Partizan In the summer of 1998. At the age of 19, Kežman joined
Partizan. In the 1998/99 season. He scored six goals in 22 league games, and won the championship title. In that season, he drew attention to himself when, in the 111-th
Eternal derby against
Red Star, he scored a goal in the last minute, which gave Partizan a 2–1 victory. In the 1999/00 season. Coach
Miodrag Ješić takes the helm on the Partizan bench and then Kežman plays even better games. He scored 27 goals in 32 league games. However, (The Black-Whites) ended that season without a trophy. In his two seasons at the club, Kežman made a name for himself as a prolific striker and became a favourite among the fans of the club. He scored a total of 33 league goals in 54 appearances and was the top scorer of the national championship in the
1999–2000 season. He was especially good in the eternal derbies with Red Star, because he scored the same number of goals in 5 games he played.
PSV In the summer of 2000, Kežman completed his move to Dutch club
PSV. In his
debut season, he was the league's top scorer, achieving 24 goals in 33 games as PSV won the title. He also picked up the nickname 'Batman', because the famous theme song was played at
Philips Stadion every time he scored. He formed a successful partnership with
Arjen Robben, and they gained the epithet 'Batman and Robben', a pun on
Batman and Robin. Kežman went to score 81 goals over the following three seasons with PSV. His best season in terms of both goals and appearances was
2002–03 when he played 33 out of 34 of PSV's matches and scored 35 goals to help them win the title.
Chelsea Kežman spent the 2004–05 season at
Chelsea and scored seven goals in 40 appearances in all competitions. He was signed for the club on 13 July 2004 for £5.3 million by
José Mourinho. He wore the number 9 shirt left vacant by
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's transfer to
Middlesbrough. He played 24 league games and scored four goals. The first goal came on 4 December 2004 in a 4–0 victory over
Newcastle United at home, with an injury time penalty after coming on as a substitute in the 61st minute. He did not score again until 11 March 2005 in a 3–1 away victory over
Norwich City, who were relegated at the end of the season. Eight days later he scored twice at home against another team that would be relegated,
Crystal Palace, as Chelsea won 4–1. At the end of the season Chelsea won their first league title since
1954–55. His first ever goal for Chelsea was in
League Cup third round at home to
West Ham United on 27 October 2004. It was the only goal of the game. He scored a goal in extra time (112th minute) of the
2005 League Cup Final against
Liverpool. Chelsea won 3–2 after it finished 1–1 after 90 minutes. Kežman scored a goal in the 3rd round of
that season's FA Cup against
Scunthorpe United as Chelsea won 3–1 at home. His attack down the right wing set up Chelsea's first goal in the 4-2 win against
Barcelona in the
Champions League Round of 16, in a "brilliant" play with the scorer
Eiður Guðjohnsen. In 2011, Kežman revealed to
Sky Sports that his time at Chelsea was the best he has ever had in football, despite failing to make an impact for the club: ''"Chelsea was the best thing in my career. That was the climax of my career, for sure. Living and playing in London was something that I will never forget. I don't know if I made a mistake because I moved away so quickly. Maybe I do and maybe I don't regret it, but I always believe in my decisions. But the transfer to Chelsea made my dreams come true. That was the best thing that ever happened to me. Maybe I could achieve more and I could have been more successful at
Stamford Bridge, but I don't regret anything."''
Atlético Madrid Kežman left Chelsea for
Atlético Madrid of Spain's
Primera División on 29 June 2005 for £5.3 million, the same price as he had joined Chelsea. He soon suffered a knee injury, which he did not recover from until after New Year's in 2006. Initially, the appointment of
José Murcia as coach allegedly boosted Kežman's confidence, but by the end of his spell in Madrid, Kežman actually scored more goals (six) under
Carlos Bianchi than with Murcia (with whom he scored a total of two goals in the remainder of the season). Atlético ended
the season in 10th and were knocked out by
Real Zaragoza in the
Copa del Rey round of 16. Kežman scored a total of eight goals in 30 league matches, often in a strike partnership with
Fernando Torres.
