One-Time Partizan Prize Stefan Lukic Charging on in Chattanooga

“I’m happy to say my job is playing soccer,” said the 27-year-old Serbian Stefan Lukic, days after scoring the only goal of the game for the Chattanooga Red Wolves (of USL League One) in their Open Cup Second Rounder against talented Georgia-based amateurs Apotheos FC.

“My job is playing the game I love,” he added, a whisper of disbelief in his voice.

Lukic sounds like a lot of the earnest strivers who toil away in the lower leagues, grinding it out. Hunting a sniff of the big-time. And in some ways he is. But nine years ago Lukic was the next big thing in the European game. Nine years a captain in the vaunted Partizan Belgrade youth system, his move to Everton in the English Premier League was only going to be the beginning.

So why, instead of Goodison Park and the European dream theaters of the Bernabeu and Old Trafford beyond it, is Lukic playing at CHI Memorial Stadium in East Ridge, Tennessee? How did he end up in the third-tier of American pro soccer? And why does he sound like he’s having the time of his life?

When Things Go Wrong

“I was a kid and things didn’t go well,” admitted Lukic, who speaks slowly but always with great enthusiasm, to usopencup.com. “I had a contract to go to Everton [that fell through], some bad luck and many, many things went wrong. It just didn’t work out.”

It’s difficult to overstate the promise of young Lukic, born in Suljam, Serbia in the late 1990s – in the dying embers of the Yugoslav Wars. He was spotted early by scouts of the preeminent pan-Balkan talent factory that is Partizan’s youth academy. He moved away from his family and into an apartment with a group of other young hopefuls he’d never met before – all of this at the tender age of 11.

In the big city of Belgrade he ate, slept and breathed the game. He was being groomed for the top stages and looking every inch a future superstar. “It wasn’t just the best young players from Serbia, but from the whole region,” Lukic remembered. “Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro – the whole of the Balkans.”

Lukic spent nine of his 11 years there as captain of the club’s various age-group teams. But when it came time to sign for the first team in the Serbian SuperLiga, at the age of 17, there was no offer. He’d have to find his fortunes abroad. That seemed, given his high-profile scouting report, a minor bump in the road.

But first the Everton deal fell through. Then there was a falling out with his agent. After that unfolded a story far more common than those of shooting stars like Juventus’ Dušan Vlahović and former Fulham ace Aleksandar Mitrović – his academy mates at Partizan.

 “It was frustrating. I was young and not very experienced and not very wise,” admitted Lukic, who watched on as eight members of his generation from Partizan played for Serbia in the FIFA World Cup. “I was 17 and things didn’t go well and so I went a different way.

“I went to the United States,” he said.

He landed in Bartlesville, Oklahoma – smack in the middle of a sprawling and unfamiliar country. A friend of his was playing collegiate soccer there. And when head coach Jamie Peterson of the Oklahoma Wesleyan Eagles found out he had a player of Lukic’s pedigree and talent enrolling at the school, he fast-tracked a full-ride scholarship.

College Stages Instead of Football Cathedrals

And so, instead of those footballing cathedrals of the old continent and the Champions League, Lukic played collegiate ball at the OKWU Soccer Complex against the likes of Missouri Valley College, Governors States and Central Methodist. “It [the transition] was difficult at first. The level of play at college was, well, different,” said Lukic, who despite a natural urge toward optimism admits to being “ready to quit the game; to hang it all up” at stages in his college career.

It was no surprise when Lukic was named an NAIA first-team All-American all four years he played at Wesleyan. He scored 24 goals and had 43 assists in 38 starts for the Eagles before graduating with a marketing degree in 2021. And despite his moments of doubt, Lukic “started to love it.” It helped that he met his future wife (who’s now pregnant with the pair’s second child) there in Oklahoma.

And then, out of the blue and a long way from his time as the belle of the Partizan academy, the old tug of a possible pro career returned. “Leaving the game,” he said. “That just didn’t feel right.” But this time it wasn’t going to be Everton or the Premier League. Far from it.

He first lined up for Corpus Christi FC in USL’s all-amateur League Two before signing his long-awaited first professional contract with the Northern Colorado Hailstorm. Head coach Eamon Zayed – who admitted to seeing “a future in MLS” for Lukic – signed the midfielder up in the club’s inaugural year. Lukic helped the Fort Collins-based side go on an epic 2022 Open Cup that included wins over USL Championship side Colorado Springs Switchbacks and Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer (MLS).

“As the underdog, on paper, the longer you can keep the favorites at 0-0, the more hope you will have that you can get a Cupset,” said Lukic, about both Apotheos FC’s firm resistance in this year’s Second Round and the upcoming Third Rounder against 2023 Quarterfinalists Birmingham Legion of the Div. II USL Championship. “I remember playing against the great Real Salt Lake as the underdog and we ended up shocking them with a 65th minute goal – I learned a lot from that experience.”   

Lukic is honest about his goals, having overcome the disappointments of his early years and his flirtation with the cruel blows the game can wield. “Every USL player wants to move up; it’s a common dream and I am no different,” he said. “I want to be the best version of myself and it would be a dream – I love living in the US; I love being here. If I could get to MLS, well…”

Coaching in the Crystal Ball

If that dream ends up a road too far, Lukic won’t be caught by surprise. He’s got the kind of mental sharpness and experience that’s the perfect raw material for forging great coaches. “I try to be a sponge and learn from every single coach I had,” he said in the run-up to the road game against the Legion. “And maybe add a little bit of my own philosophy when the time comes for such things.”

Now it’s “specifically about playing” said Lukic – who’s loving life in Tennessee with his new club and under new coach Scott Mackenzie. “This team is built different, we want to dominate the ball and possession – and never park the bus,” he said. “We’re going all in for the Open Cup. We have a talented group that can do damage going forward and there’s no reason we can’t get a Cupset in Birmingham.” 

Win or lose, Lukic is still where he wants to be. And his enthusiasm is infectious.

“I’m still here doing the thing I love most,” said Lukic, who’s carving out a future on his own terms in faraway Chattanooga, Tennessee. “I’m trying to be better every day – a better human being, a better player – a better everything.”

Fontela is editor-in-chief of usopencup.com. Follow him at @jonahfontela on X/Twitter.