Damir Desnica
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 20 December 1956 | ||
| Place of birth | Obrovac, SFR Yugoslavia | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Elektroprimorje Rijeka | |||
| Rijeka | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1974–1985 | Rijeka | 251 | (54) |
| 1985–1990 | Kortrijk | 109 | (19) |
| 1990–1991 | Zadar | ||
| 1991 | Orijent | ||
| 1992–1993 | Pazinka | ||
| ?–1996 | Halubjan | ||
| 1996–1997 | Klana | ||
| 1997–1998 | Lučki Radnik | ||
| National team | |||
| 1978 | Yugoslavia | 1 | (1) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Damir Desnica (born 20 December 1956) is a Croatian retired footballer who played as a forward.
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.
Desnica earned one cap for Yugoslavia, scoring in a 2–3 away loss against Romania for the UEFA Euro 1980 qualifiers, on 25 October 1978.
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.
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