Matej Strika

Matej Strika (Serbian Cyrillic: Матеј Стрика; born 20 August 2009) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Red Star Belgrade in the Serbian SuperLiga.

Club career Strika was born in Banja Luka, where he trained football in the local Željezničar Banja Luka. He stayed there until he was 12 years old, but in the meantime, at the age of ten, he started traveling to Belgrade where he trained with Red Star Belgrade. Later, he joined the younger categories of that club, with which he signed a professional contract in June 2025. During the winter break in the 2025/26 season. He was promoted from the cadet team to the youth team under coach Nenad Milijaš together with Strahinja Baucal. Shortly after the winter preparations, in accordance with the established Rulebook, he was assigned to the team of Grafičar for the competition in the Serbian First League. After playing in the cadet and youth leagues of Serbia, as well as the first senior matches in the Graficar jersey, he joined the first team of Crvena Zvezda as a sixteen-year-old and wore the number 27 jersey. He made his debut in the last round of the Serbian SuperLiga for the 2025–26 Serbian SuperLiga season, when he entered the game in the final match against OFK Beograd. One minute after entering the game, he assisted to Bruno Duarte for the only goal of Red Star Belgrade in the game that ended with a score of 1:2. At the same time, according to his age, he fulfilled the requirement for a football player's bonus in the Serbian SuperLiga the competitive season 2026–27.

International career In November 2023, he participated in the UEFA Development Tournament with the Serbia national under-15 football team. A year later, he made his debut for the Serbia national under-16 football team in a double match with his peers from Bulgaria national under-16 football team. In the second of the games, he was the scorer in Serbia's victory. During the spring of the following year, under the leadership of Igor Matić, he played in the "Miljan Miljanić" Memorial Tournament and the UEFA Development Tournament. He made his debut for the Serbia national under-17 football team at the tournament in Porto, and later participated in the 2026 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification for the 2026 UEFA European Under-17 Championship.

Career statistics

Honours Red Star Serbian SuperLiga: 2025–26