The highest scorer in Vidi's history, Nemanja Nikolic, retires

At the age of 35, the most prolific goal scorer in Vidi's history, Nemanja Nikolic, announced his retirement on Sunday at a press conference in the MOL Arena Sósto in the presence of his family.

He began his career in his hometown of Zenta, where he spent nine years, before moving to Hungary at the age of 19, to play for Barcs, then playing in the NB II, where he played football with his brother Vukan Nikolic. In his first league match in Hungary, he scored in a BKV Előre - Barcs match, which Barcs won 3-1 and in which his brother scored alongside Niko.

The Nikolic brothers started the 2007/2008 season in the NB II Kaposvölgye VSC team, where Nemanja had a great autumn season, scoring 11 goals in 15 league games, so it was no surprise that Nemanja and Vukan went their separate ways in the winter - Niko was signed by NB I Kaposvár, while Vukan stayed with NB II Kaposvölgye.

Niko played his first NB I game on the 1st March 2008 against Vidi - and his goal helped Kaposvár win 1-0, but his first NB I half-season did not bring a major breakthrough in his career, he scored four goals in 13 league games. In the 2008/2009 season, however, he scored 16 goals in 23 NB I matches, making him the second highest scorer in the NB I behind the 20-goal Peter Bajzát (Peter Kabát, Gergely Rudolf and Attila Tököli). He scored 10 goals in the autumn season of the 2009/2010 season, and in the winter transfer window, on the 1st February 2010, he signed for Vidi, where he began one of the most successful periods of his career.

"Naturally" he made his debut for Vidi fans with a goal in his first game for the club in a DVSC - Vidi League Cup match. The rest is history. At the end of the season he became top scorer with 18 goals and we ended only one point behind DVSC for the league title. He was the third top scorer in the club's history, after József Szabó and Tamás Petres. 

The following season, however, Vidi won the league title, although this time Niko played a lesser role behind André Alves, starting only nine times in 24 league games and ending the season with "only" 13 goals in the league. That year he also took the citizenship oath.

In the 2011/2012 season, Niko was once again Vidi's top scorer and at the end of the season he was just one goal shy of ending top goalscorer in Hungary, which was won by Adam Coulibaly with 20 goals. Two years later, however, Niko was again the top scorer in the NB I - tied with Paks' Attila Simon. That season, on the 11th October 2013, he made his debut for the Hungarian national team, becoming Vidi's 43rd national team player. Although his first match didn't go well, an 8-1 defeat in Amsterdam (Niko came on as a substitute in the 79th minute), he was given a starting place a few days later in Budapest against Andorra and immediately scored his first goal for the national team. In 2015, it all came together for Vidi and Niko as the team won their second league title in history, while Niko became Hungary's third top scorer with 21 goals. And in spring 2020, you voted Nikolic' goal the best Vidi goal of 2014.

After five years, Nikolic left Vidi in the summer of 2015 to join Legia Warsaw in Poland, where he won the league title in his first season and also won the Polish top scorer title with 28 goals. In the autumn of 2016, he played in the group stage of the CL with the Polish team and scored in the goalfest against Borussia Dortmund (the German team won 8-4 at home). 

During the winter transfer window, Niko moved from Warsaw to Chicago, where he once again showed explosive form. In his debut season, the Chicago Fire side made the playoffs after a long absence, and in the process won the MLS Golden Boot award for the first time in Fire history. He became the top scorer in his third country and fourth in a row - the top scorer in the USA with 24 goals. At the end of the season, he was named MLS' Best Player at ESPN's ESPY's awards, while he was also named to the All-Star Team in the summer.

In February 2020, he returned "home" to Vidi after an absence of almost five years. At the age of 32, many feared that he was just coming to take a break, but those who knew him knew that he would never cheat on football and that he had serious goals still in him.

On his return, he was on 87 goals in the Vidis goalscorers league, 24 goals shy of József Szabó's club record, and although his goal-scoring start was more difficult than expected - he scored five times in 14 league games in the spring of 2020 - he was once again unstoppable in the 2020/2021 season, when he became the club's top scorer with 15 goals and the only player in the entire NB I to score more than him was János Hahn. So Niko gave a good answer to those on the pitch who thought he was too old and didn't trust him to help the team with goals. But his teammates trusted him all the way, and in the summer of 2020 he was elected captain of the team. At the beginning of 2021, the IFFHS statistics were published, making Nemanja the most prolific Hungarian goalscorer of the 21st century.

