More than 12 years after his no-frills arrival in Malta to sign for Valletta, Doncic has decided to bring his playing career to an end, safe in the knowledge that his exploits are now embedded in local football folklore.

Now 37, Doncic bows out with an enviable record of four league championships, four FA Trophies, two Super Cups, six Lowenbrau Cups and four Super Five Cups, besides topping the scoring charts in four of the eight seasons he spent playing in the Premier League.

Although in football, players in their mid-thirties are generally considered to be in the home stretch of their careers, Doncic had hoped to continue in his dual role as player-coach of Division One team San Gwann until the end of this season. A pelvis injury has forced him to bring his retirement date forward.

"I have been troubled by a nagging injury for some months now," Doncic told me when we met for the interview in a Valletta cafeteria recently.

"Doctors said this kind of injury normally takes a couple of months to heal but San Gwann badly need the services of a strong foreign player to boost our prospects of avoiding relegation.

"I must also say that over the past few months, I've felt a greater desire to devote all my energies to coaching the team."

A low-key exit is not what Doncic had in mind but any sentiments of disenchantment are dissipated by his recollections of the struggles he endured before finally getting the chance to leave his war-torn country in 1994.

"As Yugoslavia was afflicted by war, I was just looking to get out and continue my career elsewhere," Doncic recalled.

"Initially, I had contacts with clubs in Italy and Greece. At one stage, I managed to get on a flight to Italy but on arriving there, I was refused entry into the country and the next thing I knew I was heading back to Belgrade.

"The agent who was working on my behalf at the time told me that Messina had agreed to offer me a trial. He suggested that I travel to Bari by train or car and then continue the trip to Sicily with him but I didn't want to take the risk.

"After this unpleasant experience, I was offered the chance to have a trial with a club in Thessaloniki. I managed to make my way to Greece but the club had several other foreigners on trial and I was not chosen."

During the time when Doncic was trying to join a club overseas, Igor Stefanovic, his best friend, signed for Floriana.

"With Igor leaving a very good impression after joining Floriana, Joe Caruana Curran, then president of Valletta, asked him whether he knew of a good Serbian player who was willing to come and play in Malta," Doncic said.

"Stefanovic threw my name in the hat and in August of 1994, I was on my way to Malta. To be honest, my knowledge about this country was as good as nil. I had only heard that La Valletta was the capital city of Malta."

Coming into a new country and settling down at a new club was never going to be easy.

"Needless to say that the early days in Malta were very difficult," Doncic said.

"Initially, I came here on my own but after a few weeks, I was joined by my ex-wife and daughter.

"It was something of a culture shock for me to train on a hard pitch. I immediately realised that I would need some time to adapt here.

"As far as happy debuts go, I couldn't have asked for more. I scored a great goal in a 2-2 draw against Floriana but that season I only managed nine goals.

"I found it hard to get used to the training conditions at Valletta. Joe Cilia was the coach at the start of the season but then Edward Aquilina took over.

"Towards the end of the campaign, Valletta informed me that I was not in their plans for next season. In Aquilina's words, I was a good player but I didn't settle with my new team.

"I was resigned to having to leave Valletta after only one season but then I exploded in the FA Trophy competition.

"I scored a number of crucial goals as Valletta went on to win the Trophy, beating Hamrun Spartans in the final.

"My form in the 1994/95 FA Trophy saved my career in Malta. Other clubs expressed an interest in signing me but I wanted to stay with Valletta.

"I will forever cherish the memories of that FA Trophy success. There were big celebrations in Valletta and I enjoyed every minute of it."

Heartened by his scoring form in the trophy, Valletta made a U-turn and offered Doncic a new one-year deal.

"I signed on for another year," Doncic reminisced.

"The following season I finished second top-scorer in the Premier League behind Sliema's Aldrin Muscat. Valletta were runners-up to Sliema but we retained the FA Trophy.

