Damir Desnica

Damir Desnica

Personal information
Date of birth	(1956-12-20) 20 December 1956 (age 68)
Place of birth	Obrovac, FPR Yugoslavia
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1972	Elektroprimorje
1972–1973	Konstruktor
1973–1974	Rijeka
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1974–1985	Rijeka	251	(54)
1985–1990	Kortrijk	109	(19)
1990–1991	Zadar
1991	Orijent
1992–1993	Pazinka	11	(1)
–1996	Halubjan
1996–1997	Klana
1997–1998	Lučki Radnik
International career
1978	Yugoslavia	1	(1)
Medal record Representing  Yugoslavia UEFA U-21 Euro 1978
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Damir Desnica (born 20 December 1956) is a Croatian and Yugoslav retired footballer who played as a forward. Born deaf, Desnica spent the majority of his career in the 1970s and 1980s with Rijeka, with whom he won two Marshal Tito Cup titles (1978, 1979) and one Balkans Cup (1978).

Desnica played mostly as a left winger for Rijeka and relied on pace and dribbling ability to charge towards the opposition box. Remembered as one of the key figures of the club's golden era in the late 1970s, Desnica earned one full international cap for Yugoslavia in 1978, and also won a bronze medal with the Yugoslav deaf football team at the 1973 International Silent Games in Sweden.

Later in his career he spent five years with KV Kortrijk in Belgium. After returning to Croatia in 1990 he continued to play for smaller clubs, and helped NK Zadar win Yugoslav third-tier title in 1991. Following Croatia's independence and the establishment of the new league system he joined second-tier club NK Pazinka and also won promotion with them in 1992.

Club career

Born in Obrovac, Croatia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Desnica spent much of his career with HNK Rijeka, appearing in nearly 300 official games and winning two Yugoslav Cups in the process. In 1985, aged nearly 29, he moved abroad and signed for Belgium's K.V. Kortrijk.

Desnica returned to his country after five years, and joined NK Zadar. After a brief spell with NK Orijent, he signed with NK Pazinka, and retired at 41 after representing, in both Rijeka and its outskirts, lowly clubs NK Halubjan, NK Klana and NK Lučki Radnik.[1]

International career

Desnica earned one cap for Yugoslavia, scoring in a 2–3 away loss against Romania for the UEFA Euro 1980 qualifiers, on 25 October 1978.

Personal life

Desnica was one of the very few deaf persons to play football professionally – he also only communicated manually.[2] On 7 November 1984, in a match against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium for the season's UEFA Cup, he was sent off for two bookable offences by referee Roger Schoeters, the second for allegedly protesting; Rijeka finished the match with eight players and lost the tie 3–4 on aggregate.[3][4]

Club statistics

[5][6]

Season	Club	League	League		Cup		Continental		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1974–75	Rijeka	Yugoslav First League	3	0	–		–		3	0
1975–76			23	5	–		–		23	5
1976–77			9	0	–		–		9	0
1977–78			31	4	5	1	–		36	5
1978–79			29	7	4	0	4	0	37	7
1979–80			13	1	1	0	4	3	18	4
1980–81			15	3	–		–		15	3
1981–82			32	6	2	0	–		34	6
1982–83			33	11	4	2	–		37	13
1983–84			32	11	3	1	–		35	12
1984–85			31	6	2	1	4	1	37	8
Rijeka total			251	54	21	5	12	4	284	63
1985–86	Kortrijk	Belgian Pro League	30	6	?		–		30	6
1986–87			27	4	?		–		27	4
1987–88			32	8	?		–		32	8
1988–89			18	1	?		–		18	1
1989–90			2	0	?		–		2	0
Kortrijk total			109	19	?	4	0	0	109	23
Career total (incomplete)			360	73	21	9	12	4	393	86

Honours

Rijeka

• Yugoslav Cup: 1977–78, 1978–79
• Balkans Cup: 1978

Zadar

• Yugoslav Inter-Republic League (West): 1990–91

Pazinka

• Croatian Second Football League (West): 1992

References

1. Frank, Robert (21 September 2014). "Damir Desnica: Umjetnik lopte kojeg život nije mazio" [Damir Desnica: The football artist with a rough life] (in Croatian). Novi list. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
2. Damir Desnica: King of deaf footballers; Eclectic Football Nut, 27 December 2007
3. El sordomudo expulsado por 'protestar' (The deaf and dumb who was sent off for 'protesting'); Marca, 3 October 2013 (in Spanish)
4. Vivoda, V. (16 July 2014). "HNK Rijeka: The Rise of the Phoenix". Hocuri. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
5. "Damir Desnica". Footballdatabase. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
6. "Topschutters tweede klasse" [Top scorers second division] (in Dutch). Belgium Soccer History. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.

External links

• Damir Desnica at Reprezentacija.rs (in Serbian)
• Damir Desnica at National-Football-Teams.com
• Damir Desnica at EU-Football.info