Quick Facts
Biography
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. After a brief spell with NK Orijent, he signed with NK Pazinka, and retired at 41 after representing, in both Rijeka and its outskirts, lowly clubs NK Halubjan, NK Klana and NK Lučki Radnik.
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.
Club 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 Pro League | 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 | ? | 4 | 0 | 0 | 109 | 23 | ||
| Career total (incomplete) | 360 | 73 | 21 | 9 | 12 | 4 | 393 | 86 | ||
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