Bomber Bojan!
In football terms, the word “bomber” is attributed to a goalgetter – a striker who finds the back of the net in continuity and consistency.
That is the word which fits Balzan’s Montenegrin striker Bojan Kaljevic. The 31-year-old robust striker at the moment heads the BOV Premier League’s top goalscorer with 20 goals. What is more is that he has provided a goalscoring “assist” on seven occasions, and his contribution has catapulted the Balzan side to the top of the table, a point ahead of nearest title challengers Hibernians and three points more than Valletta.
With the Maltese Premier League title going into the final straight, The Malta Independent Sports team caught up with Bojan over a coffee in Balzan and he explained to us why and how football has been his life and his passion.
Younger days
“I started playing football at around 9 years of age. At that time my country was Serbia and Montenegro. I was brought up in a family of six and my father was the only working member of the family so you can imagine how hard it was at that time. I had no one to push me even I looked promising.
“My father knew nothing about football. In those times if you wanted to go to a club in Montenegro you had to pay a monthly fee. With six children, my father could not pay me the monthly fee. My sister told my father that he should do everything to get me into playing football because she used to see me playing. She convinced him and he paid me the first six months. After this period he could not pay me any more fees.
“The club asked my father why I was not attending anymore and he told them he could not make it in paying the monthly fee. They decided to keep me there free from any fees”
“Times change big way. I still remember my mother calling me around 100 times to come inside from playing street football outside with my friends. Now I tell my young son Vuk, “do you want to go out?” - and he tells me he wants to stay inside playing playstation and other gadgets. Times change and I never believed this could happen so fast to be honest.”
“My first real club was FK Zabjelo in Montenegro, then at the age of 17, I moved to FK Zeata which is a big club in Montenegro. After doing the military service for one year my father asked me if I wanted to continue playing football. “Football is my life so at 18 years, I decided to join FK Drina in the Serbian Division 4. I finished top scorer. After this, Serbia and Montenegro disintegrated into two different states so I moved to Macedonia a year later and I found myself winning the “double” with FK Robotnicki Kometa at only 19 years!
“This was my first professional contract. Two years later my agent came to me and said to me “Bojan do you want to move to Uzbekistan? It is a very good offer.”
“I did not even know where Uzbekistan was! I was still very young, 20 at that time, but I decided to go for it and joined FC Metalurg, a big club there. After that I moved again to FC Bunyodkor Tashkent where at that time Scolari was coach and had high profile players such as the two Brazilians, Rivaldo and Denilson. During that season, 2010/11 we won the double.
“After that I had to nurse a knee cruciate injury so I was practically out for 6 months. When I recovered I went back with FC Metalurg but I did not stay long as I requested to go back to my home country because of family reasons. My mother was sick and I wanted to be by her side.”
Looking very pensive, Bojan continued narrating his football story: “I just wanted to play in Europe at this point. I joined a very modest club in Montenegro, FK Mladost in 2012/13 season. I only stayed there for six months but I will not forget my nice time there.
“I still remember when we met our more qutoed opponents from Hungary, Videoton, in the early stages of the UEFA Europa League in July 2013. We lost 2-1 in Hungary but managed to win 1-0 in Podgorica and qualified on the away goals rule.
“Everyone was saying it was a miracle! In the second qualifying round we met FK Senica of Slovakia and we did it again by drawing 2-2 in Podgorica and winning 1-0 in Slovakia! After that we met Seville from Spain and that was the end of our adventure in Europe that season as we were ousted out on a 9-1 aggregate score.”
Which was the club you liked most back at home? I asked Bojan.
“I was never a big supporter of any team but I always liked Red Star Belgrade because I liked their type of players like Savicevic, etc. I also like Partizan. Yes the two big clubs from Belgrade”
Malta
So how did you land in Malta after all this travelling?
“I really wanted to try another league in Europe. So in 2013/14 I joined Mosta. At that time my good friend Danilo Doncic who was coach at Mosta asked me to join the club because their main objective was that of qualifying for a UEFA European Club competition.
