Jovica Milijić (, ; born 20 January 1986) is a Serbian-born Maltese futsal player and manager who plays as fixo, currently playing and managing Marsaskala Legends, the member of Maltese Futsal League. He was named the Malta Football Association's Futsal Player of the Year for three consecutive seasons in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Prior to joining the team from Marsaskala, Milijić had played for as many as twelve different local futsal clubs, including Aluserv, White Eagles, Balzan, and Ħamrun Spartans, but he established his reputation during a seven-year spell with one of the island's most prominent teams, Valletta with whom he won the national championship in 2016, and 2019, and the Super Cup twice. During the 2010–11 season, while playing for Paola Downtown, Milijić was the league’s top scorer with 42 goals.
Milijić holds a dual Serbian and Maltese citizenship, having been naturalized in 2012 while playing for Lija. He made his debut for the falcons in early 2013 and went on to represent his adopted homeland for the next decade.
Early life
Milijić was born in Knjaževac, a town and municipality located in the Zaječar District of the eastern Serbia, which at the time was a part of SFR Yugoslavia.
In Malta, he is known by the nickname Jozza, a stylised form of his Serbian nickname Joca (, ) which is commonly used among Serbs named Jovan or Jovica.
Club football career
Milijić made his first football steps with Timočanin in the mid-1990s, becoming a member of the promising generation together with the brothers Marinković, Nebojša and Nenad.
Soon after family relocation to Malta in 1999, he joined Pietà Hotspurs, a Maltese club famous for producing talented footballers in its youth school.
Club futsal career
European Pilot Academy
Milijić began playing futsal in 2006, during a period when the sport was at its peak in Malta, following several years of steady growth since the establishment of the first organized futsal league in 1999. That season, the Maltese futsal league system featured 64 teams, an increase of one from the previous year. The first touch with futsal Milijić had in the jersey of European Pilot Academy's futsal club (formerly known as Serbia) where he won his first trophy - Maltese Futsal Knockout Cup for the season 2006-07. After several convincing victories against lower-tier clubs in the opening rounds of the cup, Milijić's team, European Pilot Academy, maintained their form in the semi-finals with a 12–3 win over Jeepers Handyman Centre, before defeating Swing Kids 10–5 in the final. Previously, European Pilot Academy had topped Section B of the First Division with 28 points, finishing seven points ahead of runners-up Jeepers Handyman Centre. The playoffs were played in a one-round robin league format, and Milijić was close to win his first championship as that season European Pilot Academy was a point behind the title winner Jeepers.
Aluserv Futsal Club After a successful debutant season, Milijić joined newly promoted futsal top-tier Aluserv from Naxxar. The team that were made for an instant success won the league stage and cup, emerging as the revelation of that year's First Division campaign, but were defeated in the play-off semi-final, just like in the season 2008–09. At the time, three Aluserv players were already representing the National Team. Despite a heavy 3–6 defeat in the final round against Jeepers, Aluserv finished the league stage at the top of the standings with 30 points from 12 matches, level with second-placed European Pilot Academy. They secured first place due to a superior goal difference of +49, the best in the league, although this advantage did not translate into success during the play-offs. Particularly disappointing was the early elimination from the cup competition, where Aluserv suffered a 2–1 defeat to Los Street Boyz in the first round. It was Milijić's last match in the red-white jersey as soon after it he left the club.
Scandals
In August 2008, Milijić was loaned to Scandals Futsal Club, the reigning Maltese champions. The team included several Maltese internationals such as Benny Gialanze, Nebojša Mijailović, and Jeanbert Gatt, as well as Serbian player Željko Aničić. The club aimed to strengthen its squad ahead of its debut participation in European competition. His international competition debut was at 2008–09 UEFA Futsal Cup preliminary round against the Slovenian 2008 champion KMN Gorica on 23 August 2008. The match was played in Helsinki and Scandals were heavily defeated (0–11). Milijić was also on the pitch in the other two games but Scandals couldn't avoid another two losses against the Finnish champion Golden (2–6) and Irish side St Patrick's (3–4). In the match against the Irish League's representative, with Milijić in the starting lineup, Scandals missed a huge opportunity after leading (2–1 and 3–2) to win the first point for any Maltese club in a UEFA futsal competition.
White Eagles
During the summer break, Milijić decided to sign a short-term contract for White Eagles, then the reigning Maltese champions. The club represented a large Serbian diaspora in the island and was composed of ethnic Serbs players representing or coming from various countries, among them the most notable ones: Željko Aničić, Aleksandar Ribić, Nebojša Mijailović, and Ilija Milivojša. The contract was valid only for the Preliminary round of the 2009–10 UEFA Futsal Cup held in August 2009 in Kaunas, the capital of Lithuania.
In the opening match held at the S. Darius and S. Girenas Sport Center, the Maltese side equalized three times before finally going down 4–3 to KF Tirana, with hat-trick hero Rigers Sina grabbing the winner with five minutes remaining. With his debut goal in the 23rd minute, Milijić managed to equalize the result to 2–2, giving hope to the White Eagles. However, even Ribić’s second goal later in the match was not enough for the Eagles to avoid a narrow defeat against KF Tirana.
