Aleksandar Katai
Katai in 2022
Personal information
Date of birth (1991-02-06) 6 February 1991 (age 32)
Place of birth Srbobran, SR Serbia,
Yugoslavia
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Winger
Team information
Current team
 Red Star Belgrade
Number 10
Youth career
2002–2009 Vojvodina
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2011 Vojvodina 29 (6)
2009 → Palić (loan) 10 (3)
2011–2015 Olympiacos 0 (0)
2011 → OFI Crete (loan) 2 (0)
2012–2013 → Vojvodina (loan) 31 (6)
2013–2014 → Platanias (loan) 24 (8)
2014–2015 → Red Star Belgrade (loan) 20 (2)
2015–2016 Red Star Belgrade 37 (23)
2016–2017 Alavés 23 (3)
2018–2020 Chicago Fire 62 (18)
2020 LA Galaxy 2 (0)
2020– Red Star Belgrade 98 (58)
International career‡
2011–2012 Serbia U21 2 (0)
2015–2020 Serbia 10 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20 December 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12 November 2020

Aleksandar Katai (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Катаи; born 6 February 1991) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Serbian club Red Star Belgrade.

Club career

Vojvodina

Katai started playing football for his hometown club FK Vojvodina youth squad. After 6 months loan to lower league team FK Palić at the start of 2009–10 season he was promoted to Vojvodina's first team.[2] His debut in Serbian SuperLiga was on 14 March 2010, when he came in as substitute against FK Čukarički, and he scored his first goal just seven days later in a match against Mladi Radnik. On 28 June 2011, he left FK Vojvodina and went to Athens to join Olympiacos.[3]

Olympiacos

On 24 June 2011, Olympiacos agreed to sign Katai on a four-year contract.[4] At his first trainings with the club, coach Ernesto Valverde told Katai that he did not defend enough and that he needed to improve as a player.[5] Katai did not play a single match for Olympiacos, but was instead sent on loan four times.

He was first loaned to OFI Crete, with whom he made his debut on 5 November 2011, against Panionios.[6] The loan spell to Crete was unsuccessful, and so Olympiacos loaned him back to his hometown club FK Vojvodina. While on loan at Vojvodina, in 2012 after one game with Spartak Subotica, he fell very ill and was admitted to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with thrombopenia.[5] He had to have some blood removed, and stayed in the hospital for two weeks, before he was allowed to finish his recovery from home.[5] During his recovery, he gained over 20 pounds, and he did not return to play football until the end of the year.[5] He remained a loaned player for Vojvodina until the club president Ratko Butorović died unexpectedly on 8 June 2013, which led to a period of instability in the club during which Katai left.[7] He subsequently was loaned to Platanias, for whom he scored a total of eight goals and six assists,[5] until his loan there expired in the summer of 2014.

"Katai's problem is not motivation, it's in his head, because maybe he did not want to return to Serbia. The boy trained for a month and a half until midnight [at Olympiacos], and they still didn't allow him to train properly. All they did was let him on the training field so he wouldn't sue them. He is a little angry..."

Nenad Lalatović, 7 October 2014[8]

Red Star Belgrade

2014–15 season

On 31 August 2014, in a last-minute deal before the transfer window closed, Katai devoted to a one-year loan to Red Star Belgrade.[9] Throughout autumn 2014, Katai was reported to be out of shape, and Red Star's coach Nenad Lalatović was said to have claimed that Katai "had a problem in his head".[8]

2015–16 season

On 18 June 2015, it was announced that Katai terminated his contract with Olympiacos and forgave a debt of €300,000 which was owed to him by Red Star from the loan contract, and subsequently signed a two-year contract with Red Star Belgrade.[10] For the 2015–16 season, Miodrag "Grof" Božović was hired as the new coach and Katai played a good game against Kairat in the first qualifying round for the Europa League, although Red Star failed to qualify. By the end of October 2015, Katai had scored 10 goals and made 6 assists in 15 league matches, ranking him one of the most effective midfielders in all of Europe at the time surveyed.[11]

Katai ended the season with the title of the best scorer of the Superliga, scoring his 21st in the last round against Radnički for the 27th title celebration.

2016–17 season

In the first competitive match of the 2016–17 season, Katai scored an equalizer and assist for win against Valletta FC in the first match of the second qualifying round for the Champions League in Valletta and winner in rematch, in Belgrade.[12] In the first game of the third round of qualification for the Champions League against Bulgarian PFC Ludogorets Razgrad continued his goal-scoring series, with a 12th consecutive goal, when he dribbled past three players and scored,[13] though Red Star were ultimately eliminated.