Nikolic left Vidi permanently in the summer of 2022, and the number 17 jersey has been retired by the club. He then spent six months in Turkey and six months in Cyprus before announcing his retirement today. 

Nemanja Nikolic scored 164 goals in 314 games for Vidi. At the beginning of the interview, he summed up his highly successful career:

"I'm sure everyone has guessed why we are sitting here in the stadium today. Nothing lasts forever in the world of football, and although it's hard to let go of a career, sometimes you have to make those decisions. For 20 years, I did everything I could for football with all my heart, with humility and with great love. Starting from a small town, away from the limelight, I think I can be proud of what I have achieved. It was a different world, we played football all day around the flats where we lived, but I was just as happy scoring goals there as I was later when I was scoring goals as a professional. I became addicted to goals, and that's what has driven me throughout my career. My parents taught me that hard work always pays off, and that was also in my mind when I didn't get a contract after a bad trial game at a young age. At 16, I was the same in Kaposvár, when they said that what my brother and I showed wasn't bad, but it still wasn't the level I needed in the NB I. I decided then that I would definitely come back and build a career in Hungary. When I finished high school, my uncle Pali Dárdai Sr. gave us the opportunity to play in Barcs with my brother, but even after that two NB I teams said that what we showed on trial was not enough. I didn't have a very good season, I even injured my back, my family took care of me a lot, and I tried to come out of it as strong as possible. After that we got a chance in Kaposvölgy in NB II, the game was going well there, and János Illés and László Prukner offered me a contract in Kaposvár.

After all the failures, finally professional football arived for me. Andre Alves and Lóránt Oláh took me in straight away, I learned a lot from them. It was clear that they were the number one strikers, but I did my best to prove myself. How interesting that I scored my first goal for them against Vidi in the NB I. In the summer they both left, I got the chance during the pre-season, but I broke my metatarsal during the preparation. However, I met my wife Nori during that period, so it couldn't have been a coincidence. We have three wonderful children, after for a while I made all decisions to be the best for the family. The following season went well, Vidi's offer came very quickly, it was a good deal for Kaposvár, and for me it was a way forward. The rest is history, so to speak. Beautiful moments, laughter, and of course a few failures in a Vidi shirt. Three goalscoring titles, two league titles, Europa League group stage, a goalscoring record, fantastic experiences at the club.

Unfortunately, I never won the cup final, that's the one thing I miss, but I'm compensated by the love I received from the city and the Vidi fans. They were there for me even when my game wasn't going well, and for that I will always be grateful. When it came to my decision to leave the club in 2015, my managers and I had a lot of discussions about the best choice - and we finally decided on Legia Warsaw. Another league title, a top scorer's title and the fulfilment of a childhood dream - to play and score in the Champions League. After one and a half great seasons, the Chicago Fire management convinced me that they were counting on me as their number one striker for the long term. America isn't next door, but my family and I got started, and those three years were great on and off the pitch - my daughter Mia was born there, for example, and I was able to become the top scorer in a third country. When I returned to Fehérvár, I thought I would finish here, things in football often turn out differently than footballers plan, I continued elsewhere for another year, but now my career is really over. Thanks to my coaches, who taught me a lot. Thank you to my great team-mates, without whom I could not have won the top scorer's titles. Thanks to Vladan Filipovic and Tibor Szabó, who helped me throughout my career. When I was young, I thought I would manage everything on my own, but that was naive of me, and along the way I became friends with them. I thank my brother - a seven-time top scorer in the lower divisions - for being there for me all the way. With a bit of luck, he could be sitting here today, because he was a great striker. He was never jealous, he was my support when I was on the bench. I thank my parents for raising me with values that I can pass on to my own children. Thank you, journalists, for the fair relationship we have had throughout my career. And last but not least, a special thank you to Nori, my wife, for the good times and bad times we have had together since Cape Town. But now I had to make a choice between family and career, a moment I have always tried to avoid. But this part was not difficult at all, I can say that this is the end of my career. It's been very nice and rounded, thank you again to everyone who has been there for me."

Niko also spoke specifically about his national team career.

"When I moved to Hungary, the national team level was very far away, I didn't even think about it. Later, when the goals came and I got my citizenship, I was very proud to get a quick invitation. It was a bad defeat against the Netherlands, but that game meant a lot to me. I scored nine goals in 43 games, I put a lot of work into being the number one striker in the team, that one thing didn't happen - but when I had to go on the pitch for a minute or five minutes, I did everything I could for the shirt."