Memorable year

"My third year at Valletta was brilliant, the stuff of dreams. It was the 1996-97 season and Valletta made a clean sweep of honours, all five of them.

"Our feat was unprecedented at the time and to top it all, I finished as the league's top scorer with a record 32 goals. That was definitely the best season of my career.

"My scoring form caught the eye of some foreign clubs and in the summer I completed my move to Lokomotiv Sofia in Bulgaria.

"Leaving Valletta was hard but a football career is short and my ambition was to test myself in a better league. I was 28 then and I felt that the time was appropriate to take on a bigger challenge."

Stories of players who succeeded in making the grade abroad after a spell in Maltese football are scarce but Doncic is one of the few exceptions. Two years at Lokomotiv Sofia were followed by another two seasons in Portugal where he played for Imortal Desportivo in the second tier.

"From a professional point-of-view, my two-year stint with Lokomotiv was a great experience," Doncic remarked.

"I was training with several Bulgarian internationals and under the guidance of the then national coach, Hristo Bonev.

"Lokomotiv had the cream of Bulgarian football but we just didn't click together as a team. In my first season, I was runner-up in the scoring list but the following year proved more difficult.

"Lokomotiv appointed a new coach who made a reshuffle in the team. It was a hard time for me as I wasn't playing regularly and at the end of the season, I decided to look for a new club.

"Slavia Sofia offered me a contract and I began pre-season training with them but then an offer came from Portugal.

"Originally, I was supposed to sign for Guimaraes but by the time I arrived in Portugal, they had already filled their quota of foreign players.

"My agent then got me an offer from Imortal and I joined them only one week before the season started."

When Doncic was pondering his next move after the end of this two-year stint with Lokomotiv, he could well have settled for the easy option of returning to Malta but the offers he had did not meet his expectations.

"Sliema and Birkirkara got in touch after my second year in Bulgaria but we didn't agree terms," Doncic recalled.

A return to Malta was put on the backburner but after two seasons in Portugal, Doncic, then aged 31, was on his way back to the environment where he made a name for himself. His destination was not Valletta but Premier League rivals Sliema Wanderers, ever so ambitious to end their title drought.

"It was four years after I left Valletta to join Lokomotiv," Doncic reflected.

"Some people suggested that I returned to Malta too early.

"Robert Arrigo, the president of Sliema, offered me a good contract and I was intrigued by the challenge of proving myself with a new team in Malta.

"My plan was to return to Portugal after the end of my one-year contract with Sliema."

That season (2001-02), Sliema failed to fulfil their ambition of winning the league despite spending heavily on players. Doncic was one of the high-profile recruits but by the end of the season, he had cemented his reputation as one of the best all-time strikers in Maltese football.

"I was top scorer in the Premier League, equalling my record of 32 goals in one season.

"That summer, I had a trial with HJK of Finland. They wanted to keep me until the end of the season but because the league there starts in April, they only proposed a short-term deal.

"Sliema came forward with a two-year contract and I stayed put."

It was the right decision as Doncic went on to play a key role in a glorious three-year period for Sliema.

Doncic continued to hit the back of the net with unerring regularity as Sliema won three consecutive titles and also achieved the commendable feat of reaching the second qualifying round of the Champions League in 2003-2004.

He secured a one-year extension to his contract in 2005 but that was to be his last year as a Sliema player. Fitness problems, injuries and a notable decline in Sliema's performance levels impinged on Doncic's efforts to maintain his high scoring rate.

Yet, for all his difficulties, Doncic still finished among Sliema's top marksmen. It looked as if Doncic had reached the end of the road after his parting of ways with Sliema but the Serb felt he could continue for another year.

His wish was to end his career as a Premier League player but when San Gwann offered him a player-coach role, Doncic accepted it.

"It was a good opportunity for me as I could combine the two things I wanted to do, playing and coaching," Doncic said. "I also wanted to use my experience to help San Gwann but the season has been a hard struggle so far."

