Ljubomir Fejsa

Ljubomir Fejsa (Serbian Cyrillic: Љубомир Фејса, pronounced [ʎǔbomir fě:jsa]; born 14 August 1988) is a Serbian professional footballer who last played for Partizan as a defensive midfielder. He competed for Serbia at the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[1]

Ljubomir Fejsa

Fejsa playing for Benfica in 2017
Personal information
Full name	Ljubomir Fejsa
Date of birth	(1988-08-14) 14 August 1988 (age 37)
Place of birth	Titov Vrbas, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Youth career
2006	Hajduk Kula
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006–2008	Hajduk Kula	58	(2)
2008–2011	Partizan	49	(2)
2011–2013	Olympiacos	20	(0)
2013–2020	Benfica	114	(1)
2015	Benfica B	2	(0)
2020	→ Alavés (loan)	13	(0)
2020–2021	Al-Ahli	23	(1)
2022–2023	Partizan	25	(0)
International career‡
2008–2011	Serbia U21	23	(2)
2007–2019	Serbia	25	(0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 21 May 2023 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 8 June 2019

From 2008–09 to 2016–17, Fejsa won ten consecutive league titles across three clubs – three with Partizan, three with Olympiacos and four with Benfica, winning both the Super League Greece and the Primeira Liga in the 2013–14 season.^[2]

Club career

Partizan

On 1 July 2008, it was announced that Fejsa signed for FK Partizan after the club had been interested in him for over a year. He signed a five-year contract and was given the number 5 shirt for Partizan.^[3] In the three seasons he spent in Partizan, Fejsa won three Serbian Championship Titles as well as two trophies in the Serbian Cup. In the 2008/09 season. and 2009/10. Fejsa was included in the ideal team of the domestic championship. In April 2010, in a friendly match between the national teams of Serbia and Japan (3:0), Fejsa injured his anterior cruciate ligaments, after which he spent more than a year out of the field, and he played again only at the end of the 2010/11 season.

Olympiacos

On 21 June 2011 Fejsa signed with Olympiacos with a transfer fee of €3 million and signed a three plus one-year contract.^[4] His first appearance was in a friendly 1–0 win against Galatasaray. He scored his first goal against Inter Milan during another friendly match. He showed good form at the beginning of 2011–12 season, and had impressive performances during the early stages of Champions League Groups. However, he was injured during training and missed the rest of the season.^[5]

During the 2012–13 season, when Leonardo Jardim was named the head coach of Olympiacos, Fejsa was regularly benched and barely made any appearance during the Portuguese coach stay at the club. In February 2013, when Leonardo Jardim was sacked by Olympiacos due to the crowds dismay because of the playing style of the team, coach Míchel was hired and he immediately made Fejsa one of the starters.^[6][7] He made decent appearances, despite being benched for most of the season and he was called back to Serbia national football team for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification.

Benfica

On 23 August 2013, Fejsa signed a five-year contract with Benfica for a reported fee of €4.5 million.^[8][9]

Fejsa made his debut on 19 September 2013 in a Champions League match against Anderlecht.^[10] He appear sporadically in the first half of the season, but with Nemanja Matić's transfer to Chelsea, he became the sole option to the position, appearing far more regularly, until an injury in early April 2014 sidelined him for the next months.^[11][12]

On 2 February 2015, Benfica registered Fejsa at the LPFP, enabling him to play the rest of the season.^[13] He returned to competition, debuting for the reserve team in Segunda Liga on 11 March. A month later, he returned to Benfica's first-team, as a substitute, and scored the fifth goal of the match against Académica (5–1) in Primeira Liga.^[14]

On 29 January 2020, he was loaned out to Spanish La Liga side Alavés until the end of the season.^[15]

Al-Ahli

Fejsa left Benfica on 24 September 2020, signing with Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli for two seasons.^[16]

Return to Partizan and retirement

Fejsa returned to Partizan in January 2022.^[17] He left Partizan after his contract expired at the end of the 2022–23 season.^[18]

He officially announced his retirement on 9 October 2024.^[19]

International career

Fejsa made his senior debut for the Serbia national team under the guidance of head coach Javier Clemente with a substitute appearance during the rescheduled UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier at home against Kazakhstan on 24 November 2007.^[20] He also made substitute appearances against Northern Ireland, Faroe Islands and Italy in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying.^[21] He earned a total of 25 caps (no goals scored)^[22] and his final international was a June 2019 European Championship qualification match away against Ukraine.^[23]

Career statistics

Club

As of end of 2021–22 season^[24]

Club	Season	League			National Cup		Continental		Other[a]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Hajduk Kula	2005–06	Serbian SuperLiga	4	0	0	0	–		–		4	0
	2006–07	Serbian SuperLiga	22	1	0	0	0	0	–		22	1
	2007–08	Serbian SuperLiga	32	1	0	0	2	0	–		34	1
	Total		58	2	0	0	2	0	–		60	2
Partizan	2008–09	Serbian SuperLiga	27	0	3	0	5	0	–		35	0
	2009–10	Serbian SuperLiga	20	2	3	0	9	0	–		32	2
	2010–11	Serbian SuperLiga	2	0	0	0	0	0	–		2	0
	Total		49	2	6	0	14	0	–		69	2
Olympiacos	2011–12	Super League Greece	4	0	1	0	3	0	–		8	0
	2012–13	Super League Greece	15	0	8	1	4	0	–		27	1
	2013–14	Supe league Greece	1	0	0	0	0	0	–		1	0
	Total		20	0	9	1	7	0	–		36	1
Benfica	2013–14	Primeira Liga	16	0	2	0	7	0	2	0	27	0
	2014–15	Primeira Liga	5	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	6	1
	2015–16	Primeira Liga	19	0	1	0	6	0	2	0	28	0
	2016–17	Primeira Liga	25	0	1	0	7	1	2	0	35	1
	2017–18	Primeira Liga	28	0	2	0	4	0	1	0	35	0
	2018–19	Primeira Liga	18	0	2	0	12	0	1	0	33	0
	2019–20	Primeira Liga	3	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	5	0
	Total		114	1	8	0	38	1	9	0	169	2
Benfica B	2014–15	Segunda Liga	2	0	—		—		—		2	0
Alavés (loan)	2019–20	La Liga	13	0	0	0	—		—		13	0
Al Ahli	2020–21	Saudi Pro League	22	1	1	0	—		0	0	23	1
	2021–22	Saudi Pro League	1	0	0	0	—		0	0	1	0
	Total		23	1	1	0	–		0	0	24	1
Partizan	2021–22	Serbian SuperLiga	2	0	0	0	0	0	–		2	0
	2022–23	Serbian SuperLiga	23	0	0	0	9	0	–		32	0
Career total			304	6	24	1	70	1	9	0	407	8

1. Includes Taça da Liga and Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira

International

As of match played 7 June 2019^[25]

Serbia
Year	Apps	Goals
2007	1	0
2008	0	0
2009	0	0
2010	1	0
2011	3	0
2012	5	0
2013	6	0
2014	1	0
2015	5	0
2016	1	0
2017	0	0
2018	1	0
2019	1	0
Total	25	0

Honours

Partizan^[26]

• Serbian SuperLiga: 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11^[2]
• Serbian Cup: 2008–09, 2010–11

Olympiacos^[26]

• Super League Greece: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14^[2]
• Greek Cup: 2011–12, 2012–13

Benfica^[26]

• Primeira Liga: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17,^[2] 2018–19
• Taça de Portugal: 2013–14, 2016–17
• Taça da Liga: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2016, 2017
• UEFA Europa League runner-up: 2013–14

Individual

• Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season: 2008–09, 2009–10