Milan Borjan

Milan Borjan

Personal information
Full name	Milan Borjan
Date of birth	(1987-10-23) 23 October 1987
Place of birth	Knin, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	195 cm (6 ft 5 in)[1]
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team	Ludogorets Razgrad
Number	1
Youth career
2001–2002	Radnički Jugopetrol
2004	Mount Hamilton
2004–2005	Boca Juniors
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005–2006	Nacional Montevideo	0	(0)
2006–2007	River Plate	0	(0)
2007–2009	Quilmes	0	(0)
2009–2011	Rad	36	(0)
2011–2014	Sivasspor	43	(0)
2012	→ Vaslui (loan)	16	(0)
2014	Ludogorets Razgrad	2	(0)
2015	Radnički Niš	15	(0)
2015	Ludogorets Razgrad II	2	(0)
2015–	Ludogorets Razgrad	15	(0)
National team‡
2011–	Canada	32	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of October 28, 2016. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of October 11, 2016

Milan Borjan (Serbian Cyrillic: Mилaн Бopjaн; born 23 October 1987) is a Serbian Canadian soccer player who is currently a goalkeeper for Bulgarian A Football Group side Ludogorets Razgrad and the Canadian national team.

Career

Youth

Borjan was born in Knin, SR Croatia (while still a part of SFR Yugoslavia) to Serb parents Mirjana and Boško. He lived in Knin until the end of the war.^[2] He found refuge in Belgrade where he began playing football with FK Radnički Beograd before emigrating with his family to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada where his family still resides.^[2] He was spotted there by Boca Juniors who brought him in 2005 to their youth squad, having moved 2 years later to their greatest rivals, Club Atlético River Plate, having played for their second team. In between, he also had a spell in Uruguay with Club Nacional de Football from Montevideo, where he played for their youth and B teams. When River Plate's main team manager chose Vega over him to join the first team, Borjan did not want to wait any longer, and he chose to join another top-flight team from Buenos Aires, Quilmes Atlético Club where he became part of their first team squad.^[3]

Serbia

After several years in South America, in January 2009 he returned to Serbia and signed with SuperLiga club FK Rad from Belgrade.^[4] Borjan had trouble breaking into the first team since he was the 3rd string keeper from the first day signing with the team. However, due to the starters trouble with work permits and the second strings injury it left Milan has the only available keeper on the roster. Milan made his debut on 16 August 2009 in a 3–2 victory over FK Smederevo. Milan continued to impress at every given opportunity and by Fall of 2010 Milan had taken hold of the starting spot with an unbeaten streak of nine games.^[5] Borjan proved to be one of the top keepers in Serbian SuperLiga taking FK Rad to fourth in the league with 52 points gaining them a birth in the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League Qualifying Round.^[6]

Turkey

Milan Borjan with Sivasspor.

Following the 2011 Gold Cup and much speculation Borjan completed a move to Sivasspor, for an undisclosed fee.^[7] Borjan made his debut in Turkey on 11 September in a 2–1 loss against Karabükspor.^[8] After becoming the regular keeper Borjan had several impressive results including a clean sheet against Fenerbahçe. On 27 November during a 2–1 loss to Galatasaray Borjan was headbutted by Engin Baytar, who was shown a red card in the 81st minute.^[9]

After returning from a successful stint in Romania, Borjan made his return to the starting line up in the 3rd match of the 2012/13 season, in a 0–0 draw against Fenerbahçe on 2 September.^[10] In early February 2014 Borjan's contract with Sivasspor was terminated following a decrease in playing time under new manager Roberto Carlos.^[11] Following the termination reports emerged from Italy and Serbia that a deal had been put in place to join Napoli in June since the Turkish Football Association blocked a January move.^[11][12]

Romania

Following a lack of playing time in Turkey in late February it was announced that Borjan had been loaned to Romanian first division side Vaslui, that deal will keep him in Romania until the end of the season with an option to purchase the player for an undisclosed transfer fee.^[13] After joining the club on loan Borjan took the starting keeping position immediately and started the remaining 16 league games with 7 clean sheets, he was able to help Vaslui secure second place in the league guaranteeing them a spot in UEFA Champions League.^[14]

