Mateja Kežman (Serbian Cyrillic: Матеја Кежман), (born 12 April 1979 in Zemun, Yugoslavia) is a Serbian footballer, playing predominately as a striker. He made his name at FK Partizan in his homeland and marked his international debut for Serbia and Montenegro against China in May 2000 where he opened the scoring.
Kežman moved to Dutch side PSV Eindhoven later that year and was the top scorer in the Dutch Eredivisie, scoring 24 goals in 33 games. He also picked up a nickname of 'Batman' -the famous theme song was played at the Philips Stadion every time he scored. Kežman proceeded to score 81 goals over the following three seasons with PSV, before finally moving for 5 million to English side Chelsea in the summer of 2004.
Kežman enjoyed a good pre-season with his new club, scoring against the likes of Glasgow Celtic in the ChampionsWorld Series tour of the United States. However, he was sent off after angrily retaliating against AS Roma's Olivier Dacourt in Chelsea's final match of the tour after the Frenchman had crudely upended Kežman's teammate Arjen Robben (who had followed him from PSV to Chelsea). The English Football Association decided not to pursue the matter, leaving Kežman free from suspension for the opening games of the season.
But after his arrival in the English Premier League, Kežman struggled to score goals for his new team. During his first season in Chelsea FC, Kežman scored seven goals in all competitions. Although most of his appearances were substitutions, many fans and some media expressed skepticism in his performance. At the end on the 2004/2005 season, he signed for Atltico de Madrid.
