Sixteen years ago, an eight-year-old Marko Stamenic sat beside his father Nikola to watch New Zealand's games at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This summer, the same boy — now a 24-year-old midfielder — walked onto football's grandest stage himself, wearing the All Whites shirt his dad once inspired him to chase. Nikola was there in spirit: "watching from above," as his son puts it.
That bittersweet World Cup moment is the bright note at the end of a brutal year. Thursday marked exactly 12 months since Stamenic left Nottingham Forest to prove himself in England's second-tier Championship at Swansea City. The move came with a promise he had looked forward to keeping: daily phone calls with his father, football talk that filled the middle of his days. But last October, Nikola died suddenly. He was, Stamenic says, the "main figure" in his development as a player — the man who taught him the game, and the man he wanted to share this chapter with.
"I think having the people around me in this club, it really helped me cross that hurdle, to find my love again for the game," Stamenic says. He calls the year "a lot of ups and downs," and admits the hardest ones were off the pitch. But the Swansea City community — teammates, staff, and the club's chief executive Tom Gorringe — caught him when he needed it most. They helped him rediscover the joy that briefly went missing.
The World Cup was redemption. All of Stamenic's family flew to the United States to watch him feature in New Zealand's three matches. And when he returned to Swansea, he had a surprise waiting: his international teammate Elijah Just, who scored three goals at that same tournament, had signed for the club. Stamenic had quietly helped bring him over from Motherwell, talking to Just during the deal. "I have brought him along now," he grins. "He's a talented, a great player, and obviously a great guy."
Just made his league debut at Stoke alongside fellow new recruits Stephen Welsh, Joseph Opoku and Moussa Yeo. Add striker Ross Stewart, available for the first time this weekend, and Swansea's squad suddenly looks healthy — even with work still to do in the transfer market.
The ambition has grown too. After an 11th-place finish last season, Stamenic makes no secret of the target. "There's no hiding the fact that all of our goals and aspirations are to get promoted — we can't lie about that," he says. But he borrows a page from teammate Matos: all eyes on the next game. Saturday brings the first home league match of the new season, against Sheffield United.
A year ago, Stamenic was grieving. Now he stands on the edge of England's top flight, with the people around him, done grieving together — and loving the game again, the way his father taught him.