Low point

Winning five cups in his last season with Valletta is the highest point of Doncic's career. What about his lowest?

This question was followed by a short pause as Doncic made a quick trip down memory lane in search of the most difficult moments of his football career.

"I think the present is perhaps the most difficult time I've ever endured in my career," Doncic reflected. "When I became player-coach of San Gwann, I was really looking forward to give my all to boost this team, both as a coach and as a player, but this injury has been knocking me back all the time.

"I have been trying to play through the pain barrier but it has reached a stage where I can't bear it any more."

Doncic's first foray into senior coaching has been anything but a fairytale, what with San Gwann marooned to the bottom of the Division One table with six points from their first nine matches.

San Gwann's difficult start to the season has not sullied Doncic's resolve to pursue a career in coaching.

"This is my first experience of coaching a senior team," Doncic commented. "When I was playing for Sliema, I spent two-and-a-half years as coach of their minors and reserves teams.

"Having completed the UEFA B licence course at the MFA technical centre, my intention is to obtain the UEFA A coaching badge. My aim is to coach at the highest standard."

As a foreign player who has spent the best part of his professional career in Malta, Doncic knows all about the merits and weaknesses of our game. He reckons that only a significant investment from the government and private firms would help local clubs make a quantum leap forward.

Speaking about Maltese football, I had to ask the question. What is Doncic's opinion about all the speculation that our football is riven by corruption?

"I really think all the talk about bribery is grossly exaggerated," Doncic maintained.

"People come up with all sorts of stories (about bribery) here but I try to ignore all the rumours. If you start believing what the man in the street says, then you might just as well stop playing. You just have to trust your colleagues and do your best."

Current strikers certainly face a tall order to emulate Doncic's feats but the nimble Serbian is impressed with the quality of Valletta's Sebastian Monesterolo and Daniel Bogdanovic, of Marsaxlokk.

"Monesterolo is the archetypal goalscorer and I think he's very similar to me," Doncic said.

"Bogdanovic is also a very strong centre-forward. He's more versatile in that he likes to drift wide to take on players and create space but this season, he's been more direct and more incisive in his finishing."

Of all the Maltese players he's teamed up with or played against, Doncic rates Gilbert Agius, the Valletta skipper, and Michael Mifsud, who last played for Lillestrom in Norway, as the best.

"Gilbert and Michael are the two best Maltese players I've seen during my time here," he said. "I spent three years playing with Gilbert and I really think he's a top player. To this day, I still regret the fact that Agius didn't show his true worth when he played abroad."

Up to a few weeks ago, Doncic could refer to the likes of Agius, Mifsud, Monesterolo and Bogdanovic as colleagues but that is no longer the case now that he's hung up his boots.

His focus is now on coaching where Doncic hopes to rely on his vast experience as a player to succeed in his new venture.

Danilo Doncic - Profile

Name: Danilo Doncic. 

Nationality: Serbian.

Date of birth: August 20, 1969

Previous clubs: 1989-90 - FK Rudar Prijedor, 1990-92 - FK Napredak-Krusevac, 1992-93 - FK Cukaricki, 1993-94 - FK Belgrade (the club where Doncic started his career as a 12-year-old in 1981), 1994-97 - Valletta, 1997-99 - Lokomotiv Sofia (Bulgaria), 1999-2001 - Imortal Desportivo (Portugal), 2001-2006 Sliema Wanderers, 2006-2007 - San Gwann.

Scoring record in Malta: 151 goals in 196 matches.

Honours won: Premier League - 4, FA Trophy - 4, Super Cup - 2, Lowenbrau/Euro Challenge Cup - 6; Super Five Cup - 4.

Top scorer: 1996-97 - 32 goals; 2001-02 - 32; 2002-2003 - 18 (joint with Michael Galea - Birkirkara, and Adrian Mifsud - Hibs); 2003-2004 - 19.