Nina Matejić (2005) is one of the most exciting Serbian forwards of her generation. Already capped 12 times for the Serbian senior national team with four goals, she has consistently excelled across youth levels, including a prolific record of 22 goals in 15 matches for the WU19. She announced herself at the 2024 WU19 EURO, where she was the tournament’s top scorer with five goals in three games – scoring against France, England, and Lithuania – after guiding Serbia to qualification. Matejić moved from Crvena Zvezda to Zenit in the summer of 2025, making the transition without a pre-season due to the contrasting Serbian and Russian league calendars, entering a more physical and quicker competition immediately after a summer break – and still managing to record 5 goals and 2 assists in her first 5 appearances.
At 1.70 m, Matejić has an athletic but elegant frame that allows her to combine agility, balance, and leaping ability with solid strength. She is not a striker who thrives on raw physical duels, but instead one who uses her body intelligently – shielding, absorbing contact, and gliding between defenders. Her acceleration over short distances is sharp, and she can produce sudden bursts of pace in behind even late in matches. Agility is a defining trait, as she regularly adjusts her support foot to strike from awkward angles or change direction with fluidity. While she has good vertical leap and timing on guided headers, she remains less effective in contested aerial duels, often mistiming jumps on long, high balls from goal kicks or throw-ins. Stiff-arm use in duels is still developing, as stronger opponents can unbalance her when the game becomes more physical. While she possesses standout lower-body strength and balance, her upper-body strength is less developed – noticeable in her unproportionately smaller arms and her reluctance to use them in duels.
Matejić’s game is defined by flair, elegance, and technical creativity. She is incredibly efficient receiving and controlling the ball with any part of her body – feet, knees, torso, or even playing a one-touch pass to her teammate running in behind with a flick of her shoulder. Her instinct to receive either on the half-turn or with her back to goal after creating separation allows her to unbalance defenders and spin away from pressure, often exploiting the defender’s momentum to break into space. Rather than anchoring play, she thrives on timing her movements to destabilise opponents and open immediate routes to goal. Her repertoire of spins, flicks, and disguised passes – such as backheel flicks and reverse balls in behind – make her unpredictable and inventive in tight areas. To be an even bigger menace receiving back to goal, she needs to develop proper hold-up play technique – when she cannot find separation and has a defender tight on her back, Nina receives in a square and often upright posture.
Her finishing catalogue is broad: volleys, half-volleys, shots on the turn, inside or outside the box, and instinctive one-touch finishes. Her finishing in 1v1s shows maturity, as she checks the goalkeeper’s position before execution, though she remains more comfortable on her right foot, occasionally delaying strikes on her weaker left. Her body control when manipulating the ball around defenders is excellent, though she is not a lethal 1v1 dribbler against a settled defence – rather exploiting chaotic situations in and around the box where she can use her agility and ability to change direction quickly to go against the flow of defenders. Overall decision-making can fluctuate, but the intent to play positive, progressive actions is consistent. She is selfless in creating for others, often pointing where she wants teammates to play the ball or making sacrificial runs to open space.
Off the ball, Matejić displays intelligence and subtlety in her movement. She frequently drops deeper – although she could use more poise when attacking depth after releasing the ball. Matejić shows a tendency to attack through balls played into the channel. Her box movement is okay but still refining: she shows flashes of double movements and exploitation of defenders’ blindside, but can remain with poor body position between centre-backs or not attack the space between posts quickly enough – lingering outside optimal zones to attack crosses. She shows intelligent movement inside the box to find separation and pop up in cutback zones. In transition, she offers a consistent threat by asking for early balls into the channels and using her body orientation and burst of pace to separate from defenders. Her awareness in the OOP phase is sound.
Playing as one of the strikers in a 4-4-2 block, she understands very well how to position herself and block passing lanes, when to press – choosing the optimal direction of her pressing run – and when to cover. She is aggressive in high pressing in the opposition’s defensive third, contributing to turnovers in dangerous areas and funneling the ball into pressing traps. She can track back if necessary, but prefers to stay as high as possible to be an outlet during attacking transitions.
Nina Matejić is a creative, technically gifted striker with a high ceiling, blending flair with intelligence. She thrives when the game is associative – linking, combining, and finishing fluidly in rhythm. Her strengths lie in first-touch control, ball protection, elegant movement, and inventive finishing. Development areas include more consistent use of blindside runs inside the box, greater assertiveness in physical duels, stronger left-foot confidence, and improved aerial contesting on direct balls. At just 20, she already possesses an international pedigree and the mentality to adapt to higher levels of competition. With time to adjust to the demands of the Russian Superleague and continued refinement of her efficiency inside the penalty area, Matejić has the qualities to grow into a leading striker in European and world football. Despite missing the pre-season and making a move from the Serbian to the more competitive Russian league, she managed to hit the ground running. I believe that after finishing next season at Zenit, she could easily make a move to one of the top clubs in the top five leagues in Europe and push her team to be consistently top four in the UWCL.
Target Scouting 