These (former) footballers from the former Yugoslavia played for PSV

Earlier this week, it became known that PSV has made a two-year contract offer to the Serbian Filip Kostić and, partly because of this, it seems more likely that Kostić will sign with PSV. However, nothing is still one hundred percent certain, since the Serb is a free agent and still needs to reach a final agreement with PSV’s management.

If the transfer to PSV should still go through, then Kostic will become the third player from the former Yugoslavia in Peter Bosz’s current squad, after Ivan Perisic (Croatia) and Esmir Bajraktarevic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) remain at PSV. In the past, there have been several players from the former Yugoslavia who wore PSV’s red-and-white.

PSVInside highlights a number of players who come from the former Yugoslavia and made their debut in the PSV kit.

In the summer of 2000, PSV took Mateja Kežman from Partizan Belgrade, and the Serbian striker grew at PSV into a real goal-scoring machine. In 176 matches, the forward managed to find the net an astonishing 129 times.

His most beautiful and best-known goal is undoubtedly the goal in the Champions League match against Manchester United (3-1) on 26 September 2000. From a virtually hopeless position, Kežman managed to fire the ball behind goalkeeper Raimond van der Gouw.

In four seasons, the striker managed to become national champion twice, and in addition Kežman was top scorer in the Netherlands three times. In 2004, the Serb left for Chelsea and, via among others Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, the striker ended his career in 2012.

In the 2007/2008 season PSV striker Danko Lazovic was signed from Vitesse and in Eindhoven the striker during that season mainly had to compete with Danny Koevermans. In the last match of the season, Lazovic, as a substitute, was responsible for the only goal in the away match against Vitesse (0-1), which meant that PSV became national champions for the fourth time in a row.

In the 2008/2009 season everything went differently for PSV and Lazovic, who under the new coach Huub Stevens had to do the forward job mainly from a place on the bench, to the great displeasure of the Serb. During the match Ajax - PSV (4-1) on 16 November 2008, Lazovic, as a substitute, provided an assist for the 1-1 by Ibrahim Afellay, and instead of celebrating the goal with his teammates, the striker decided to berate Stevens in Serbian.

For this, Lazovic received a fine and had to offer his apologies to the attacker. In the end, the Serbian player abruptly left for Zenit Saint Petersburg in March 2010, and in 2018 the striker stopped playing football.

In the 2011/2012 season, PSV signed the Slovenian Tim Matavž from FC Groningen and in Eindhoven Matavž had to cover for the departures of Danny Koevermans and Marcus Berg. On 18 September 2011, the Slovenian striker scored his first goal for PSV in the top match against Ajax (2-2), and this goal is to date the fastest goal by a PSV player in a home match against the Amsterdam team, at 1 minute and 45 seconds.

At PSV, however, the forward was never an unquestioned choice and in the 2012/2013 season the Slovenian also mainly had to make do with a reserve role under Dick Advocaat. Even under Phillip Cocu, Matavž did not feature entirely often in the starting lineup in the 2013/2014 season, and partly because of this the forward was looking for a move.

In the winter of 2013/2014, the striker seemed set for a move to Russian club Rubin Kazan, but after the medical examination the Russians decided against a transfer due to a knee injury suffered by the forward. In the end, Matavž left in the summer of 2014 for FC Augsburg and, via among others Vitesse, the Slovenian has been playing since this calendar year for NK Izola from his home country.

Other former footballers from the former Yugoslavia who were active for PSV include:
Jagos Vukovic (2009-2011)
Slobodan Rajković (2007-2008)
Željko Petrović (1996-1998)
Ivica Kralj (1999-2002)