Alavés

On 31 August 2016, Katai signed a three-year contract with La Liga side Deportivo Alavés, for an undisclosed fee.[14]

Chicago Fire

On 6 February 2018, Katai was loaned by Alavés to Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer. The loan was for the 2018 MLS season, and included a purchase option at season's end.[15]

On 11 July 2018, the Chicago Fire acquired Katai on a permanent basis from Alavés for an unknown amount. The deal had Katai signed through the 2019 season, with a club option for 2020. It also had him remaining a TAM player for the 2018 season, but would change to a DP in 2019.[16]

LA Galaxy

On 31 December 2019, after leaving the Chicago Fire, Katai joined the LA Galaxy through the use of Targeted Allocation Money.[17] Katai was expected to be an important part of the Galaxy’s attack in 2020.[18]

Katai was released by LA Galaxy on 5 June 2020, following controversial Instagram posts by Katai's wife Tea, in the wake of the George Floyd protests and looting across the United States.[19][20] Katai's wife, writing in Serbian, had compared protestors to "disgusting cattle," called for violent action against them in a caption under a photo of New York Police Department officers driving an SUV into a crowd of protesters ("shoot those s***s"), and captioned an image of what appears to be a looter running off with boxes of Nike sneakers with "Black Nikes Matter."[21][22][23][24]

The LA Galaxy requested the removal of his wife’s posts, and issued a statement condemning "racism of any kind."[21] Tea then took down the posts.[21] Katai condemned his wife's posts as "unacceptable", rebuked her insensitivity, issued a personal apology, and indicated his support for the Black Lives Matter movement, in an Instagram post.[25][21][26][27] Two days after the team became aware of the wife's posts, which also was two days after his post condemning her statements, and following a day of protests against Katai, the LA Galaxy released him.[21][25]

Return to Red Star Belgrade

On 9 July 2020, Katai signed a two-year contract with Red Star Belgrade.[28]

International career

Katai played two games for Serbia U21 national team. He made his debut for Serbia in a 4–1 friendly loss to the Czech Republic on 13 November 2015.[29]

Personal life

Born in Srbobran, a village in northern Serbia, his paternal grandfather was of Ukrainian origin and his grandmother was Hungarian. His surname is Hungarian, adopted from his grandmother.[30]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 20 December 2023[31]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Palić (loan) 2009–10[2] Serbian League Vojvodina 10 3 — — 10 3
Vojvodina 2009–10 Serbian SuperLiga 6 3 — — 6 3
2010–11 23 3 4 1 — 27 4
Total 29 6 4 1 — 33 7
OFI Crete (loan) 2011–12 Super League Greece 2 0 — — 2 0
Vojvodina (loan) 2011–12 Serbian SuperLiga 11 1 2 0 — 13 1
2012–13 20 5 5 0 — 25 5
Total 31 6 7 0 — 38 6
Platanias (loan) 2013–14 Super League Greece 24 8 2 0 — 26 8
Red Star Belgrade (loan) 2014–15 Serbian SuperLiga 20 2 2 0 — 22 2
Red Star Belgrade 2015–16 Serbian SuperLiga 33 21 1 2 3[b] 0 37 23
2016–17 4 2 — 6[c] 4 10 6
Total 57 25 3 2 9 4 69 31
Alavés 2016–17 La Liga 20 3 6 0 — 26 3
2017–18 3 0 1 0 — 4 0
Total 23 3 7 0 — 30 3
Chicago Fire 2018 MLS 33 12 4 1 — 37 13
2019 29 6 0 0 — 29 6
Total 62 18 4 1 — 66 19
LA Galaxy 2020 MLS 2 0 0 0 — 2 0
Red Star Belgrade 2020–21 Serbian SuperLiga 23 14 3 1 8[d] 3 34 18
2021–22 31 24 4 3 12[e] 6 47 33
2022–23 35 17 5 0 10[f] 2 50 19
2023–24 9 3 2 1 5[g] 1 16 5
Total 98 58 14 5 35 12 147 75
Career total 326 124 41 9 44 16 411 149
  1. ^ Includes Serbian Cup, Greek Football Cup, Copa del Rey, U.S. Open Cup
  2. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  3. ^ Four appearances and three goals in UEFA Champions League, two appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
  4. ^ Three appearances in UEFA Champions League, five appearances and three goals in UEFA Europa League
  5. ^ Four appearances and two goals in UEFA Champions League, eight appearances and four goals in UEFA Europa League
  6. ^ Four appearances in UEFA Champions League, six appearances and two goals in UEFA Europa League
  7. ^ Appearances in UEFA Champions League

International

As of 12 November 2020[32]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Serbia 2015 1 0
2016 5 0
2017 0 0
2018 0 0
2019 3 0
2020 1 0
Total 10 0

