Boško Janković (Serbian Cyrillic: Бошко Јанковић; born 1 March 1984) is a Serbian former footballer who played as a winger for the Serbia national football team. He is an attacking minded player, with the tendency to take long shots and free kicks.[1]

Boško Janković
Janković with Genoa in 2009
Personal information
Full name Boško Janković
Date of birth (1984-03-01) 1 March 1984 (age 40)
Place of birth Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder/Winger
Youth career
Red Star Belgrade
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2006 Red Star Belgrade 74 (24)
2003–2004Jedinstvo Ub (loan) 28 (21)
2006–2007 Mallorca 28 (9)
2007–2008 Palermo 27 (2)
2008–2013 Genoa 83 (14)
2013–2016 Verona 51 (4)
Total 263 (53)
International career
2004–2007 Serbia U21 23 (8)
2006–2012 Serbia 31 (5)
Medal record
Silver medal – second place UEFA Under-21 Championship 2004
Silver medal – second place UEFA Under-21 Championship 2007
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

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Red Star Belgrade

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Having gone through all age groups in Red Star Belgrade youth setup, 18-year-old Janković earned his first taste of full squad action throughout fall 2002, during first half of 2002–03 season under head coach Zoran Filipović.

However, over the winter 2002–03 break in January 2003, Janković was loaned out to lower division side Jedinstvo Ub along with Dušan Basta and Aleksandar Luković in order to gain valuable experience through regular playing time. Over the next season and a half in Ub, he excelled in attacking midfielder position, scoring 21 league goals in 28 matches.[citation needed] At the beginning of 2003–04 league season, Jankovic along with a group of other Red Star youth players was registered both for Red Star and Jedinstvo, which in practice meant that he trained with Red Star during the week while playing league matches for Jedinstvo on Saturdays. However, following the winter break, head coach Slavoljub Muslin decided to discontinue this practice making the players both train and play with Jedinstvo.[2]

All the success prompted new head coach Ljupko Petrović and the rest in Red Star management to bring Janković back during summer 2004, ahead of the 2004–05 season. The move paid immediate dividends as he scored a spectacular free kick goal versus PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. He followed that up with a notable domestic season in which he scored 10 goals in 25 appearances, showing early signs of the things to come and establishing himself as one of the more important players on the league winning Red Star roster.

Janković truly came into his own throughout the 2005–06 season under head coach Walter Zenga, increasing his league scoring output to 12 goals in 26 appearances while also providing steady service from the right wing to Red Star strikers, most notably Nikola Žigić. At the end of the 2005–06 season, Janković was named Player of the Year.

By this time, he also became a staple in the Serbia-Montenegro under-21 national team with all the exposure leading to increased interest in Janković from abroad. As a result, rumors of a summer 2006 sale became persistent. Still, he started the 2006–07 league season with Red Star, however after only one match, Janković was sold to RCD Mallorca in August 2006 for €3 million.

Mallorca

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The 23-year-old's excellent form shown during the 2006–07 season with Mallorca has caught the attention of both FC Barcelona and Valencia CF, but Janković played down the rumors and suggested he wanted to stay a year or two at Mallorca before making a move for one of the major clubs. In his first season with Mallorca, Jankovic was able to score 9 league goals in 28 appearances being himself the top scorer of the team. Chelsea were rumored to be very interested in the youngster and some scouts appeared at the Under 21 Championship Final to watch him.

However, on 28 June Italian Serie A club Palermo announced they have signed the Serbian midfielder to a five-year deal.[3] The transfer fee paid to Mallorca was said to be €8 million.[4]

Palermo

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Janković made his scoring debut for Palermo in the UEFA Cup match, but his debut season in Sicily was a disappointment, as he rarely got opportunities to prove himself in the first half of the season, though his playing time and quality of play improved somewhat during the second half of the season.[5]

Genoa

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On 1 September 2008, he signed for Genoa on loan from Palermo.

