Ljubomir Fejsa

Ljubomir Fejsa (Serbian Cyrillic: Љубомир Фејса, pronounced [ʎǔbomir fě:jsa]; born 14 August 1988) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays for Portuguese club Benfica and the Serbia national team as a defensive midfielder.

Ljubomir Fejsa

Fejsa playing for Benfica in 2017
Personal information
Full name	Ljubomir Fejsa
Date of birth	(1988-08-14) 14 August 1988
Place of birth	Titov Vrbas, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current team	Benfica
Number	5
Youth career
2006	Hajduk Kula
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006–2008	Hajduk Kula	58	(2)
2008–2011	Partizan	49	(2)
2011–2013	Olympiacos	20	(0)
2013–	Benfica	114	(1)
2015	Benfica B	2	(0)
2020	→ Alavés (loan)	13	(0)
National team^‡
2008–2011	Serbia U21	23	(2)
2007–	Serbia	25	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22 July 2020 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 7 June 2019

At club level, he won ten consecutive league titles across three countries (Serbia, Greece and Portugal) from 2008 to 2017.[1]

Club career

Partizan

On 1 July 2008, it was announced that Fejsa finally signed for FK Partizan after the club was interested in him for over a year. He signed a five-year contract and was given the number 5 shirt for Partizan.[2]

Olympiacos

On 21 June 2011 Fejsa signed with Olympiacos F.C. with a transfer fee of €3 million and signed a three plus one-year contract.[3] His first appearance was in a friendly 1–0 win against Galatasaray. He scored his first goal against Inter Milan during another friendly match. He showed good form at the beginning of 2011–12 season, and had impressive performances during the early stages of Champions League Groups. However, he was injured during training and missed the rest of the season.[4]

During the 2012–13 season, when Leonardo Jardim was named the head coach of Olympiacos FC, Fejsa was regularly benched and barely made any appearance during the Portuguese coach stay at the club. In February 2013, when Leonardo Jardim was sacked by Olympiacos due to the crowds dismay because of the playing style of the team, coach Míchel was hired and he immediately made Fejsa one of the starters.[5][6] He made decent appearances, despite being benched for most of the season and he was called back to Serbia national football team for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification.

Benfica

On 23 August 2013, Fejsa signed a five-year contract with Benfica for a reported fee of €4,5 million.[7][8]

Fejsa made his debut on 19 September 2013 in a Champions League match against Anderlecht.[9] He appear sporadically in the first half of the season, but with Nemanja Matić's transfer to Chelsea, he became the sole option to the position, appearing far more regularly, until an injury in early April 2014 sidelined him for the next months.[10][11]

On 2 February 2015, Benfica registered Fejsa at the LPFP, enabling him to play the rest of the season.[12] On 11 March 2015, he returned to competition, debuting for the reserve team in Segunda Liga.

On 11 April 2015, he returned to Benfica's first-team, as a substitute, and scored the fifth goal of the match against Académica (5–1) in Primeira Liga.[13]

Alavés(loan)

On 29 January 2020, he was loaned to Spanish La Liga side Alavés until the end of the season.[14]

International career

He made his senior international debut for Serbia under head coach Javier Clemente with a substitute appearance during the rescheduled UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier at home against Kazakhstan on 24 November 2007.[15] Also making late appearances during the Euro 2012 qualification process making features against Italy.[16]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 14 March 2019[17]

