Danijel Ljuboja

Danijel Ljuboja (Данијел Љубоја, ; born 4 September 1978) is a Serbian retired professional footballer who played as a forward.

He was known for his passing and set pieces.

He moved to France where his professional career started with Sochaux in the 1998–99 season.

Ljuboja made his debut, coming on as a substitute in the 76th minutes for Anthony Sirufo, in a 2–1 loss against Lyon on 11 September 1998; then on 31 October 1998, Ljuboja scored his first goal and scored another, in a 4–0 win over Montpellier.

However, in his first season, Sochaux was relegated to Ligue 2.

The next season, Ljuboja soon became an important member of the first team and began his goalscoring form, including a hat-trick in a 5–1 win over Créteil on 15 April 2000.

At the end of the season, Ljuboja's goalscoring form led him to become a top-scorer for the club, but he was second top-scorer behind Amara Traoré.

However, the club wasn't able to return to Ligue 1, having come one point too short.

In his two-year stint with the team, he played 62 games scoring 20 goals.

Following his stay with Sochaux, Ljuboja moved to Strasbourg in the 2000–01 season.

In his first season, he made a slow start, scoring three goals in thirty appearances.

The club was relegated despite winning the Coupe de France final, beating Amiens 5–4 on penalties.

Soon in his second season, Ljuboja was able to bounce back, scoring fifteen goals and the club to return to Ligue 1.

He also made two appearances in the UEFA Cup competition, scoring twice against Belgian side Standard Liège but the club was knocked out, having lost 2–0 in the first leg.

Strasbourg was explained, due to winning the Coupe de France, the previous season.

The next season, in which the French League was renamed to Ligue 1, Ljuboja's goalscoring form soon faded, with nine goals but the club still remained in Ligue 1.

The season after, Ljuboja soon formed an important strike partnership with newly signing Mamadou Niang, which was short-lived as he moved from Strasbourg to PSG.

Because of his departure, Niang didn't score again for the remainder of the second half of that season.

Upon his departure, Ljuboja had made 123 league appearances scoring 34 goals in total.

In December 2003, Ljuboja was linked with Ligue 1 rival Paris Saint-Germain and two unknown Premier League clubs.

During the 2003–4 January transfer window, Ljuboja moved from Strasbourg to Paris Saint-Germain for a €3.000.000 fee.

In his first half of the season at PSG, Ljuboja made a good start, scoring six goals, including four goals in three consecutive games.

Also, his new club was able to win the Coupe de France, beating Châteauroux 1–0.

During his time at PSG, he faced competition from strikers like Pauleta and Fabrice Pancrate.

Ahead of the 2004–05 season, Ljuboja soon had a rift with manager Vahid Halilhodžić after Halilhodžic was far from happy with Ljuboja's attitude in pre-season training, resulting not trained for the past two days due to a back complaint.

This led a transfer speculation by moving to Monaco.

Despite the strained relationship, Ljuboja first team wasn't affected.

However, in September 2004, Ljuboja was disgusted with Halilhodžic after he wasn't included in a match against Monaco and was omitted from the first team despite lack of attackers at the club.

Ljuboja told L'Equipe that Halilhodžic didn't give him explanations ahead of a match and that he was 100 percent committed at PSG.

In January transfer window, with PSG announcing their intentions to sell Ljuboja, Ljuboja was linked with clubs around Europe like Barcelona, Málaga, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur.

However, no move was made as Ljuboja desired to stay at the club.

His 2004–05 season wasn't a success as he scored twice and his form was declining and the club finished in the ninth place.

During the season, he played five games with the team in the UEFA Champions League.

He scored seven times in 42 league appearances.

In 2005, he transferred to German club side Stuttgart, at first on loan, having been linked with clubs like Mallorca, Marseille and Bolton.

After joining Stuttgart, Ljuboja said he left PSG, not for the revenge he received last season but to keep his dream alive ahead of a World Cup.

Weeks later, Ljuboja made his debut, on 10 September 2005, in a 1–1 draw with Arminia Bielefeld; and a month later, he scored his first goal, on 23 October 2005, in a 1–1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen.

He represented Serbia and Montenegro at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Ljuboja was born in Vinkovci, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia to Serb parents.

There he played in the youth teams of NK Dinamo Vinkovci, NK Osijek and Red Star Belgrade.