on 47 minutes.

On 2 February, he was joined at Oakwell by fellow Maltese striker Michael Mifsud after he was signed on loan from Coventry City.

Bogdanovic scored his second goal for Barnsley on 28 February against Queens Park Rangers in the 25th minute after a cross from Mifsud, giving his team the lead. Barnsley went on to win that match 2-1. He was included in the best signings of the season made by The Daily Mail.^[2]

[edit] International career

[edit] Malta

Bogdanovic was born in Libya, to ethnic Serb parents but chose to represent Malta and made his international debut on February 9, 2002 in a friendly against Jordan.

To date Bogdanovic has received twenty-five caps and scored once for Malta.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Daniel Bogdanovic career stats at Soccerbase
• National Football Teams
• Cisco Roma Page's Player