Name: Damir DesnicaCountry:
Croatia
Club: HNK Rijeka
Position: *
WFSide: RF/LS
Age: 24-29 years (20/12/1956)
Height: 167 cm
Weight: 66 kg
Attack:
83Defence: 43
Balance:
80Stamina:
82Top Speed:
85Acceleration:
87Response:
78Agility:
86Dribble Accuracy:
87Dribble Speed:
85Short Pass Accuracy:
78Short Pass Speed:
77Long Pass Accuracy:
80Long Pass Speed:
78Shot Accuracy:
79Shot Power:
83Shot Technique:
82Free Kick Accuracy:
75Curling:
81Header: 73
Jump:
76Technique:
85Aggression:
86Mentality:
80Keeper Skills: 50
Team Work:
76Injury Tolerance:
BCondition/Fitness:
6Weak Foot Accuracy:
6Weak Foot Frequency: 5
Growth Type: Standard
CARDS:P12: Incisive Run
S01: Reaction
S18: Cross Over Turn
S19: Quick Scissor Drib.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: Dribbling - Side - Reaction
Attack / Defence Awareness Card: Attack MindedINFO:King of Deaf Footballers
The unique legend. Desnica began his football career in Rijeka, and has played at left wing.
Although he was an excellent footballer, he is best known for being one of the very few deaf pro footballers. He was one of the key players of team which has twice won the Yugoslav Cup, 1978. and 1979., and that played in the Cup Winners' Cup quarter-1980 His excellent play and navigate on the ground were especially good considering that he was deaf and dumb. Desnica, except for Rijeka, played several seasons in Kortrijk Belgium, and one for Pazinka. The Yugoslav team played once, 25 October 1978. in the match against Romania's national team, and is thereby achieved, and their only goal for the team. Right now working as a youth coach in school HNK Rijeka. Desnica, born Deaf, was that rare breed of Deaf person: a professional footballer. And here he was, a player for Yugoslav Cup winners, Rijeka, wearing the colors of Yugoslavia. Desnica enjoyed a decorated career, with Cup successes with a relatively small Rijeka football club battling the Big Four giants of the then Yugoslavia –Red Star Belgrade, Partizan Belgrade, Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb—and, every now and then, putting them to the sword.
In 1985 UEFA Cup, after summarily disposing of Spanish side Valladolid 4-2 in the first round, Rijeka met Real Madrid in the second round, winning the first leg 3-1 at home, only to have their chances of progress scuppered by a Belgian referee named Schoeters, who sent Desnica off for 2 yellow cards. His first yellow had been for not stopping play when the whistle went; and his second yellow was for, “insulting the referee”. It's interested in how Desnica had managed the latter considering he had been deaf since birth and communicated exclusively manually as opposed to orally. At all events, the referee’s radical reduction of Rijeka to 8 players enabled Real to score 2 more goals to win the tie 3-0, and take the round 4-3 on aggregate --and progress to win the tourney. The scandalous Belgian referee after that game was banned for life by UEFA, but the shame has remained. Desnica is a hero still in Croatia today, but is relatively unknown elsewhere, playing as he did in an era before the advent of the information superhighway.