Petar Stojanović (footballer)


Petar Stojanović is a Slovenian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Dinamo Zagreb in the Prva HNL.

Club career

He started playing football at the local football club Arne Tabor, before joining to Slovan and later to Interblock youth selections, where he remained until 2011, when he was acquired by Maribor. After his transfer to Maribor Joc Pečečnik, owner of Interblock, accused Zlatko Zahovič, director of football at the Styrian club, of going behind his back and stealing from them one of the biggest Slovenian talents of his age.
At first Stojanović played as a goalkeeper but he then switched to the position of an offensive midfielder. When he transferred to Maribor youth selections he was regarded as one of the most promising young midfielders in the country, however, Maribor's coaches and staff saw a much bigger potential for Stojanović on the position of right back. During his first year in Maribor he mostly played for the U17 team. However, due to the league dominance of the club which plays their matches at the Ljudski vrt stadium, he got his chance to play for the main squad in the second part of the 2011–12 season and made his first appearance in the Slovenian top division, 1. SNL, on 25 March 2012. At the time of his debut, he was 16 years, five months and 18 days of age and set a new club record as the youngest player to appear in the top division. He surpassed the previous record, held by Luka Krajnc and set one season earlier, by exactly two months and 23 days.
On 5 January 2016, he signed a five-year contract with Dinamo Zagreb, reportedly for a transfer fee of around €2 million plus add-ons.

International career

Stojanović was a member of the Slovenia national under-17 football team and appeared with the squad at the 2012 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship, where he scored one goal. He made his senior national team debut versus Colombia on 18 November 2014. At the time he was 19 years, one month and 11 days old and became the youngest debutant in the national team, surpassing the previous record set by Rene Mihelič seven years earlier.

Honours

;Maribor
;Dinamo Zagreb