Fenerbahçe In the summer of 2006, Kežman was transferred to
Fenerbahçe on a four-year contract. He played a central role in Fenerbahçe winning the
2006–07 Süper Lig in their centennial year. In the
2007–08 UEFA Champions League, he appeared in over half of Fenerbahçe's group stage matches against the likes of his former club PSV,
Internazionale and
CSKA Moscow. Ironically, he even played against
Chelsea over both legs of the 2008 Champions League quarter-finals; the first of which he started and showed off with a close
bicycle kick in a 2–1 win, while in the second leg he was subbed in during the dying minutes of his team's 2–0 loss at
Stamford Bridge, where Fenerbahçe was eliminated in the longest-lasting Champions League campaign in the club's history. As a result of this and the preceding regular season, in which Kežman scored almost a goal every other game by statistical average,
Fenerbahçe S.K. supporters revered him even in the years after he left
Istanbul in his journeyman years.
Paris Saint-Germain On 19 August 2008, Kežman signed for
Paris Saint-Germain, a one-year loan with a buyout clause. He appeared in 21 league matches, mostly as substitute, and scored three goals. On 30 August 2009, it was announced that Kežman would be joining
Zenit Saint Petersburg from Paris Saint-Germain on a season-long loan, with a purchase option for an undisclosed fee. The next day, the transfer had been officially confirmed when the player passed medical examinations. He scored two goals for Zenit helping the team
to finish 3rd in the
Russian Premier League, but the Russian side decided not to retain his services, and he returned to Paris in January 2010. On 3 November 2010, Kežman's contract with PSG was terminated by mutual consent.
South China On 20 January 2011, it was announced that Kežman had signed to play for
South China for the rest of the
2010–11 Hong Kong First Division League. Kežman made his debut on 29 January 2011 versus
NT Realty Wofoo Tai Po which lost 1–0; he was substituted by
Leung Chun Pong in the 64th minute. On 13 February 2011, in the
League Cup semi-final against league leader
Kitchee, Kežman scored his first goal for the club in the 32nd minute and his second goal seven minutes before the end. South China beat Kitchee by 4–2 and entered the finals. On 13 April 2011, in the
2011 AFC Cup group H match against
Kingfisher East Bengal, Kežman scored his first AFC Cup goal in the 69th minute with a header, assisted by
Au Yeung Yiu Chung. His goal helped South China gain victory and moved up to 3rd position in the group, but he also received a yellow card in the match, his second yellow card in the tournament and he missed the away game to East Bengal. In May 2011, after his team failed to progress into the
2011 AFC Cup knockout stage, following 2–4 loss to Indonesian outfit
Persipura Jayapura, Kežman said to the media that the
AFC Cup is a strange competition and kind of stupid. He blamed the hot weather and long travel to go to
Jayapura as one of the factors why his team could not progress further. In the final match of the
2010–11 Hong Kong FA Cup, Kežman managed to take advantage of an opponent's defensive error and scored an outstanding goal in extra time to give his team a 2–1 win over
NT Realty Wofoo Tai Po on 29 May 2011. The next day, Kežman finished his stint with South China after his four-month contract expired.
BATE On 31 August 2011, Kežman joined Belarusian side
BATE Borisov as a free agent until the end of the year. He was seen as a reinforcement for upcoming
UEFA Champions League group stage games and as a potential replacement for seriously injured striker
Vitali Rodionov. Ultimately, Kežman played six games in the
Belarusian League and 5 games in the Champions League without scoring any goals. He parted ways with BATE after the last Champions League game against
Barcelona.
Return to Hong Kong and retirement In January 2012, Kežman returned to South China to play at the
Asian Challenge Cup. He played his last professional match on 26 January 2012, missing the last penalty in the shoot-out series against
Guangzhou R&F, in the third-place match. The club
retired Kežman's number 38 after his last match. ==International career==