Honours

Red Star

Individual

References

  1. ^ "Aleksandar Katai". Red Star Belgrade. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Aleksandar Katai". srbijafudbal.net (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  3. ^ [1] Archived 29 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine Sportal: Srbin doputovao u Grčku (in Serbian) 28 June 101
  4. ^ ""Έκλεισε" τον Κατάι, συμφώνησε με Βοϊβοντίνα". redplanet.gr. 24 June 2011. Archived from the original on 26 June 2011.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Mozzart Sport: Katai za MOZZART otkrio da je nekoliko meseci vodio bitku sa zdravljem: Bio sam nenormalno "plav" i lekari su utvrdili da bolujem od trombocitopenije" (in Serbian). 13 March 2015. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  6. ^ "Aleksandar Katai konačno debitovao! - Vesti, FKVojvodina.com". fkvojvodina.com.
  7. ^ [2] Novosti: Katai prvi otišao iz Vojvodine (in Serbian) 11 June 2013
  8. ^ a b "Mozzart Sport: Lalatović: Katai ima problem u glavi, Partizanu je pomogla gej parada" (in Serbian). 7 October 2014.
  9. ^ [3] Mozzart Sport: ZVANIČNO: Katai u Zvezdi! (in Serbian) 31 August 2014
  10. ^ [4] RTS: Katai ostaje u Zvezdi, potpisao ugovor na dve godine! (in Serbian) 26 June 2013
  11. ^ [5] S. Ilijoski. Novosti: “Desetka” Zvezde među najproduktivnijim igračima u Evropi: Katai u društvu velikana (in Serbian) 30 October 2015.
  12. ^ "Malteški vitez Aleksandar Katai!" (in Serbian). 12 July 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  13. ^ "On je Katai, on je Magiko!" (in Serbian). Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  14. ^ "Aleksandar Katai, calidad y gol para redondear el ataque albiazul" [Aleksandar Katai, quality and goal to round up the white-and-blue attack] (in Spanish). Deportivo Alavés. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  15. ^ "Chicago Fire Soccer Club Acquires Serbian International Aleksandar Katai on Loan from Deportivo Alavés | Chicago Fire FC".
  16. ^ https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/07/11/stejskal-chicago-fire-permanently-acquire-aleksander-katai-alaves[dead link]
  17. ^ "LA Galaxy sign midfielder Aleksandar Katai". LA Galaxy. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  18. ^ "Galaxy drop Aleksandar Katai after wife's social media posts". Daily Times. 7 June 2020.
  19. ^ "Galaxy release Aleksandar Katai following racist posts by his wife". Los Angeles Times. 5 June 2020.
  20. ^ "LA Galaxy part ways with Aleksandar Katai | LA Galaxy".
  21. ^ a b c d e "Sorry, Man — Your Wife Just Got You Canceled". National Review. 9 June 2020.
  22. ^ Paskin, Julia. "LA Galaxy Ends Contract With Aleksandar Katai Over Wife's Social Media Posts". LAist. Archived from the original on 2 September 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  23. ^ "Galaxy release Aleksandar Katai after wife's social media posts". KERO. 6 June 2020.
  24. ^ "LA Galaxy releases Aleksander Katai over wife's racist social media post". NBC News.
  25. ^ a b "LA Galaxy release Aleksandar Katai after wife's 'racist and violent' social media posts". New Zealand Herald. 6 June 2020.
  26. ^ Boucher, Ashley (5 June 2020). "LA Galaxy to 'Part' with Aleksandar Katai After His Wife Made 'Racist' Comments About Protesters". People. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  27. ^ "Instagram post by Aleksandar Katai • Jun 4, 2020 at 2:59am UTC". Instagram. Archived from the original on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  28. ^ Mirko Marković (9 July 2020). "MAXBET SPORT SAZNAJE - Katai potpisao za Zvezdu!" (in Serbian). Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  29. ^ [6] Mozzart: Zaslužen poziv: Katai u reprezentaciji Srbije za Albaniju i Portugaliju! (in Serbian) 5 October 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2015
  30. ^ Veljko Ivanović. "Blic: Uz moju Teu sve je lakše i lepše!".
  31. ^ Aleksandar Katai at Soccerway
  32. ^ Aleksandar Katai at National-Football-Teams.com
  33. ^ "Idealni tim Mozzart Bet Superlige: Petorica iz Zvezde, trojica iz TSC-a". mozzartsport.com. 2 June 2023. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  34. ^ "IGRAČ KOLA: FANTASTIČNI ALEKSANDAR KATAI NEZAUSTAVLJIV ZA EKIPU TSC-A". www.superliga.rs. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  35. ^ "Igrač kola: Dve majstorije Aleksandra Kataija za nova tri boda crveno-belih". www.superliga.rs. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  36. ^ "Igrač kola: Fantastična partija Aleksandra Kataija za trijumf u Lučanima". www.superliga.rs. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  37. ^ "Igrač kola: Het-trik i asistencija sjajnog Aleksandra Kataija za ubedljiv trijumf". www.superliga.rs. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  38. ^ "Igrač kola: Het-trik i asistencija Aleksandra Kataija na niškom Čairu". www.superliga.rs. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  39. ^ "Igrač kola: Nova sjajna partija Aleksandra Kataija za pobedu u derbiju kola". www.superliga.rs. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  40. ^ "Najbolji igrač 19. kola Mozzart Bet Super lige Srbije – Aleksandar Katai". superliga.rs. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  41. ^ "Najbolji igrač 28. kola Mozzart Bet Super lige Srbije – Aleksandar Katai". superliga.rs (in Serbian). Serbian SuperLiga. 3 April 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  42. ^ "Najbolji igrač 29. kola Mozzart Bet Super lige Srbije – Aleksandar Katai". superliga.rs (in Serbian). Serbian SuperLiga. 8 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.

External links

Red Star Belgrade – current squad
Serbian SuperLiga top scorers
Categories