Slobodan Rajković

Born in Belgrade, Rajković started his career with OFK Beograd. He was included in the club's first team at the age of 15. During his second season in the first team, Rajković's reputation grew so such that in November 2005, English Premier League club Chelsea decided to pay €2 million for the 16-year-old centre-half. Under the terms of the deal, Rajković stayed at OFK Beograd as a loaned player from Chelsea until the end of the 2006–07 Serbian SuperLiga season.

Loans in the Eredivisie

In June 2007, Chelsea decided to loan Rajković to PSV ahead of the 2007–08 season, as part of the deal surrounding Alex's move to Chelsea. After the year-long loan spell at PSV, the Dutch club wanted to extend the loan period for another year, but Chelsea declined due to the lack of playing time Rajković was receiving in his season at Eindhoven. Rajković, however, returned to the Eredivisie on 9 July 2008, joining Twente on a one-year loan deal. After spitting at a referee at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Rajković was banned for 12 months by FIFA. In June 2009, his loan was extended until June 2010. On 23 August 2010, Rajković transferred to another Eredivisie club, Vitesse, together with his former Chelsea teammates Nemanja Matić and Matej Delač on a season-long loan.

Chelsea

Having returned to Chelsea prior to the 2011–12 season at the request of new manager André Villas-Boas, Rajković played his first game in a Chelsea shirt in a friendly against Wycombe Wanderers on 12 July…

By the age of 16, Rajković was a regular in the Serbia under-21 national team, later becoming the youngest player ever to appear in a qualifying match of the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. On 17 June 2007, during the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, which the Serbia U21 team eventually finished as runners-up in, Rajković was part of a controversial second goal for England. He was lying on the ground, injured, and while Serbian players expected their rivals would kick the ball out of the field, Matt Derbyshire went on against a bewildered Serbian defence to score the second goal of the night for England, provoking a turbulent reaction from the Serbian players. Rajković was called for a national team match in 2016, after more than two years. He earned a total of 19 caps (no goals) and his final international was a June 2016 friendly match against Russia.

Rajković is known as a highly aggressive player. After his arrival to Hamburger SV, he stated in an interview, "I like to play more aggressive than the referees like."

Club

International