Dejan Savicevic
Encyclopedia
Dejan Savićević (born 15 September 1966 in Titograd, Montenegro
, SFR Yugoslavia
), is a Montenegrin former football
player and is the president of the Montenegrin FA
.
His close control and superb vision have won him many admirers during his time with Red Star Belgrade
and A.C. Milan
. Following an illustrious professional playing career that lasted 19 seasons in total, as well as short and unsuccessful head coaching stint in early 2000s, he's turned to administrative matters - becoming, during summer 2004, the president of Montenegrin FA
(FSCG).
parents Vladimir Savićević and Vojislava Đurović, young Dejan had an immediate affinity for football and quickly developed his gift for the game
tournaments on concrete and clay surfaces. Since this kind of "scaled-down football" was very popular in Titograd at the time, many tournaments of semi-formal character were organized in and around the town. Barely a teenager at this point, Savićević played for a team that consisted of men from his street (the informal team was named Tehnohemija after a sponsor company) and quickly marked himself out as skilled player with great ball control and good overall technical ability.
During his year and a half at OFK Titograd he occasionally made appearances with the full squad, but mostly played in the youth setup. In January 1983 at the age of 16, he transferred across town to the more established top-tier league
club FK Budućnost on insistence of their head coach at the time Milutin Folić.
as well as with SR Montenegro youth select team (alongside future notable professionals such as Božidar Bandović
and Refik Šabanadžović
) that competed at annual tournaments against other Yugoslav republics' select squads.
In the summer 1984, in preparation for the coming 1984-85 league season, newly arrived head coach Josip Duvančić
made 17-year-old Savićević a full squad member at the expense of aging club legend Ante Miročević
who was essentially forced into retirement with a position on the club's coaching staff given to him. The season turned out to be a disaster as the club barely avoided relegation while Duvančić got sacked after only six months at the helm, however, for Savićević personally it marked a bit of breakthrough as he recorded 29 league appearances, scoring 6 goals.
Ahead of 1986-87 season, head coach Milan Živadinović
took over the reins and the team started off very well, continually keeping pace by staying in the top 3 as the season went on. In the second half the season, Budućnost ran out of steam, eventually finishing in 7th spot, but Savićević further solidified his playmaking and goalscoring credentials. He earned his first cap for the national side in October 1986 against Turkey
.
By 1987-88 season, bigger teams such as Red Star Belgrade and FK Partizan started expressing interest in his services, and he soon reached a verbal agreement with Red Star about transferring to their ranks. By late March 1988, Hajduk Split also joined the chase for his signature and, according to Savićević's claims, offered the largest sum of money of the three, but the player still decided to honor his agreement with Red Star.
who already established himself as the team leader. The club additionally had supremely talented 19-year-old midfielder Robert Prosinečki
as well as a potent up-and-coming all around squad.
Barely a few days after signing with Red Star, still 21-year-old Savićević promptly got called in to serve the mandatory army
stint that would keep him out of action for the entire 1988-89 league season
. There was much speculation at the time that the timing of the call-up was FK Partizan's (army club with many ties to top military authorities) revenge to the player for signing with their biggest rivals. Serving at nearby Topčider
barracks, the state authorities did allow him to turn up for Red Star's European matches and national team games. Another player joining the club the same summer was Darko Pančev
, 22-year-old natural striker with great goalscoring pedigree from Vardar Skopje
, who also went away to the army right after signing.
as Red Star played to a hard fought 1-1 draw with Dragan Stojković
scoring the valuable away goal. The return leg in Belgrade
was even more eventful as Savićević had his team up 1–0 with an excellent strike, but German referee Dieter Pauly
stopped and voided the match because of thick fog that engulfed the city. The second leg replay was played the very next day, resulting again in 1–1 scoreline, taking the match to penalties where the Italians came up on top 2-4 as Savićević and Mitar Mrkela
failed to convert their spot-kicks.
was brought in as replacement. The change suited Savićević just fine as he and another key player Dragan Stojković never saw eye to eye with Stanković.
Savićević helped Red Star win three consecutive national titles - in 1989–90, 1990–91 and 1991–92, two national Cups in 1990 and 1992 as well as a European Cup
and an Intercontinental Cup, both in 1991.
