Dragan Stojković (Serbian Cyrillic: Драган Стојковић, pronounced [drǎɡan stǒːjkoʋitɕ]; born 3 March 1965), also known by the nickname Piksi (Serbian Cyrillic: Пикси), is a Serbian professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He was most recently the head coach of the Serbia national team. Stojković was a long-time captain of the Yugoslavia national team and Red Star Belgrade, and is considered one of the greatest Yugoslav and Serbian footballers ever.
He was a star player for Yugoslavia at the 1990 (where he was selected for the World Cup All-Star Team) and 1998 FIFA World Cup, serving as captain at the latter.
He is one of only five players to be awarded the "Star of the Red Star" and is widely considered to have never shown his true potential in Europe, as injury prevented him from establishing himself at Marseille over the long term. Despite this, there is consensus among critics that he displayed an extraordinary ability throughout his career in spite of his chronic injuries, he is renowned to be the greatest in the Japanese football.
In 2021, he was appointed as coach of the Serbia national team, leading them to qualification for both 2022 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2024.
Born to father Dobrivoje and mother Desanka in Niš, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia, Stojković took to football very early while growing up in the Pasi Poljana community in Niš. He was nicknamed Piksi after Pixie, one of the characters from the cartoon Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks. In addition to his native Serbian, Stojković also speaks English, French, Italian, and some Japanese.
Playing in the FK Radnički Niš youth system, in summer 1979, fourteen-year-old Stojković's talent was already evident as he was attached to the Vladica Kovačević-coached FK Partizan under-16 team as a temporary addition to the squad for the duration of a tournament in Quimper, France. Flown to Belgrade and then to France for the occasion, the trip marked a series of firsts for the youngster: his first time in the Yugoslav capital Belgrade, first time travelling abroad, and his first time on an airplane.
Upon returning to Radnički, Stojković was again attached to the FK Partizan youth squad the following summer, 1980, for youth tournaments in the Italian Adriatic coastal towns of Senigallia and Falconara Marittima.
A midfielder and occasional forward, Stojković began his professional playing career with Yugoslav First League and hometown side Radnički Niš. His full squad debut took place at age seventeen under head coach Dušan Nenković during the 1981-82 season in the form of a substitute league appearance on 4 April 1982 away at FK Vardar. It was the young player's only full squad appearance of the season and it took place just a few days before Radnički's famous UEFA Cup semi-final tie versus Hamburger SV, the Niš club's greatest success.
Over the following four seasons, Stojković appeared in 70 matches for Radnički, scoring eight goals.
In the summer of 1986, twenty-one-year-old Stojković moved to Red Star Belgrade where he would spend the next four seasons, scoring 54 times in 120 appearances.
By the 1989-90 season, Stojković became a transfer target for some of the biggest and richest European clubs of the day. Juventus representatives were the first to approach the player as well as Red Star. However, any possibility of a deal soon fell through due to Stojković's reported skepticism about his playing opportunities in Turin due to the UEFA-enforced three-foreigners matchday squad rule and the bianconeri already having three foreigners in their Dino Zoff-coached team—Soviets Sergei Aleinikov and Oleksandr Zavarov as well as Portuguese Rui Barros. Then, in late November 1989, Olympique de Marseille owner Bernard Tapie flew to Belgrade, reaching a preliminary agreement—with the Red Star management about a transfer fee amount as well as with the player about his wages—that was to be officially signed at the end of the season during the summer 1990 transfer window. Right after agreeing a pre-contract with Marseille, Stojković was contacted by AC Milan's Adriano Galliani, who was ultimately unsuccessful in persuading Tapie to give up on Stojković.
One of his most famous goals was scored in the derby against Partizan from a corner kick.
In the summer of 1990, twenty-five-year-old Stojković made the much publicized move to Olympique de Marseille for a transfer fee of £5.5 million, joining the star-laden squad bankrolled by French businessman/politician Bernard Tapie. The expectations were sky-high with a team featuring world-class players such as Jean-Pierre Papin, Eric Cantona, Chris Waddle, Carlos Mozer, Manuel Amoros, Didier Deschamps, Jean Tigana, Abédi Pelé, as well as newly arrived defender Basile Boli and new head coach Franz Beckenbauer fresh off winning the 1990 FIFA World Cup with West Germany. Stojković had his own shining moments at the same World Cup, all of which contributed further to Marseille's interest.
Early into his debut season, Stojković sustained a knee injury for which he had to have surgery in Germany, forcing him to the sidelines for months. In fact, the entire 1990–91 league season was injury riddled for the Serb and he ended up making only eleven league appearances. Beckenbauer stepped down from the coaching post during the winter break, although he remained with the club in an adviser capacity. The new head coach to replace the famous German was Raymond Goethals. In the final of the UEFA European Champions' Cup, Marseille played against Stojković's former team Red Star. Stojković, a penalty kick specialist, entered the game late during the extra-time as a substitute, but as the match eventually went to a penalty shootout, he informed head coach Goethals that he did not want to take a penalty shot against his former team. Red Star won the European Cup in the shootout.
He subsequently transferred to Hellas Verona in Italy in the summer of 1991, for ten billion lira. The team had won the scudetto just six years before, but after some financial problems had just been promoted back to serie A after one year in the Italian second league. Stojkovic had an unlucky season, plagued by injuries and disciplinary troubles, and was sold back to Marseille where he remained for two more seasons, which meant he finally won a Champions league winner medal in 1992–93,. However, he was unlucky to miss the final because of injury.
In the spring of 1994, Stojković signed with Japanese J-League team Nagoya Grampus Eight, joining a squad managed by Gordon Milne and featuring Gary Lineker.
He spent seven seasons with Grampus Eight, retiring as a player in 2001. Stojković played 183 matches for the club, scoring 57 times. He was named J-League MVP for the 1995 season. Since then, he has gained huge popularity among Japanese supporters, most notably among Nagoya Grampus fans, due to his skillful display, which followed him even after his retirement. Fans commemorated him by chanting "Ale Piksi" whenever he scored a goal.
Stojković made his under-21 debut on 11 October 1983 versus Norway in Pančevo as part of qualifying for the 1984 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Playing under head coach Ivan Toplak, the youngster from Radnički Niš scored on his debut as Yugoslavia won 6–2.