Dejan Petković (, ; born 10 September 1972) is a Serbian football pundit and former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He was a technically gifted playmaker, renowned for his dribbling skills, passing, and goalscoring ability. A dead-ball specialist, Petković was also known for his bending free kicks and his ability to score directly from corner kicks.
Widely known by the nickname Rambo in his native country, Petković is known simply as Pet in Brazil, where he spent most of his 23-year playing career. He played for a total of 15 clubs, most notably Flamengo in two spells, and was part of the Mengão squads that won several titles, including the 2009 Brasileirão. He also spent two years with Real Madrid in Spain, but was mostly sent on loan to two other La Liga teams. At international level, Petković represented FR Yugoslavia during the 1990s, earning six caps and scoring one goal.
In May 2026, Petković became the Global Brand Ambassador of Meridian Holdings.
Early life Born to father Dobrivoje (traffic technician from Niš) and mother Milena (construction technician from Petrovac na Mlavi) who met in the small mining town of Majdanpek where they both arrived in search of work, young Dejan immediately took to football.
Club career
Radnički Niš Petković's playing career started in 1988 at Radnički Niš. He became the youngest player ever to play an official match in the history of old Yugoslav First League, debuting on 25 September 1988 when he was 16 years and 15 days old, against Željezničar Sarajevo"A boa vida dos gringos", Placar nº. 1239, September 2002, Editora Abril, pp. 48–49. thus beating Mitar Mrkela's record by one day. Radnički ended up winning 4–0 in that match. Petković's age record has since been broken by Slavko Perović and Danijel Aleksić. Petković still helps his first club,"Petkovício", Rafael Maranhão, Placar nº. 1289, December 2005, Editora Abril, pp. 62–67. which has since then declined.
Red Star Belgrade In July 1992, Petković was bought by Red Star Belgrade. Though not even 20 years of age, he arrived with a reputation as a skilled technical playmaker. As established Yugoslav internationals such as Dejan Savićević, Darko Pančev, Vladimir Jugović, and Siniša Mihajlović left the club during the same summer, Petković was given a first-team run straight away by new head coach Milan Živadinović, appearing in 30 league matches and scoring 5 goals in his first season in Belgrade.
He ended up staying with Red Star until December 1995 (three and a half seasons), winning one First League of FR Yugoslavia title and two FR Yugoslavia Cups. His transfer to Real Madrid was principally agreed during summer 1995, but Red Star decided to hang on to him for the 1995–96 UEFA Cup where the club expected to do well after finally being allowed back on the European scene following years of sporting sanctions due to regional conflicts. However, Red Star was eliminated by Swiss club Neuchâtel Xamax in the preliminary round.
Real Madrid In December 1995, 23-year-old Petković joined the Spanish giants Real Madrid. At the time of his arrival, the club was not where it wanted to be in the league, hovering just outside the European spots in 6th and 7th place.
Playing under head coach Jorge Valdano, Rambo made his league debut on 17 December versus Celta de Vigo as a 65th-minute sub for the legendary club veteran Míchel as Madrid won 1–0 at home. Petković would see action again on 3 January at home versus Real Valladolid — Madrid was comfortably 4–1 ahead when Valdano threw Petković on for Iván Zamorano in the 61st minute. What would turn out to be Petković's last appearance of the season for the club came the following week away at lowly CP Mérida — Real let the 0–2 lead slip by conceding two goals and in the 81st minute Valdano sent Petković in for Freddy Rincón in search of a goal, but the score stayed 2–2.
Within a fortnight Petković was loaned out to Sevilla without getting a chance to have a starting eleven appearance during his one month at the Bernabeu.
Loan to Sevilla Arriving to Estadio Sánchez Pizjuán in mid-January 1996, Petković was once again parachuted into a club battling turmoil. Sevilla was barely above the relegation zone with head coach Juan Carlos Álvarez (already their second head coach of the season) on thin ice.
Juan Carlos gave his new Serbian acquisition his debut at home on 24 January vs Albacete as a starter. Playing upfront with Davor Šuker as strike partner, Petković had an average outing as Sevilla drew 1–1 with Castillan visitors, which cost head coach Juan Carlos his job. Four days later away at Real Sociedad, new head coach Víctor Espárrago gave Petković the starting assignment again alongside Šuker, but subbed him off for Monchu early into the second half in the 53rd minute. The next week versus Racing de Santander, Petković was moved back into attacking midfielder role just behind Šuker and Monchu, however Sevilla again lost 0–1 while Petković got subbed off in the 59th minute. The following week Petković got relegated to the bench, only getting a bit part as an 89th-minute sub as Sevilla improbably triumphed away at league-leaders Atletico Madrid, however, the week after that he was back in the starting assignment.
Petković finished out the 1995–96 La Liga season in Sevilla, appearing in 8 league matches (7 as a starter) and scoring 1 goal.
Return to Madrid During summer 1996, Petković returned from the loan spell in Sevilla. The Real squad that he returned to was radically different from the one he had left six months earlier: from the new head coach Fabio Capello over to attack-minded left back Roberto Carlos from Inter Milan, right back Christian Panucci from AC Milan, attacking midfielder Clarence Seedorf from Sampdoria right down to the all new forward line with Petković's former Sevilla teammate Šuker, and fellow Yugoslav Predrag Mijatović from Valencia.
