Slobodan Rajković

Slobodan Rajkovic

Rajkovic playing for Twente in 2009.
Personal information
Full name	Slobodan Rajković
Date of birth	3 February 1989 (1989-02-03)
Place of birth	Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current club	Hamburger SV
Number	23
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 (loan)	24	(0)
2011–	Hamburger SV	14	(1)
National team‡
2007–2010	Serbia U21	8	(0)
2008–	Serbia	12	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:48, 3 March 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14:23, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

Slobodan Rajković (Serbian Cyrillic: Слободан Рајковић) (born 3 February 1989) is a Serbian footballer who plays as a Centre back for Hamburger SV.

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 €5.2 million (₤3.8 million) for the 16 year old centre-half; a world record at the time for a player under 18 years of age.^{[citation needed]}

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.

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.

In June 2009, this loan was extended until June 2010.

On 23 August 2010, Rajković transferred to another Dutch Eredivisie club, this time Vitesse together with his former Chelsea team mates Nemanja Matić (who is now a Benfica player) and Matej Delač on a season-long loan.

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.

Four years after signing for Chelsea, Rajković still is 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). 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 Rajkovic joined Bundesliga club Hamburger SV from Chelsea on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee with a buy-back clause inserted by Chelsea.

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 3 March 2012

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	0	0	2	0	22	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	14	1	1	0	0	0	15	1
			League		Cup		Continental		Total
Total	Serbia		37	1	0	0	3	0	40	1
	Netherlands		60	1	3	0	11	0	74	1
	Germany		14	1	1	0	0	0	15	1
Career total			111	3	4	0	14	0	129	3

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. On June 17, 2007 during the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, which the Serbia national under-21 football team eventually finished as runners-up, Rajkovic 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.

Honours

Club

PSV Eindhoven

• Eredivisie: 2007–08

FC Twente

• Eredivisie: 2009–10

Chelsea F.C.

• Premier League Asia Trophy: 2011

External links

• Slobodan Rajković profile at reprezentacija.rs (English) (Serbian)
• RAJKOVIĆ (Slobodan Rajković) – OFK Beograd and Serbia
• Rajković: "Svima sam zahvalan", B92, 15 April 2009