Football Player's Biography 7: Nikola Žigić

Full name	Nikola Žigić^[1]
Date of birth	25 September 1980 (1980-09-25) (age 30)
Place of birth	Bačka Topola, Yugoslavia
Height	2.02 m (6 ft 7¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Centre forward

Nikola Žigić (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Жигић, born 25 September 1980) is a Serbian footballer who plays for Birmingham City of the English Premier League as a centre forward.
At 2.02 m (6 ft 7¹⁄₂ in),Žigić is among the tallest professional players in the world.

Club career

Red Star

Žigić began with modest local teams, netting at an impressive rate, after which he joined bigger club Red Star Belgrade in 2003. During his years at the club, he played 110 matches and scored 71 goals in all competitions^{[citation needed]} (cup, league and European competitions).

Racing Santander

On 29 August 2006, Žigić signed a four-year contract with Spanish side Racing de Santander. On 1 April 2007, he scored his first hat-trick in La Liga, in a 5–4 win over Athletic Bilbao.^[4] While at Racing, he formed a formidable duo with diminutive veteran forward Pedro Munitis, and netted 12 league goals during the 2006–07 season.

Valencia

On 8 August 2007, Sky Sports understood that Valencia CF had offered Racing €19 million for Žigić, handing the player a lucrative five-year contract. Numerous other clubs, such as SV Werder Bremen and Manchester City attempted to sign him, but Valencia eventually signed the player, announcing the £20 million deal on their official website the following day. After passing a medical the next day, Žigić was introduced at the Estadio Mestalla.^{[citation needed]}
Žigić's first goal for Valencia came in a Spanish Cup match against Real Unión, adding another to turn the match around, as Valencia won 2–1. However he was unsuccessful in nailing down a starting place in the team under coach Ronald Koeman, who mostly used him as a sub or not at all. His first and only league goal came on 22 December 2007 at Real Zaragoza, as Valencia again came from behind and earned a 2–2 draw. A loan to English club Portsmouth was mooted, but Koeman changed his mind about the player leaving.^[5]
After some speculation regarding moves to the Premier League,^[6]^[7] and a thwarted loan return to former side Racing Santander, Žigić finally agreed to stay and fight for a place in 2008–09's Valencia.

Eventually, after having failed to appear in any league matches, being restricted to domestic and UEFA Cup matches, and scoring in both competitions, he was loaned in late December 2008 to former side Santander.^[8]^[9] In June 2009, there were rumours of a move to Sunderland,^[10] but nothing came of it.
Žigić was then loaned to a former team, Racing, until the end of the season. On 4 January 2009, in his first game in his second spell with the Cantabrians, Žigić scored the game's only goal in a win at Real Valladolid, repeating the feat in a win at Getafe CF, two matchdays later, and again the following week on 25 January away at Sevilla FC. He finished his second spell with 13 goals in only 19 matches, squad best, and subsequently returned to Valencia, where he continued to be rarely used in the league.
Profiting from a rare chance in the league with the Che, Žigić headed in the only goal of the game at home to RCD Espanyol on 2 January 2010, in the 93rd minute. On 13 January, he added a brace at Deportivo de La Coruña in the 2009–10 Copa del Rey to put Valencia 2–0 up at halftime, in an eventual 2–2 draw (4–3 aggregate loss); on a more positive note, he replaced starter David Villa at Espanyol on 1 May and scored both goals in a 2–0 win (both with his feet).

Birmingham City

On 25 May 2010, Žigić signed a four-year contract with Premier League club Birmingham City for an undisclosed fee.^[11] Media speculation suggested the fee to be in the region of £6 million.^[12] He made his debut on the opening day of the season away at Sunderland: replacing Garry O'Connor in the 58th minute, he came close to scoring from outside the penalty area and "injected a note of panic hitherto undetected" in the home team's defence as Birmingham came back from 2–0 down to secure a draw.^[13]^[14]
Žigić's first goal for the club came as Birmingham beat Milton Keynes Dons 3–1 in the League Cup on 21 September.^[15] He scored his first Premier League goal on 16 October, opening the scoring at Arsenal with a header from a Keith Fahey cross, though Birmingham lost the game 2–1.^[16] His fourth goal of the campaign was the 84th-minute winner as Birmingham progressed to the League Cup semi-final at the expense of local rivals Aston Villa.^[17] He scored the opening goal in the 2011 Football League Cup Final with a short-range header as Birmingham defeated favourites Arsenal 2–1 at Wembley Stadium on 27 February 2011.^[18]

International career

Although he attracted much attention for his performances with Red Star in the Serbo-Montenegrin league, Žigić only gained a regular place in the national team in mid-2005, after having made his debut the previous year under coach Ilija Petković.
He scored a couple of goals in some friendlies, but it was his substitute appearance in a crucial 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Spain in Madrid during September 2005 that brought him international recognition. After an atrocious first-half at the Vicente Calderón Stadium, during which Serbia-Montenegro rarely crossed the centre line, only being 1–0 down, coach Petković threw Žigić into the mix, and his towering presence up front changed the flow of the match instantly. He would later set up the equalizer, also providing Mateja Kežman with a 2–1 chance, but the ball was clipped wide of Iker Casillas' gaping half-empty net. However, Serbia got the key away point and confirmed their World Cup qualification at home in Belgrade versus Bosnia-Herzegovina, with Žigić again nicely setting up Kežman for the game's only goal.
Žigić's only start at the 2006 World Cup came in the nation's final Group C match, when the team was already eliminated. He scored an early goal in the 10th minute of the first half off a long ball from Dejan Stanković against Ivory Coast, in a 3–2 loss.^[19]
Still an automatic choice under new national manager Javier Clemente, his form took a dip. On 24 March 2007, Žigić received a red card during the Euro 2008 qualifying match against Kazakhstan, seconds before the end of the game. This caused him to miss the home game against Portugal.^{[citation needed]} He also missed the match against Finland on 2 June 2007 after surgery on a facial injury received on 27 May.^[20]
He represented his country in the 2010 World Cup. On 17 November 2010, he scored the winning goal against Bulgaria in a friendly match, which was held in Sofia, but was sent off for a second yellow card shortly before the conclusion of the game.