In the summer of 2009, Genoa reportedly exercised a clause in his loan contract to buy full ownership of the player and thus make the deal a permanent one.[6] However, Janković got injured at the start of the season after making only three league appearances. He played for Genoa until summer 2013. when he completed his transfer to Verona.

International career

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Janković played for Serbia U21 in the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship where he scored a goal against the Czech Republic in Serbia's second group B match. Serbia finished in second place in the tournament with Janković named in the UEFA Team of the Tournament.

Janković scored his first goal for Serbia against Portugal in a Euro 2008 qualifying match on 28 March 2007. He then followed up with another goal versus Finland in another Euro 2008 qualifying match on 2 June 2007.

Although a regular, Janković missed out on the 2010 FIFA World Cup due to injury.[7]

He amassed a total of 31 caps, scoring 5 goals.[8] His final international was a May 2012 friendly match away against France.[9]

Career statistics

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Club

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As of end of 2015–16 season[10]
Club Season League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Red Star Belgrade 2002–03 14 3 1 1 0 0 15 4
2003–04 4 0 2 0 1 0 7 0
2004–05 28 9 4 1 6 1 38 11
2005–06 26 12 2 0 7 1 35 13
2006–07 2 0 0 0 4 0 6 0
Total 74 24 9 2 18 2 101 28
Jedinstvo Ub (loan) 2003–04 28 21 28 21
Mallorca 2006–07 28 9 4 2 32 11
Palermo 2007–08 26 2 2 0 2 1 30 3
2008–09 1 0 0 0 1 0
Total 27 2 2 0 2 1 31 3
Genoa 2008–09 25 4 1 0 26 4
2009–10 3 0 0 0 3 0
2010–11 6 0 1 0 7 0
2011–12 30 6 1 0 31 6
2012–13 19 4 1 0 20 4
Total 83 14 4 0 87 14
Verona 2013–14 18 2 1 0 19 2
2014–15 18 1 1 0 19 1
2015–16 15 1 3 1 18 2
Total 51 4 5 1 56 5
Career total 263 53 24 5 20 3 307 61

International

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Serbia national team
Year Apps Goals
2006 1 0
2007 9 3
2008 9 1
2009 5 1
2010 1 0
2011 3 0
2012 3 0
Total 31 5

International goals

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# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 28 March 2007 Stadion Crvena Zvezda, Beograd, Serbia   Portugal 1–1 1–1 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
2. 2 Jun 2007 Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland   Finland 0–1 0–2 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
3. 17 October 2007 Tofik Bakhramov Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan   Azerbaijan 1–3 1–6 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
4. 31 May 2008 Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen, Germany   Germany 0–1 2–1 Friendly
5. 1 April 2009 Stadion Partizan, Beograd, Serbia   Sweden 2–0 2–0 Friendly

Honours

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Red Star Belgrade

References

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  1. ^ Ufficiale: Torregrossa al Brescia, risoluzione consensuale per Jankovic Archived 24 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine‚ hellasverona.it, 30 August 2016
  2. ^ Slavoljub Muslin sekstetu mladih igrača crveno belih nije dozvolio da podignu opremu za trening – Šest karata za Ub; Glas javnosti, 5 March 2004
  3. ^ US Città di Palermo (29 June 2007). "Preso Jankovic dal R. C. D. Mallorca" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2 July 2007. Retrieved 29 June 2007.
  4. ^ "Zvezdine padalice, Press, 30 November 2008". Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  5. ^ Sormani, Anthony (1 September 2008). "Genoa Re-Sign Milito, Loan Jankovic". Goal.
  6. ^ "Bosko Jankovic Will Remain with Genoa – Agent – Goal.com". Archived from the original on 27 June 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  7. ^ B92 (17 March 2010). "Srbija bez Boška Jankovića na SP" (in Serbian). Retrieved 19 July 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ "Yugoslavia (Serbia (and Montenegro)) - Record International Players". RSSSF. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  9. ^ "Boško Janković, international football player". EU-football.info. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  10. ^ "B.Janković". Soccerway. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
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