Dragan Mrđa

Dragan Mrđa
	Dragan Mrdja before friendly match Serbia v. Bulgaria on November 17, 2010
Personal information
Date of birth	23 January 1984 (age 40)
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
2001–2005	Red Star Belgrade
2003–2005	→ Jedinstvo Ub (loan)
2005–2007	Lierse
2006	→ Zulte Waregem (loan)
2007–2008	Khimki
2008–2010	Vojvodina
2010–2013	Sion
2013–2014	Red Star Belgrade
2014–2017	Omiya Ardija
2017–2018	Shonan Bellmare
2018	Olimpija Ljubljana
Total
International career
2008–2014	Serbia
Managerial career
2022	Kashima Antlers (assistant)
Medal record
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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.

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	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Japan			League		Emperor's Cup		J. League Cup		Total
2014	Omiya Ardija	J1 League	18	9	1	0	–		19	9
2015		J2 League	36	19	1	0	–		37	19
2016		J1 League	27	6	2	0	3	0	32	6
Total			81	34	4	0	3	0	88	34

International

Serbia national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2008	2	0
2009	0	0
2010	7	2
2011	3	0
2012	0	0
2013	0	0
2014	2	0
Total	14	2

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	7 April 2010	Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan	Japan	0–1	0–3	Friendly
2.	7 April 2010	Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan	Japan	0–3	0–3	Friendly

References

^ "Orlovi ::: Srbija ::: Fudbalska reprezentacija Srbije ::: FSS ::: Mrdja Dragan". Archived from the original on 30 May 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
^ "Kraj "španske serije": Mrđa u Sionu".
^ "Sportal.rs - Evropski fudbal - "Orlovi" bez jednog napadača protiv Irske i Estonije". Archived from the original on 10 September 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2013. Sportal: "Orlovi" bez jednog napadača protiv Irske i Estonije (in Serbian) - March 13, 2011
^ [1] B92: Dragan Mrđa u Zvezdi - August 13, 2013
^ "Blic Sport | Petarda Zvezde: Het-trik Mrđe i sjajni golovi Daude i Milijaša protiv Spartaka". Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013. Blic Sport: Petarda Zvezde: het-trik Mrđe i sjajni golovi Daude i Milijaša protiv Spartaka (in Serbian) September 29, 2013. By B. Vinulović
^ [2] Mozzart Sport: Mrđa ne zna da da gol, on daje samo po dva-tri (in Serbian) November 23, 2013
^ FKレッドスター・ベオグラードムルジャ選手せんしゅ大宮おおみやアルディージャ加入かにゅうのお知しらせ (Notice of FK Red Star Belgrade player Murr Ja Omiya Ardija join)
^ Return from shutdown helps to forget World Cup woes. Japan Times. July 21, 2014.
^ "Blic Sport | Mrđa i slobodnjak Tomića za trijumf Srbije u Japanu!". Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013. Blic Sport: Mrđa i slobodnjak Tomića za trijumf Srbije u Japanu! (in Serbian) April 7, 2010
^ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポにっぽんすぽーツ企画出版社つきかくしゅっぱんしゃ, "2017 J1&J2&J3選手せんしゅ名鑑めいかん (NSK MOOK)", 8 February 2017, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411420 (p. 41 out of 289)

External links

Dragan Mrđa at National-Football-Teams.com
Dragan Mrđa at Soccerway
Dragan Mrđa at J.League (archive) (in Japanese)
Dragan Mrđa at UEFA

[1] "Orlovi ::: Srbija ::: Fudbalska reprezentacija Srbije ::: FSS ::: Mrdja Dragan". Archived from the original on 30 May 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2010.

[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 10 September 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2013. Sportal: "Orlovi" bez jednog napadača protiv Irske i Estonije (in Serbian) - March 13, 2011

[4] [1] 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 11 December 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013. Blic Sport: Petarda Zvezde: het-trik Mrđe i sjajni golovi Daude i Milijaša protiv Spartaka (in Serbian) September 29, 2013. By B. Vinulović

[6] [2] 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せんしゅ大宮おおみやアルディージャ加入かにゅうのお知しらせ (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 11 December 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013. Blic Sport: Mrđa i slobodnjak Tomića za trijumf Srbije u Japanu! (in Serbian) April 7, 2010

[10] Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポにっぽんすぽーツ企画出版社つきかくしゅっぱんしゃ, "2017 J1&J2&J3選手せんしゅ名鑑めいかん (NSK MOOK)", 8 February 2017, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411420 (p. 41 out of 289)

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