Predrag Djordjević
Personal information
Full name	Predrag Djordjevic
Date of birth	4 August 1972 (1972-08-04) (age 37)
Place of birth	Kragujevac, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	6ft 2in (1.88m)
Playing position	Left Midfielder
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–96 1996–2009	Radnički Kragujevac Red Star Belgrade Spartak Subotica Paniliakos Olympiacos	11 (2) 33 (6) 26 (5) 111 (15) 341 (127)
National team
1998–2006	FRY/SCG/SER	38 (1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Predrag Đorđević (Serbian Cyrillic: Предраг Ђорђевић, Greek: Πρέντρακ Τζόρτζεβιτς, sometimes written in English media as Predrag Djordjevic; born 4 August 1972 in Kragujevac) is a retired Serbian football player famed for his free kicks.

Đorđević has played for the Serbian and Montenegrin football team. He has been playing as a left side midfield for the Greek club Olympiacos for the last 13 years. He is, by far, the leading scorer of the chart of foreign players who have played for Olympiacos - he averages a goal nearly every three games in domestic football - and a legendary symbol of the golden age (12 champions in 13 years) of the Greek club. He is, also, acknowledged as one of the greatest foreign players to have ever played in Greece.

[edit] Football career

Having started his career in the youth section of Radnicki Kragujevac, his talent was spotted by FK Crvena Zvezda scouts who signed him and then loaned him to FK Spartak Subotica, Đorđević first moved to Greece to play for third division Paniliakos in 1993. He was an instrumental figure as the Pyrgos club achieved successive promotions. Đorđević made his debut in the Greek Championship on 27 August 1995.^[1] He came to Olympiacos from Paniliakos together with Stelios Giannakopoulos in 1996. They were the basis of the team that won the seven consecutive titles. Dušan Bajević signed him for Olympiacos in the summer of 1996. The Serbian established himself as the club's dead-ball specialist, penalty taker and leader. He formed, along with Grigoris Georgatos, an outstanding left wing for Olympiacos in 1998-99 and they were the catalytic factor for Olympiacos qualifying to the UEFA Champions League 1998-99 quarter-finals. He scored 50 goals in his first five seasons at Olympiacos, all of which brought titles. Another superlative season in red and white followed in 2002-03, Đorđević scoring 14 league goals and providing 15 assists. He also hit form in the UEFA Champions League, scoring four goals in six games which included a hat-trick against Bayer Leverkusen. In 2003-04, Đorđević recorded 10 goals and 22 assists and was voted the best foreign player in the Greek Alpha Ethniki.

In 2004-05, he missed his club's first three Champions League matches through injury, but returned to score the winning goal against Deportivo La Coruña. He captained his side in all four UEFA Cup matches, scoring against Newcastle United. He led his side to the domestic double, appearing in 25 league matches, scoring five goals and providing six assists, before signing a two-year contract extension.

Amazingly, 2005-2006 was then 34-year-old Đorđević's most productive season, only missing one game in the Greek National A division, leading the club's scoring charts with 15 goals and reaching a total of 110 in the competition. The icing on the cake was his appearance that summer in 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Another important period for Đorđević, the 2006-2007 season, would prove record breaking. Once again, scoring crucial goals for his club, Predrag not only continued his goal streak against Olympiacos' rivals AEK Athens, but also added another League trophy to the club's vast collection. Along with Georgios Anatolakis, this would be the captain's 10th championship, making him the only foreign player in Greece to achieve such a feat.

The 2007-2008 season proved once again to be successful for the Olympiakos captain as he led a very new looking squad out to UEFA Champions League glory. Defeating the likes of Werder Bremen and S.S. Lazio, Olympiacos finished with the same points as group leaders Real Madrid and recorded their first Champions League away win in history. Đorđević played a vital role in the Greek club's entry into the knockout rounds for the second time in their history, finishing the group stages with four assists, first in the tournament.^[2] As a result of his excellent form in both Europe and the Greek Superleague, Đorđević who was set to retire at the end of the 2008 season, extended his contract for another year.

Đorđević made his international debut for the then SR Yugoslavia against Switzerland in a September 1998. He featured in qualifying for UEFA Euro 2000, but did not make the squad for the finals. Also appeared on the road to UEFA Euro 2004, although Serbia and Montenegro did not qualify for Portugal, and remained a key part of their 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying side. Đorđević played every minute in Serbia and Montenegro's failed World Cup campaign, losing each match in their Group C encounters with Argentina, Netherlands, and Côte d'Ivoire.

On 30 March 2009, Đorđević announced that he has decided to end his career as a football player by the end of the season 2008-2009, after 20 years of presence most of them (13 years) playing for Olympiacos.^[3] Djordjevic will pass in the history of Greek football as the player who has scorred the most penalties ever.

[edit] Honours

• Greek Super League: (12) : 1996–1997, 1997–1998, 1998–1999, 1999–2000, 2000–2001, 2001–2002, 2002–2003, 2004–2005, 2005–2006, 2006–2007, 2007–2008, 2008–2009
• Greek Cup: (5) : 1998–1999, 2004–2005, 2005–2006, 2007–2008, 2008–2009
• Greek Super Cup: (1) : 2007

[edit] Personal life

He is married to a woman of Greek descent from Pyrgos, the first town in Greece he has ever lived and played at.^[4] He holds also, apart from the Serbian, the Greek citizenship but he has never played for the Greece national football team.

[edit] References

• Profile on Serbian national football team website

1. ^ "PREDRAG DJORDJEVIC profile". olympiakos.gr. http://en.olympiakos.gr/players.aspx?pid=23&PageType=football&teamid=1. Retrieved 2009-03-30. 
2. ^ uefa.com - UEFA Champions League - Statistics
3. ^ "Δήλωση του Αρχηγού της ομάδας μας ΠΡΕΝΤΡΑΓΚ ΤΖΟΡΤΖΕΒΙΤΣ" (in Greek). olympiakos.gr. 2009-03-30. http://www.olympiakos.gr/#/Article/25709/. Retrieved 2009-03-30. 
4. ^ "Τζόρτζεβιτς: "Υπάρχει διαφορά, αλλά δεν είναι ασφαλείας"" (in Greek). contra.gr. http://www.contra.gr/Soccer/Hellas/Superleague/Olympiacos/229135.html. Retrieved 2009-03-30. 

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