The competition for spots up front thus got even tougher. Despite having a reputation for cautious and defensive football, Capello played a three-man attack of Raúl, Mijatović, and Šuker, with Seedorf just behind them. It became clear that Capello was not counting on Petković, as he did not play a match until coming on as late substitute in the fourth match of the season.Real Madrid-Rayo Vallecano 1:0;La Liga, 22 September 1996. Retrieved 27 October 2017. A week later Petković came on as a late substitute at Real OviedoReal Oviedo-Real Madrid 2:3;La Liga, 29 September 1996. Retrieved 27 October 2017. for his last Madrid appearance.
Loan to Santander Petković got loaned out to Racing de Santander in January 1997. He then briefly returned to Real before being discovered by Vitória in a friendly tournament in which both clubs were involved. along with Real Mallorca and Flamengo.
Vitória In October 1997, Petković joined Vitória; the transfer was paid by the club's sponsor, Banco Excel."500 Times do Brasil", Placar nº. 1263-A, October 2003, Editora Abril, pp. 20 In the rubro-negro baiano he started his successful Brazilian career, winning one Bahia State Championships and a Copa do Nordeste. He stayed until 1999 at Vitória, when he joined Venezia of Italy, after an 8 billion lire transfer.
Flamengo Petković did not succeed at Venezia, and quickly returned to Brazil, where he joined Flamengo of Rio de Janeiro. In Flamengo his skills were fundamental in helping the team win the last two titles of the historic three in a row series against arch-rivals Vasco, from 1999 to 2001.
One month later, another free kick goal by Petković, against São Paulo, allowed Flamengo to win the Copa dos Campeões and return to Copa Libertadores next year. Hugely popular at the time, he was known as "Pet" by the supporters.
However, at 2001 Campeonato Brasileiro, Flamengo finished only one position above the relegated teams. The club also lost, in January 2002, the Copa Mercosul final against the Argentine side San Lorenzo, in a match in which Petković was sent off.
Vasco da Gama In 2002, he moved to Vasco da Gama, where he stayed until 2004. He played for a short time at the Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua during this period where they won the 2003 league title. Unfortunately, in 2013 the Chinese Football Association would revoke the league title after it was discovered the Shenhua General manager Lou Shifang had bribed officials to be biased to Shenhua in games that season. During his second spell at Vasco he helped his team avoid relegation at Campeonato Brasileiro, being the club's top scorer and top assistant."Salvo pelo gringo", Placar nº. 1278-A, January 2005, Editora Abril, pp. 53 Vasco failed to record a win the 10 matches without Petković, acquiring only 10% of available points; with him the cruzmaltinos obtained 45.7% of these points. After helping them stay up, Petković was awarded Bola de Prata from the Placar magazine as one of the two best midfielders in the league.
During that year he often played with an ex-teammate from Radnički, Montenegrin goalkeeper Željko Tadić, who was scouted by him."Vai dar suco?", Ledio Carmona, Placar nº. 1292, March 2006, Editora Abril, pp. 73.
Fourth team in Brazil: Fluminense After a half-year in Saudi Arabia, where he played for Al-Ittihad, he returned to Rio de Janeiro in August 2005, now to play for Fluminense. Already 33 years old, Petković had to face a certain mistrust from the club's fans due to his association with Flamengo. However, his amazing performance in his third match against Cruzeiro, put an end to fan's misgivings, as he scored twice in a 6–2 away win. His first was the 1000th goal score by the Fluminense in the Brazilian Championship, earning Petković a commemorative plate in his honour at the club's headquarters. In this goal, Petković passed through three opponents in a short space, shooting just in time to avoid the oncoming goalkeeper. In the second one, he placed a powerful left-foot shot from outside the penalty box."Petkovic – O gringo mais brasileiro", Sérgio Xavier Filho, Placar nº. 1287, October 2005, Editora Abril, pp. 16.
After other great exhibitions, he received his second consecutive Silver Ball in the Brazilian federation annual award ceremony. After a bad season in 2006, when Fluminense had to fight relegation, he left the club.
Other clubs In 2007, he played at Santos after signing a short-term deal from Goiás until the end of the 2007 season. In 2008, Petković played for Atlético Mineiro, signed in late March 2008 as the great star of the club's centennial celebrations. Nevertheless, his contract was not renewed at the end of the season on orders from the newly arrived coach, Emerson Leão who previously also released Petković from Santos when he arrived there in December 2007.
Return to Flamengo On 20 May 2009 Flamengo announced the free transfer signing of Petković, despite previously having taken the club to court over unpaid wages in the amount of US$9 million. Though the two parties managed to settle the outstanding financial issues out of court prior to his signing, Petković's return was still met with a lot of scepticism, even outright opposition, from many people within the club as well as outside observers all of whom had doubts about his ability to perform at such an age. Some also expressed concern over the fact that he missed the Rio de Janeiro state championship part of the season, meaning that he hadn't played any competitive football in the 6 months since his dismissal from Atlético Mineiro.