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MIJAT GAĆINOVIĆ, SERBIAN FOOTBALL PLAYER FROM THE CHAMPION GENERATION
Fighting as the Law in Sport
With roots in Trebinje, born in Novi Sad, he was the European champion (2013) and world champion (2015) with the young Serbian national team. He achieved important results in ”Vojvodina” and ”Eintracht”, then through ”Hoffenheim” he arrived in Athens ”Panathinaikos”. Today he wears the jersey of AEK. His family taught him that success must be achieved through work and dedication. He is still playing at the southern peak of the Balkans, hoping that it will bring him back to the national team, whose current game and philosophy he is delighted with

By: Dejan Bulajić

Mijat is a player with special experience. For a long time now, he has been a real football expat, who has gained valuable experience playing in strong European leagues, and he can also boast of the performances he made in a jersey with the national coat of arms, especially in the junior categories. Let us remind you – Mijat is part of the generation that shone in full splendor in 2013 and 2015, winning titles at European and world championships.
– It is a unique experience that helped all members of our team in further maturing. However, it also helped us understand how much sports success means to our people. That was a kind of discovery for me. Sports success is an elixir for our people who have been through so much pain and suffering.

You have established yourself in Greek club football. After the loan from "Hoffenheim", you wore the jersey of "Panathinaikos", and now you are successfully playing in AEK?
I feel great in Athens. First of all, because they accepted me very well. The mentality of the people is closer to ours, we understand each other easily, and it is especially important that I settled in the team, except for the period when I was recovering from an injury. That is much better than waiting for an opportunity from the bench, as was the case in ”Hoffenheim”. Of course, I am aware that the German league is much stronger than the Greek one, but that does not prejudice the impression of the way my career is currently developing.

What directed you towards Greek football?
First of all, it is a league in which there is quality. There are a lot of experienced foreigners, Greeks invest in their clubs. The atmosphere exudes special passion and traditional rivalries. I was especially attracted by the fact that there is a playoff in the Greek championship in which the six best teams play. These are ten more strong matches, in a short period, which were solved in the battle for the very top. In addition, the semifinals of the Cup await us.

Will the role of a standard first team member mean a lot to you in your efforts to, once again, be a part of the national team?
That is one of the reasons why I accepted the change of environment. You can be anywhere, in any big team, but if you don’t have continuity of games, it all means very little. The most important thing for a player is to be constantly on the field, in a competitive rhythm. The best club is the one that allows you to do that. My desire to wear a national team jersey is undisputed. After all, I have incomparable memories of the national team and I am sure that I still have something to give it. And for that you need to play regularly and that is why I am where I am.

DESERVING LUCK

Impressions of what the national team has already achieved?
More important than the placement at the World Championship is the way it was done. It was a pleasure watching our team. It played an open, fighter football, without calculations. In such a situation, luck looks your way, because you deserve it. One should not be too critical of the performance at the World Cup, from which many expected more. We can see, after all, that the new qualification cycle has started well again. And our public has been waiting for that for a long time, without any doubt, this is the period in which our national football shows that it is not only for episode roles and that we can expect much more.

Why has the national team not recorded similar results over the past years?
Most often, in this regard, there were criticisms addressed at the players. We heard everything, from the fact that we will not play with full force, to the fact that we come to the preparations to have fun in Belgrade. It’s all nonsense. Here, now it can be seen that the same players show a completely different face. Why they haven’t done that before, it’s not for me to say. A lot of that is clear in itself to those who know something more about football, but the most important thing is that the team has now started working and that it should be enjoyed.

Can Serbian football, with the league, clubs and organization it has, create a respectable national team in the long run?
There are already obvious problems. There are few clubs in our country that are capable of creating quality teams. Finance is probably the main problem, but it really threatens the whole of our football. Namely, we have always had a lot of good football players, but they would go abroad very quickly and mostly did not return. Most of the clubs have mediocre quality teams, with the exception of ”Zvezda” and ”Partizan”, although they too have many problems this year. However, the example of "Čukarički", "TSC", and even "Vojvodina" inspires hope, and hopefully these will not be short-term stories. A good image of our club football needs more. There are almost no teams that could seriously oppose them. That is not enough for the general image of our football. There are too few strong matches and that becomes obvious when the rest of our clubs enter the Euro scene. We need a stronger league, and for that we need a lot more money.

THE BEST IS YET TO COME

What is the future of Serbian football then?
Our football depends on how many good players we will make from the many talented boys we have, and that is a very demanding job. We should do a lot in the coming years to improve the infrastructure and professional work. Both are equally important for the future of Serbian football. The facilities where they play and train should be modernized, and coaches should be given the opportunity to be educated and improved, especially those who work with junior categories.

I believe you see yourself in the national team at the next gatherings?
That is my wish, however, I do not expect anyone to invite me if I do not deserve it. It is up to me to show with my games and behaviour in the club that I can be counted on. Will that be enough... we’ll see.

Are you happy with the way your career has developed?
I am. I have achieved a lot so far, on and off the field. I played in teams and leagues that gave me the opportunity to prove myself and develop even more. The results I have achieved impress me. On the other hand, I gained very useful experiences beyond football. I have traveled a good part of the world. I have met different people, cultures, learned languages, so I can say that football has given me more than I imagined it would. But the most important thing is that there is a lot ahead of me and that I am still expecting the best things in my career.

How much influence did your family have on your maturation, especially your father Vladimir, who was also a prominent football player?
My family helped me a lot. They supported me, encouraged me, but it is especially important that they constantly suggested to me that results can only be achieved with great effort and that everything I gain must be the fruit of patient and persistent work. In this time, in which the prevailing view is that great goals can be easily achieved, their instructions have helped me to embark on the only possible path – the path of hard work and sacrifice. I am grateful to them for that.

What would you single out in your career?
Maybe it would be Frankfurt. I spent five great years there. We had a great team, guys from all over the world, many of Balkan people among them. It was a great atmosphere, and the results were good. Besides, I got a family in Frankfurt, my children were born in that city, and if I chose the place that brought me the greatest pleasures, then it would, without a doubt, be that city. I would certainly add to that the fact that defeats and victories are not viewed too strictly among Germans. They accept it more calmly, unlike us, or say the Greeks, who are more temperamental. That is why the pressure on the Germans is somewhat lower, regardless of the higher quality of the league.

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Journey
Mijat Gaćinović (Novi Sad, 1995) currently plays for Athens’ AEK. During his career, he also played in Trebinje’s ”Leotar” (as a junior, 2010), ”Vojvodina” from Novi Sad (2010-2015), ”Eintracht” from Frankfurt (2015-2020) and "Hoffenheim" (2020-2022), from which he went on a loan to the Athens "Panathinaikos" (2022). With the junior national team of Serbia, he won the title of European champion (Lithuania, 2013) and the title of world champion (New Zealand, 2015). He made his debut for the senior national team of Serbia on 24 March 2017.

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Forging the character
Who influenced your fighting character more - family or sport?
The impact is mutual. My family offered me a constant lesson that nothing can be achieved without a fight, and when I entered sports, I saw it in action. Sport is very demanding and there is no protection. One cannot go far without perseverance. We enter the competitive rhythm early, we go abroad early, it is necessary to be better than domestic players there in order to survive, so fighting is the law for everyone who has serious ambitions in sports.

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Home
How attached are you to your homeland?
Very much. I love my Trebinje, but, unfortunately, the rhythm of our obligations is such that I can’t visit it often. It is mostly during summer break, when Trebinje is the most beautiful. Then I meet my childhood friends. Homeland is quite special. The feelings that bind us to our homeland are incomparable in relation to everything we discover later in life.