By the time the first game for Indy kicks off next season Dragan Stojkov will be 28 years old. He was born in Strumica which at the time of his birth was in former Yugoslavia and is now a part of Macedonia. Dragan has plied his trade in Macedonia, Greece, Serbia, South Korea and of course now the United States.During his youth, Stojkov played with several clubs before reaching Serbia. Those clubs include FK Belasica, Egaleo FC and Ilisiakos FC. In 2009 Dragan signed for FK Napredak Kruševac in the Serbian SuperLiga.
At the end of that season Napredak were relagated to the Serbian First League. Stojkov left Napredak and joined the club where he would spend the longest time during his professional career to date, FK Jagodina.
During his time at FK Jagodina, Dragan won a Serbian Cup medal in the 2012-2013 season after defeating Vojvodina in the final. Subsequently, he also played for the club in the qualifiers of the Europa League against FC Rubin Kazan of the Russian Premier League. Despite losing in the qualifying, this is still great experience for any player.
In 2014 Dragan left Serbia and headed for the United States. Joining LA Galaxy of the MLS, Stojkov played for their second team in the USL for that year. In 2015 Stojkov left Los Angeles and moved to Indianapolis to play with Indy Eleven. After a good showing in his first season he was named as one of the first eight players to be retained for 2016.
In 2015 Dragan notched up 1409 minutes in 21 games and appeared in 18 starting line ups for Indy Eleven. Playing primarily on the right wing, Dragan has also been used as a makeshift full back as well. Throughout most of his career Stojkov has played as a central defensive midfielder before coming to Indy.
So let's hear it from the Dragan's mouth...
We were lucky enough to be able to sit down and talk with Indy's number 17 recently and get his thoughts on his career and playing for Indy Eleven. Dragan has a great sense of humor. He told us at a team meeting each player was asked to vote for players to be in the next games starting lineup, so he wrote his own name down eleven times!
For anyone who is curious, Dragan's favorite team is FK Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) and one of his most memorable moments in his life was playing against them in his favorite place which is Rajko Mitić Stadium for FK Jagodina. Red Star supporters have been named as one of the top 15 most intimidating in the world.
In good old front office style, we posed these ELEVEN questions to Dragan Stojkov....
JC: At what age did you become serious about football and how did you break into professional football, which was your first professional club?
Dragan: I guess it was around the age of 15, I was called up to play for the Macedonia U17 team, after that I signed my first professional contract with FK Belasica, at the time they were playing in Macedonia's first division. This was my Academy club, as you know it's a little different in Europe than here in the US (i.e players start pro football younger)
JC: When you played at Jagodina in the Serbian SuperLiga you won the Serbian Cup and qualified to enter the Europa League playing against Russian side Rubin Kazan. Was this the high point of your career so far and what was that experience like.
Dragan: For two of the three years I played at FK Jagodina we mad it to the Europa League Qualifiers twice (v FK Ordabasy of Kazakhstan in 2012 in addition to Rubin Kazan in 2013) and we also managed to win the Serbian Cup in 2013 so yes that was definitely a high point for me. Prior to that I was also called to the first national team of Macedonia at the age of 17 for a friendly, that was my only time, I was called also while at Jagodina but was injured at the time, this was my reward for reaching the second group stage of the U19 European Championships but could not play.
JC: What prompted you to leave Serbia and FK Jagodina and travel to the United States, how did you land at LA Galaxy, were you scouted or was the USA somewhere you just wanted to go?
Dragan: I left FK Jagodina after three wonderful years, I felt at the time the club had achieved everything they could up to that point and I needed a new challenge. I had received a letter of invitation from LA Galaxy to come on trial, and I think before that the agency I worked with in Europe had already recommended me to them. So I took a risk and made the decision before the next season began in Serbia. I have always wanted to see how it is in the USA and I love challenges so it was an easy decision!
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| Dragan in action V FC Edmonton 2015 |
