Damir Desnica

Damir Desnica

Personal information
Date of birth	(1956-12-20) 20 December 1956
Place of birth	Obrovac, SFR Yugoslavia
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
	Elektroprimorje Rijeka
–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
	Halubjan
1996–1997	Klana
1997–1998	Lučki Radnik
International career
1978	Yugoslavia	1	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Damir Desnica (born 20 December 1956) is a Croatian retired footballer who played as a forward.

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. He then spent two seasons with NK Pazinka, and several seasons in other clubs in Rijeka and its outskirts, including NK Orijent, NK Halubjan, NK Klana and NK Lučki Radnik. He retired in 1998, well into his forties.

International career

Desnica gained 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. 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.

Career statistics

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 First Division	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	?	?	0	0	109	19
Career total (incomplete)			360	73	21	5	12	4	393	82

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

External links

• National team data (Serbian)
• Damir Desnica at National-Football-Teams.com