Dejan Savićević - TheSportsDB.com

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Name
Dejan Savićević

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50%

Born
1966 (57 years old)

Birth Place

Podgorica, Montenegro

Position
Attacking Midfield

Status

Ethnicity

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Height
182 cm

Outfitter

Kit

Side

Agent

Wage Year

Player Cutout

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Sport

Soccer

Team
_Retired Soccer

2nd Team

League
_No League Soccer

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Dejan Savićević (Cyrillic: Дејан Савићевић, pronounced ; born 15 September 1966) is a Montenegrin former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Since 2004, he has been the president of the Montenegrin Football Association (FSCG), currently in his fifth term at the post.

Savićević was considered one of the best players in the world during the 1990s, and is regarded as one of the greatest Montenegrin and Yugoslav footballers of all-time. During his time in A.C. Milan, he was nicknamed Il Genio (The Genius) by the Italian sports press.

After beginning his professional career with hometown Budućnost Titograd in Yugoslavia, Savićević moved to the more established Yugoslav First League club Red Star Belgrade in 1988 where he became prominent part of the team that won the 1990–91 European Cup—coming second in the 1991 Ballon d’Or voting—before making a big money transfer to Italian champions A.C. Milan in 1992. With Milan, he won three Serie A titles and the 1993–94 UEFA Champions League, among other trophies. He later returned to Red Star for half a season in 1999, before ending his career with Rapid Wien in 2001.

At the international level, he represented Yugoslavia at the 1990 and 1998 FIFA World Cups and, after retiring from playing, coached the Serbia and Montenegro national team from 2001 until 2003.

Following an illustrious professional playing career that lasted 18 seasons, as well as a short and unsuccessful head coaching stint during the early 2000s, he has turned to administrative matters—becoming, during the summer of 2004, the president of the Montenegrin FA.

Spanning 13 years, Savićević's national team career is divided in two distinct parts: first six years under head coach Ivica Osim when the country was called SFR Yugoslavia featuring six republics and last five years under head coach Slobodan Santrač representing FR Yugoslavia, which consisted of Serbia and Montenegro.

His years under Osim were marked by the tumultuous relationship the two men shared, with conservative Osim often distrustful of Savićević's talents, preferring players he considered to be more mature and reliable for the forward and attacking midfield positions such as Zlatko Vujović, Mehmed Baždarević, Dragan Stojković, and even veteran Safet Sušić.

Under Santrač, Savićević was an automatic regular, but due to the UN embargo imposed on FR Yugoslavia and resulting sporting sanctions, he missed two and a half years of national team football altogether. Also, since Yugoslavia did not resume playing competitive matches until mid-1996, it meant Savićević was prevented from playing any competitive national team matches from the time he was 25 until almost turning 30.