Playing position Name Damir Desnica Position Forward | Years Team Role Footballer | |
Date of birth (1956-12-20) 20 December 1956 (age 59) Place of birth Obrovac, SFR Yugoslavia | ||
Damir desnica
Damir Desnica (born 20 December 1956) is a Croatian retired footballer who played as a forward.
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Damir Desnica
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 Pazinka, retiring in 1993 at 36.
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 Bernabeu 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.