In a high-scoring match against Lithuanian side Nautara, Milijić scored the opening goal for the White Eagles in the eighth minute to reduce the score to 1–2. Despite two hat-tricks from Ribić and Mijailović, the Maltese side suffered a 7–9 defeat to the team from Kaunas.
In the final match of Group E in the 2009–10 UEFA Futsal Cup preliminary round, White Eagles earned the first-ever point for a Maltese club in European futsal competitions, following a 1–1 draw with FC Madriu from Andorra. As in the previous two games, Milijić was included in the starting lineup.
White Eagles therefore finished third in the group, having a better goal difference than the Andorran side. With two goals in three matches, Milijić was the team's third-highest scorer, behind Ribić with five goals and Mijailović with three.
Paola Downtown
After another European stint, Milijić signed for a newly promoted club from the Second Division. Paola Downtown had demonstrated its ambition by finishing second in the league stage, just two points behind champions Naxxar Motors.MLT First Division 2009/2010 – Malta – FutsalPlanet.com, accessed 7 July 2025 However, with an impressive goal-scoring tally and consistent results, ZC Excess overcame Naxxar Motors and Paola Downtown - who had finished first and second in the preliminary league - to win the 2009–10 title.ZC Excess Futsal First Division Champions – MaltaFootball.com, 15 May 2010
During his stay in Paola Downtown, Milijić was named for the top scorer of 2010–11 Maltese Futsal First Division with 42 goals, nine goals ahead the second-placed Clint Cope from ZC Excess. The same season he was nominated for the best futsal player but the award went into the hands of the Romanian Anton Florin. The club from Paola finished both seasons as the league vice-champion but the 2010 play-off and both cup competitions ended in the semi-finals. At the end of Milijić's last season in the club, in a thrilling final, ZC Excess Futsal Club edged out Paola Downtown on penalties after 2–2 in the regular time.ZC Excess Retain Futsal Championship Title – MaltaFootball.com, 23 May 2011
The team from Raħal Ġdid had limited success in the cup, suffering heavy defeats to ZC Excess in consecutive seasons. They were eliminated in the second round in 2010 following a 7–0 loss, and in the semi-finals in 2011 after an 11–2 defeat.
Naxxar Motors
After a disappointing season, in 2011 Milijić decided to accept an offer from Naxxar Motors. The ambitious club representing Naxxar, a small town in the Northern Region, had acquired a host of leading players. The 2011–12 campaign also marked the first season of the Maltese Futsal League under the management of the Futsal Malta Association. After the round-robin series of matches in the ten-team MFA 1st Division Futsal League, Naxxar Motors finished second, just a single point behind ZC Excess.
In the semi-finals, Paola Downtown, Milijić's previous club, was swept by Naxxar Motors (6–5 and 3–2). However, in the finals, ZC Excess won the trophy edging the Naxxarin in the second game (2-2, 4–2 after penalties) after the previous win in the first leg (5–3).
The cup run was also unsuccessful, as Naxxar Motors, after a swift progression through the earlier rounds with wins over Fugazi 5 (9–3), Luxol (6–5), and Paola Stars (16–2), were eliminated in the semi-finals following a heavy 1–6 defeat to Paola Downtown.
Lija Athletics
Before the start of the 2012–13 season, Lija Athletic replaced Naxxar Motors and Milijić became the captain of the newly formed club. He even scored a hat-trick on his debut against Valletta (7–1). The following week, Milijić delivered another influential performance as the Lijani continued their strong start to the season with a commanding 8–0 victory over Sliema.
However, the very start of the season wasn't that successful under Milijić's captaincy, as Lija missed their first chance to secure a trophy, falling 4–5 to Balzan in an entertaining Super Cup final after initially leading by two goals.
During mid-season, the team from Ħal Lija suffered a disappointing 1–5 defeat to Tarxien Rainbows, a direct rival for the final play-off spot. In the following round, they bounced back in a high-scoring encounter against Valletta, winning 10–7. Lija Athletic trailed 4–2 at half-time, but captain Jovica Milijić turned the game around with an outstanding performance, scoring five goals in the second half. Lija held firm in the upper section of the league standings following a 6–3 win against tax-Xelin's futsal section, who came into the match on a positive run, with captain Jovica Milijić once again leading the charge by scoring a brace.
After defeating second-tier Marsa 10–0 and Valletta 5–0 in the first two rounds of the cup, Lija Athletic faced Balzan in an entertaining derby match, where they missed a huge chance to progress further. They enjoyed a bright patch in the second half, scoring three goals with captain Jovica Milijić distinguishing himself. However, with four minutes remaining and the score 4–1 in Lija’s favour, Balzan mounted a dramatic comeback to erase the three-goal deficit and ultimately win the match 8–7 on penalties.
Although Lija Athletic had the highest ambitions, the cup journey was ended yet in the quarter-final and play-off was missed, for the first time in Milijić's career.
Balzan
The following season, Milijić left Lija Athletic and joined Balzan, a club that had signed several high-profile Romanian and Catalonian internationals during the summer. The most notable among them was Gabriel Dobre, who was appointed player-coach. His impact was immediate, scoring in a commanding 5–1 victory over Hibernians in the Super Cup final. The match marked the beginning of a highly successful campaign in which Balzan won all available trophies.