Club	Season	League			Cup		Europe		Other[lower-alpha 1]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Hajduk Kula	2005–06	Serbian SuperLiga	4	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	4	0
	2006–07	Serbian SuperLiga	22	1	0	0	0	0	—	—	22	1
	2007–08	Serbian SuperLiga	32	1	0	0	2	0	—	—	34	1
	Total		58	2	0	0	2	0	—	—	60	2
Partizan	2008–09	Serbian SuperLiga	27	0	3	0	5	0	—	—	35	0
	2009–10	Serbian SuperLiga	20	2	3	0	9	0	—	—	32	2
	2010–11	Serbian SuperLiga	2	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	2	0
	Total		49	2	6	0	14	0	—	—	69	2
Olympiacos	2011–12	Superleague Greece	4	0	1	0	3	0	—	—	8	0
	2012–13	Superleague Greece	15	0	8	1	4	0	—	—	27	1
	2013–14	Superleague Greece	1	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	1	0
	Total		20	0	9	1	7	0	—	—	36	1
Benfica	2013–14	Primeira Liga	16	0	2	0	7	0	2	0	27	0
	2014–15	Primeira Liga	5	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	6	1
	2015–16	Primeira Liga	19	0	1	0	6	0	2	0	28	0
	2016–17	Primeira Liga	25	0	1	0	7	1	2	0	35	1
	2017–18	Primeira Liga	28	0	2	0	4	0	1	0	35	0
	2018–19	Primeira Liga	17	0	1	0	10	0	1	0	29	0
	Total		110	1	7	0	34	1	9	0	160	2
Benfica B	2014–15	Segunda Liga	2	0	—		—		—		2	0
Career total			239	5	22	1	57	1	9	0	327	7

Notes

1. Includes Taça da Liga and Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira

International

As of match played 7 June 2019[18]

Serbia national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2007	1	0
2008	0	0
2009	0	0
2010	1	0
2011	3	0
2012	5	0
2013	6	0
2014	1	0
2015	5	0
2016	1	0
2017	0	0
2018	1	0
2019	1	0
Total	25	0

Honours

Partizan[19]

• Serbian SuperLiga: 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11[1]
• Serbian Cup: 2008–09, 2010–11

Olympiacos[19]

• Superleague Greece: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14[1]
• Greek Cup: 2011–12, 2012–13

Benfica[19]

• Primeira Liga: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17,[1] 2018–19
• Taça de Portugal: 2013–14, 2016–17
• Taça da Liga: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2016, 2017
• UEFA Europa League runner-up: 2013–14

References

1. Silva, Tiago Filipe (14 May 2017). "Fejsa, o "bom menino" que virou papa títulos" [Fejsa, the "good boy" who became title eater]. Maisfutebol (in Portuguese). Retrieved 1 June 2017.
2. "Fejsa novi član Partizana!" (in Serbian). partizan.rs. 1 July 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
3. Ljubomir Fejsa signed for Olympiacos – Serbian (Cyrillic)
4. "Fejsa out, Vidic doubtful for key Serbia clash". fourfourtwo. 8 October 2011.
5. Ανακοίνωση της ΠΑΕ Ολυμπιακός (in Greek). olympiacos.org. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
6. Εποχή Μίτσελ στον Ολυμπιακό (in Greek). olympiacos.org. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
7. "Fejsa no Benfica por cinco milhões" [Fejsa in Benfica for five million]. desporto.sapo.pt. 23 August 2013.
8. "Vieira confirma: Fejsa é jogador do Benfica" [Vieira confirms:Fejsa is a Benfica player]. maisfutebol.iol.pt. 23 August 2013.
9. "Fejsa convenceu na estreia a titular: "Pulmão inesgotável"". maisfutebol.iol.pt. 19 September 2013.
10. "Fejsa lesionado não viaja com o Benfica para a Holanda". noticiasaominuto.com. 2 April 2014.
11. "Fejsa pode não jogar mais este ano". zerozero.pt. 29 May 2014.
12. "Liga Portugal" (PDF) (in Portuguese). LPFP. 2 February 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
13. "Benfica – Académica (Jornada 28 Liga NOS 2014–2015) – Liga Portugal" (in Portuguese). LPFP. 11 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
14. "Fejsa no Alavés" [Fejsa at Alavés] (in Portuguese). Benfica. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
15. "Serbia 1–0 Kazakhstan". worldfootball.net. 24 November 2007.
16. "Serbia 1–1 Italy". worldfootball.net. 7 October 2011.
17. Ljubomir Fejsa at ForaDeJogo. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
18. "Ljubomir Fejsa". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.
19. Ljubomir Fejsa at Soccerway

External links

• Benfica official profile
• Ljubomir Fejsa Stats at Utakmica.rs
• Ljubomir Fejsa – FIFA competition record
• Ljubomir Fejsa – UEFA competition record