Bulgaria

On 12 September 2014, he reportedly signed for Bosnian Premier League club FK Sarajevo as a free agent, but at the last minute accepted an offer from Bulgarian club Ludogorets Razgrad who qualified for the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League group stage.^[15] Four days after signing Borjan made his club debut in the Champions League in a 2-1 away defeat to Liverpool. This was the first time that a Canadian international played in the group stage of the competition since Lars Hirschfeld played with Rosenborg in 2007.^[16] Although Ludogorets had equalised in added time, Borjan then gave away a penalty with a foul on Javi Manquillo, which Steven Gerrard converted to give Liverpool the victory.^[17] Borjan was released by Ludogorets Razgrad, after Razgrad secured first-choice goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov till the summer of 2015.^[18]

Return to Serbia

On 15 February 2015, Borjan signed a one-year contract with Serbian SuperLiga club FK Radnički Niš,^[19] spurning interest from FK Sarajevo of the Bosnian Premier League.^[20] At Radnički he will not count as a foreigner due to him holding a Serbian passport.^[21] Borjan made his debut for his new club against Red Star Belgrade in a 0-0 draw on 23 February.^[22] Borjan earned three straight clean sheets to start his time with the club.

Return to Bulgaria

After an excellent season in the Serbian SuperLiga, Borjan turned down a contract to return to FK Radnički Niš opting to return to the Bulgarian A Football Group club of Ludogorets, where he signed a three-year deal on 2 June 2015.^[23] He has remained the second choice goalkeeper for the team.

International career

In November 2010, Milan said he had decided to represent Canada internationally, despite interest from the higher-ranked Serbia.^[24] On 3 February 2011 Borjan was called up to the Canadian Senior team for their friendly against Greece on 9 February.^[25] Milan made his debut for Canada in the friendly against Greece played in Larissa, the game ended in a 1–0 loss. Borjan was one of three Canadian players to make their international senior debut against Greece, Tosaint Ricketts and David Edgar were the other two.^[26] That summer Milan was called up to the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup roster becoming his first ever international tournament participation. Borjan played his first national team game on home soil at BMO Field on 1 June 2011 during a friendly against Ecuador that ended as a 2–2 draw. Milan made his Gold Cup debut on 11 June in a 1–0 victory over Guadeloupe at Raymond James Stadium.^[27] On 12 June 2012, he played as a starter in the 0:0 home draw with Honduras in a 2014 World Cup qualifier due to the suspension of first choice goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld.

Since the end of 2012, Borjan has emerged as Canada's starting goalkeeper. He was the starter for Canada at the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and backstopped Canada to their first win since 2012 against Jamaica on 9 September 2014 in a 3-1 victory.^[28] Borjan earned his first red card for Canada on 11 June 2015 when he handled the ball outside of the box against Dominica after a mistake from Julian de Guzman in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match.^[29]

Career Statistics

As of match played 1 November 2016^[30]

International statistics

Statistics as of 11 October 2016

Personal life

Borjan is married to Snežana (née Filipović), a former marketing director of FK Partizan.^[31][32]

Honours

Ludogorets

• Bulgarian League: 2014–15, 2015–16

References

External sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Milan Borjan.

• Milan Borjan at TFF
• Milan Borjan at National-Football-Teams.com
• Stats at Utakmica.rs
• Stats at Soccerway.com

Canada squads
Canada squad – 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup 1 Hirschfeld 2 Ledgerwood 3 Klukowski 4 McKenna (c) 5 Hainault 6 de Guzman 7 Dunfield 8 Johnson 9 Friend 10 Gerba 11 Simpson 12 Pacheco 13 Hutchinson 14 De Rosario 15 Edgar 16 Ricketts 17 Jackson 18 Borjan 19 de Jong 20 Peters 21 Beaulieu-Bourgault 22 Al-Shaïbani 23 Nakajima-Farran Coach: Hart Canada squad – 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup 1 Hirschfeld 2 Ledgerwood 3 Morgan 4 Porter 5 Edgar 6 de Guzman 7 Teibert 8 Johnson (c) 9 Ricketts 10 Jackson 11 Haber 12 Nakajima-Farran 13 Pacheco 14 Piette 15 Bekker 16 Edwini-Bonsu 17 de Jong 18 Borjan 19 Straith 20 Henry 21 Osorio 22 Thomas 23 Alemán Coach: Miller