Dragoje Leković

Dragoje Leković
Leković in 2014
Personal information
Date of birth (1967-11-21) 21 November 1967 (age 56)
Place of birth Sivac, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
Skoj Sivac
1984–1985 Mornar
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1985–1991 Budućnost Titograd 109 (3)
1991–1992 Red Star Belgrade 17 (0)
1992–1993 Mogren 23 (0)
1994 Budućnost Titograd 24 (0)
1994–1998 Kilmarnock 96 (0)
1998 Sporting Gijón 5 (0)
1998–2000 Málaga 7 (0)
2002–2003 AEK Larnaca 24 (0)
Total 305 (3)
International career
1987 Yugoslavia U20 6 (0)
1990 Yugoslavia U21 6 (0)
1988–1998 FR Yugoslavia[note 1] 14 (0)
Managerial career
2011–2019 Montenegro (assistant)
2019–2021 Al-Gharafa (assistant)
Medal record
Representing  Yugoslavia
Gold medal – first place FIFA U-20 World Cup 1987
Silver medal – second place UEFA U-21 Euro 1990
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Dragoje Leković (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгоје Лековић, pronounced [drâɡoje lêːkoʋitɕ]; born 21 November 1967) is a retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Club career

Leković was born in Sivac, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia. In Yugoslavia, he played mainly for Yugoslav First League club FK Budućnost Titograd and also spent one season with the well known club, Red Star Belgrade. Leković played in 17 of 30 matches in the 1991–92 Yugoslav First League and also started both legs of the 1991–92 Yugoslav Cup finals, losing out to FK Partizan.

After 18 months with modest club FK Mogren and a brief comeback spell at Budućnost, Leković joined Kilmarnock in Scotland in fall 1994, where he was the first choice goalkeeper during his spell and was part of the squad that won the 1997 Scottish Cup versus Falkirk at Ibrox Stadium. with the only goal of the game scored in the 20th minute by Paul Wright.[2]

In January 1998, Leković started an unassuming stint in Spain, where he experienced relegation from La Liga and promotion from the Second Division respectively with Sporting de Gijón and Málaga CF but was only second-choice goalkeeper at both clubs. Leković closed out his career at the age of 36 after playing for AEK Larnaca.

International career

Leković gained 14 caps for Yugoslavia with his debut on 27 April 1988 resulting in a 2-0 friendly defeat to Republic of Ireland.

Lekovic was in the country's final roster for two FIFA World Cups: 1990 and 1998 but did not see a single minute of action at either tournament as he was the third choice goalkeeper. He was also called to UEFA Euro 1992,[3] but the nation would be suspended due to the Yugoslav Wars.

Previously, Leković was a member of the highly talented Yugoslavia under-20 team that won the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile, playing all the games in the tournament.[4]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by national team and year[5]
National team Year Apps Goals
SFR Yugoslavia 1988 2 0
1989 1 0
1990 0 0
1991 1 0
1992 0 0
FR Yugoslavia 1993 —[note 2]
1994 0 0
1995 0 0
1996 0 0
1997 6 0
1998 4 0
Total 14 0

Notes

  1. ^ Including 4 caps for SFR Yugoslavia.[1]
  2. ^ FR Yugoslavia was banned from international football due to UN sanctions.

References

  1. ^ Dragoje Leković at Reprezentacija.rs (in Serbian)
  2. ^ Cairns, Richard (2011). Killie 'Til I Die. Fasprint Services (Irvine) Ltd. ISBN 978-0-9541653-1-4.
  3. ^ "Pancev también renuncia a la Eurocopa". Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 25 May 1992. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  4. ^ Dragoje Leković – FIFA competition record (archived)
  5. ^ "International caps by year". eu-football.info/. Retrieved 27 April 2024.