Marija Marković
Instagram: @footballmarija
What is your story of fascination with football?
It’s just loving every aspect of football. In the first place, football as a game. But also, I love everything related to football aesthetic, like clubs crests, jersey and football boots design, retro football programs that were popular in England, stadiums, World/Euro cup and clubs visuals, fans stories…practically all that is in the second plan but necessary and completes my vision of football and why I love it.
Do you create football art professionally or is it a hobby?
Some years ago I started experimenting with football and design and back then it was just a few designs with my favourite players but when they ended up in newspapers around Europe and got a very nice media attention, I realized that design in sport industry is something that I want to turn into my profession.
What football event or story has made an unforgettable impression on you?
On the top of the list, I’ll name my first match ever — one of the Eternal derbies between Red Star and Partizan, many many years ago. For a first match ever, that was quite an experience. Also, Red Star - Napoli match in Belgrade in 2018 and let’s mention final match of Copa del Rey between Atletico de Madrid and Barcelona, played at the legendary Vicente Calderon stadium. This match left big impression on me because of the stadium, that I had on my wishlist to visit someday and fortunately I did it before it was closed and sent to past. It was a beautiful example of old school stadiums that was worth visiting.
Do you attend the stadium, and if so, which team’s matches do you try to get to?
Unfortunately, this COVID situation in 2020 kept me away from visiting the stadium, and since then I can’t really say that I went on many matches that usually I wouldn’t miss. But before this situation, yes ofc. I can’t say for myself that I’m the most passionate fan who is present at the stadium on each match, but occasionally I love to be there.
What are your interests besides football and art?
That’s classical art, definitely. I’m a fan of history of art, that I used to study along with graphic design and it’s something that marked one part of my life and still has a big influence on me.
Could you highlight a few of your works that make you especially proud and explain why?
It will probably sound like a worst cliché, but it would be unfair to pick one over another because I really enjoy working on every project and each of them in the end is something that I’m proud of. But I can say that I always look forward working on magazine illustrations or anything Maradona and Yugoslavia (1998, 2000) related.
Who are your favourite football artists?
There are so many amazing football designers/illustrators that I follow and love their work. I’ll name some of them and recommend to check out their art:
Osvaldo Casanova, Saritagraphic, Brady Ink, Daniel Nyari, 16bitgoals, Dapaperart, Iconicosdofut, Karlos Benitez, Zooligan, Retrokits, OLDKID creative, 1 Shilling, The Bam Bam Club, Sebastian Valbuena, Match Day Designs, Stadium Studio, Chanfle FC, Pini Santoro, Iamkikin, Grgidsgn, Hands of God, Mark Johnson…and many more great artists whose work is brilliant.