Milan Borjan


Milan Borjan is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Serbian club Red Star Belgrade and the Canadian national team.

Club career

Early years

Borjan was born in Knin, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia to ethnic Serb parents, father Boško and mother Mirjana. He lived in Knin until Operation Storm. He found refuge in Belgrade where he began playing football with FK Radnički Beograd before emigrating with his family in 2000 to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada where his family still resides. He then went on trial with Boca Juniors but eventually failed to sign a contract with the club. In 2006, he had a spell in Uruguay with Club Nacional de Football from Montevideo, where he played for their youth team. In July 2007, he went on trial to Argentinian side River Plate. In January 2008, he joined Quilmes. He left the club after the end of the 2007–08 Primera B Nacional season.

Rad

After several years in South America, in January 2009 he returned to Serbia and signed with SuperLiga club FK Rad from Belgrade. 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. 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 berth in the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League Qualifying Round.

Sivasspor

Following the 2011 Gold Cup and much speculation Borjan completed a move to Sivasspor, for an undisclosed fee. Borjan made his debut in Turkey on 11 September in a 2–1 loss against Karabükspor. 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.
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. In early February 2014 Borjan's contract with Sivasspor was terminated following a decrease in playing time under new manager Roberto Carlos. 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.

Loan to Vaslui

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. 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.

Ludogorets Razgrad

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. 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. 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. Borjan was released by Ludogorets Razgrad, after Razgrad secured first-choice goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov till the summer of 2015.

Radnički Niš

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

Return to Razgrad

After an excellent season in the Serbian SuperLiga, Borjan turned down a contract to return to FK Radnički Niš, instead opting to make a return to the Bulgarian A Football Group club of Ludogorets, where he signed a three-year deal on 2 June 2015. He remained the second choice goalkeeper for the team, but started featuring prominently after Vladislav Stoyanov sustained a serious injury.

Loan to Korona Kielce

On 15 February 2017, Borjan joined the Ekstraklasa club Korona Kielce on a loan deal until the end of the season. Playing for the club, Borjan made 14 league appearances, keeping 5 clean sheets.

Red Star Belgrade

Borjan was first linked with a transfer to Serbian SuperLiga club Red Star Belgrade in July 2014. Three years later, on 24 July 2017, Borjan was transferred to Red Star Belgrade, replacing young Filip Manojlović, who was transferred to Getafe CF previously. Borjan signed a three-year contract with his new club, choosing to wear jersey number 82. He made his debut in the first leg of the third qualifying round for 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, keeping a clean sheet in home victory against Sparta Prague on 27 July 2017. Borjan played his first eternal derby on 27 August 2017. In his second season with the club, Borjan would help Red Star qualify for the 2018–19 Champions League, and would earn a clean sheet in the group stage opener against Napoli and in a 2–0 home win against Liverpool.
In February 2019, Zvezdan Terzić announced Borjan would sign a contract extension until 2023 and would finish his career after that. Shortly after, Borjan would be honoured by Red Star as the club athlete of the year.

International career

In November 2010, after strong performances with Rad in the Serbian SuperLiga, Borjan accepted the call from Canadian FA to debut for their main national team. On 3 February 2011, he was called up to the Canadian senior team for their friendly against Greece on 9 February. Borjan 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. That summer, Borjan was called up to the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup roster, his first ever international tournament participation. He 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. Borjan made his Gold Cup debut on 11 June 2011 in a 1–0 victory over Guadeloupe at Raymond James Stadium.
On 12 June 2012, due to the suspension of first choice goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld, Borjan started in the 0:0 home draw with Honduras in a 2014 World Cup qualifier. 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. 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. On 6 June 2017, Borjan was named to the 40-man preliminary squad for the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He was named to the final 23-man squad for the tournament on June 27. On 30 May 2019, Borjan was named to the final squad for the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Career statistics

Club

International

Personal life

Borjan is married to Snežana, a former marketing director of FK Partizan.

Honours

Club

;Ludogorets
;Red Star Belgrade