Dragan Mrđa

Dragan Mrđa (Serbian Cyrillic: Драган Мрђа; born 23 January 1984) is a Serbian football coach and a former forward. At international level he has represented Serbia.

Dragan Mrđa
Dragan Mrdja before friendly match Serbia v. Bulgaria on November 17, 2010
Personal information
Date of birth (1984-01-23) 23 January 1984
Place of birth Vršac, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
2000–2001 Red Star Belgrade
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2005 Red Star Belgrade 39 (7)
2003–2005 → Jedinstvo Ub (loan) 27 (10)
2005–2007 Lierse 30 (2)
2006 → Zulte Waregem (loan) 5 (0)
2007–2008 Khimki 9 (2)
2008–2010 Vojvodina 56 (35)
2010–2013 Sion 32 (9)
2013–2014 Red Star Belgrade 27 (19)
2014–2017 Omiya Ardija 89 (34)
2017–2018 Shonan Bellmare 10 (1)
2018 Olimpija Ljubljana 1 (0)
Total 325 (119)
International career
2008–2014 Serbia 14 (2)
Managerial career
2022 Kashima Antlers (assistant)
Medal record
Silver medal – second placeUEFA Under-21 Championship2007
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Early career

After spending many years of his youth playing with Red Star Belgrade, during which he was loaned to FK Jedinstvo Ub, he decided to accept a challenge that came from Belgium and moved to Lierse S.K. in August 2005. In the summer of 2006, he was loaned to another Belgian First Division club, S.V. Zulte Waregem before moving to Russia to play with Premier League club FC Khimki.

Vojvodina

After one season in Russia, he returned to Serbia to join FK Vojvodina in the Serbian SuperLiga. In spite of arriving to the club off of dry spells in Belgium and Russia, he became Vojvodina's captain after a remarkably short period of time due to a spontaneous explosion of good form. His prolific goal-scoring with Vojvodina earned him calls from the Serbia national team from 2008, having been called up for a friendly against Bulgaria and another friendly match against Austria which took place the same year.[1] By the end of the 2009–10 season, Mrđa had scored 22 goals in 29 league games and was named SuperLiga Player of the Year.

Sion

After two seasons spent in Novi Sad, in summer 2010, he signed a 3-year contract with Swiss side FC Sion.[2] In March 2011 in a match against FC Zürich he suffered a serious knee injury which kept him out of football for six months.[3]

Return to Red Star Belgrade

After seasons spent in Sion, Mrđa returned to the club at which he debuted professionally, signing a two-year contract with Red Star Belgrade.[4] On September 29, 2013, he scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 win against FK Spartak Subotica.[5] On November 23, 2013, he scored another hat-trick in a 4–1 win against FK Sloboda Užice, becoming Red Star's highest goal-scorer of the half-season.[6]

Omiya Ardija

On 1 July 2014, Mrđa joined J. League Division 1 club Omiya Ardija.[7] Mrđa scored on his debut on 19 July 2014 helping them to earn a 3–3 draw against Sanfrecce Hiroshima.[8] He played 18 times for Omiya in the 2014 as they suffered relegation to the Division 2.

International career

Mrđa was a part of the Serbian U21 team that made it to the final of the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, where he scored coming off the bench against the Netherlands U21 side. By the end of the championship he had scored a total of two goals, which was on level with the likes of Ryan Babel. Mrđa scored two goals for the Serbia national team in a 3–0 friendly win against Japan on April 7, 2010.[9]

In June 2010, he was called up by Radomir Antić to Serbia's squad at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but didn't make any appearances there.

Career statistics

Club

Updated to 23 February 2017.[10]

Club performance League Cup League Cup Total
Season Club League AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Japan League Emperor's Cup J. League Cup Total
2014Omiya ArdijaJ1 League18910–199
2015J2 League361910–3719
2016J1 League2762030326
Total 813440308834

International
Serbia national team
YearAppsGoals
200820
200900
201072
201130
201200
201300
201420
Total142

International goals
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1.7 April 2010Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan Japan0–10–3Friendly
2.7 April 2010Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan Japan0–30–3Friendly

References
  1. "Orlovi ::: Srbija ::: Fudbalska reprezentacija Srbije ::: FSS ::: Mrdja Dragan". Archived from the original on 2010-05-30. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  2. "Kraj "španske serije": Mrđa u Sionu".
  3. "Sportal.rs - Evropski fudbal - "Orlovi" bez jednog napadača protiv Irske i Estonije". Archived from the original on 2011-09-10. Retrieved 2013-07-17. Sportal: "Orlovi" bez jednog napadača protiv Irske i Estonije (in Serbian) - March 13, 2011
  4. B92: Dragan Mrđa u Zvezdi - August 13, 2013
  5. "Blic Sport | Petarda Zvezde: Het-trik Mrđe i sjajni golovi Daude i Milijaša protiv Spartaka". Archived from the original on 2013-12-11. Retrieved 2013-12-06. Blic Sport: Petarda Zvezde: het-trik Mrđe i sjajni golovi Daude i Milijaša protiv Spartaka (in Serbian) September 29, 2013. By B. Vinulović
  6. Mozzart Sport: Mrđa ne zna da da gol, on daje samo po dva-tri (in Serbian) November 23, 2013
  7. FKレッドスター・ベオグラード ムルジャ選手 大宮アルディージャ加入のお知らせ (Notice of FK Red Star Belgrade player Murr Ja Omiya Ardija join)
  8. Return from shutdown helps to forget World Cup woes. Japan Times. July 21, 2014.
  9. "Blic Sport | Mrđa i slobodnjak Tomića za trijumf Srbije u Japanu!". Archived from the original on 2013-12-11. Retrieved 2013-12-06. Blic Sport: Mrđa i slobodnjak Tomića za trijumf Srbije u Japanu! (in Serbian) April 7, 2010
  10. Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2017 J1&J2&J3選手名鑑 (NSK MOOK)", 8 February 2017, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411420 (p. 41 out of 289)
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