“I really did not know much about Mosta but I knew this was a challenge to take up. We finished in fourth place the first season and we just missed out on qualifying for Europe. It was a very good period with Mosta. I played under two good coaches Doncic and Piccioni”
Final title push
Clearly speaking football with passion within his conversation, I asked Bojan if Balzan can hold on to their top-of-the-table status and lift their first ever Premier League title.
“We have passed our first real test last Sunday against Floriana. Personally I think that Floriana is one of the top three teams regarding quality of players this season.
“Everything depends on us at this point. Everything will be more clear after our three important matches, against Floriana which we already won, Valletta, and Hibernians. Of course everything will also depend on other matches but in my view we will have a clear picture after these matches.
“I believe we are the best team in Malta and all we have to do is demonstrate this on the pitch. It all depends on all of us at this stage. If we do not believe in ourselves well we can stay at home I guess.”
Quality foreign players
Our conversation swayed to the big influx of foreign players in Malta this season.
“I believe that five or six teams have very good foreign players. First time I was in Malta in 2013 it was three foreigners. Since then Maltese Premier League football has improved.
“Yes it is a problem for Maltese players but honestly I duly believe that some foreigners are not better than Maltese. In such a scenario it would be better to give the chance for one season to a local player and in return you will have him matured for the next.”
Moving ahead?
It was inevitable that the next question would be if at 31 he will still look upon playing in another better league in Europe.
Smiling, Kaljevic answered “Yes why not? Yes playing in some other good league is an option but everything depends on the club, Balzan.
“If we come to an agreement from both parties, well this can happen. But of course I am very happy at Balzan, and here I would like to thank our President Anton Tagliaferro, coach Oliver Spiteri and everyone at the club who have all made me feel at home. Three months ago I renewed my contract until 2020.
“Now I want to win the title with Balzan and then we see if this option is applicable for both parties. But yes why not a new challenge?”
Malta and Maltese coaches
We also asked Bojan’s views why Malta lack results at senior level and if a Maltese coach can fit the job for the senior Malta team. His answer was quite brisk “Listen - Malta is nothing bigger than Montenegro. Malta have only two players who play abroad at the moment – Andre’ Schembri and Zach Muscat.
“To be honest the Malta senior side has been lacking in positive results but let’s face it, they have been unlucky as well. They produced an excellent first half against Scotland in their first FIFA WC qualifier but then they lost concentration completely. They went blank. When this happens you concede silly goals. Malta deserve better results for sure.
“Sure why not a Maltese coach? Maybe he knows much better the mentality of the Maltese players and the history of the players themselves. Malta has good coaches, especially the actual Malta U-21 coach Silvio Vella who has done a fantastic job with his team.”
Promoting Maltese talent
What can we do to promote Maltese talent abroad was the last question I asked Bojan.
“The problem with Maltese young footballers is the comfort zone they live in in Malta. Let’s face it, here in Malta it is a safe haven. But this is a problem in itself.
“An aspiring young footballer wanting to make the grade should decide for himself at 18 years of age if he wants to play in Malta or try to do his best to move abroad. I will give you an example of a player who in my view can easily make it playing abroad – Jake Grech of Hamrun Spartans. If he has the right people around him to guide him what to do, this player and many more can make the grade abroad.
Football is about making sacrifices, big ones and moving out of the comfort zone. With this mentality in mind you cannot go to play abroad. Family is so important for everybody. Maltese are very attached to their families. I love my family very much but I moved to Uzbekistan at 20 years of age not knowing where this country was. I did it because I could save some money for my family and for me. Maltese players do not work hard enough.
“And another important thing is you have got to choose between work or football. There is no middle way in this. In Malta there are quality players who want to work and play football. It does not work like this. I stopped going to school because of football! Work harder and harder and you will get there!”
Playing for Malta
Would you consider playing for Malta if things change? was the final question attributed to the Montenegro footballer.
“Sure it would be nice to play for Malta but for the moment I cannot despite being here for the past five years but we will see what happens.”
In the recent transfer market Top Scorers list from all leagues without any distinction (based on the number of goals and assists from the player), Bojan Kaljevic is at the moment ranked in 8th place with the likes of Lionel Messi (who leads the table), Luis Suarez both of Barcelona, Mauro Icardi of Inter Milan, Cavani, etc.