In 1991, following Red Star's European success, Savićević came joint second in the voting for the European Footballer of the Year
(Ballon d'Or). In choice of newspaper Sport
, he was declared the best athlete of Yugoslavia
.
to secure his services for the reported DM30 million (≈ £9.4 million) ahead of the 1992/93 season as part of the £34 million worth of transfer fees Silvio Berlusconi
injected into the team that summer. Also arriving to an already star-laden squad during the same transfer window were the world-class players Jean-Pierre Papin
(world record signing
at that moment for £10 million if only for a few weeks until Juve bought Gianluca Vialli
from Sampdoria for £12 million), Zvonimir Boban
, Gianluigi Lentini
(another Berlusconi's world record signing
for £13 million), and Stefano Eranio
.
on 13 September 1992, two days before his 26th birthday. Milan won 4-5 that day at Stadio Adriatico
.
However, his first season for the Rossoneri under head coach Fabio Capello
turned out to be a rather modest affair that saw him feature in only 10 league matches, contributing four goals to Milan's successful title defense. Since Savićević was Berlusconi's rather than Capello's signing, the head coach pretty much ignored him during the first half of the season. All-star Milan squad already had a creative midfield presence in influential Marco van Basten who, when healthy, was the preferred option by Capello throughout most of the season. Even the 30-year-old Ruud Gullit
who was increasingly becoming a peripheral figure in Milan under Capello was still ahead of Savićević in the pecking order most of the time. Due to UEFA enforcing the three foreigners rule at the time, Savićević often found himself omitted from the squad on matchdays since in addition to Gullit and van Basten, the Milan roster also featured high quality foreigners Frank Rijkaard
, Papin, and Boban. Additionally, Capello often preferred workhorse midfielders such as Demetrio Albertini
and Stefano Eranio for his tactical setup over the high-priced creative imports.
Savićević and Capello quickly developed an antagonistic relationship with the former frustrated at being regularly dropped from the first team, and the latter unwilling to change the winning formula that had the team on an undefeated run in the league dating back to May 1991 (the streak would eventually end after 58 matches in March 1993 versus Parma). In November 1992, when asked how he copes with leaving out world class players such as Savićević or Papin, Capello responded:
By December, Savićević was so unhappy with his status at the club that he made a firm decision to leave during the winter transfer window as he had offers from Olympique Marseille and Atletico Madrid. However, he decided to stay.
It was not until 24 January 1993 that Savićević scored his first goal – a 78th-minute penalty kick effort at home versus Genoa
that turned out to be the game-winner. Finally opening his scoring account encouraged Savićević somewhat and two weeks later he got another one versus lowly Pescara. His shining moment in the otherwise forgettable debut league season in Italy came on 7 March 1993 at home versus Fiorentina when he scored a second-half brace for a 2–0 Milan win.
To cap off the frustrating season, Savićević was not included in the team Capello took to Munich to face Olympique de Marseille
in the 1993 UEFA Champions League Final
.
At the end of the campaign, following his less than mediocre season, Savićević's fate at the club was being decided among Milan brass. Capello wanted him out while Berlusconi was adamant about the player staying and getting more opportunities to play.
, which freed up even more room. New foreign summer arrivals Brian Laudrup
and Florin Răducioiu
found little playing in Capello's structure, all of which made the competition for three foreign spots easier for the remaining foreigners Savićević, Boban, and Papin during the first part of the season.
From the beginning of the new league campaign
, Savićević started getting more first team opportunities and responded with decent performances. Although still not a regular in true sense and often played out of position, he finally began to establish himself in the club. However, more setbacks would follow. First, as the Champions League group phase began in late November 1993, Capello named Savićević to the reserves for the first match away at Anderlecht
to which the Montenegrin reacted by refusing to sit on the bench thereby causing a lot of friction in the club. Then, a couple of weeks later in mid-December, the antagonism continued as Capello dropped him from the squad altogether for the 1993 Intercontinental Cup
in Tokyo versus Telê Santana
's São Paulo, which led to another heated run-in between the midfielder and the coach. This mutiny of sorts actually ended up working out for Savićević since he became a regular for the remainder of the season, putting in a significant contribution to the Serie A
and Champions League double, despite not scoring any goals in his 20 league appearances.
The playing setup Capello employed throughout this season was an extremely defensive 4-4-2 that resulted in the entire squad scoring only 36 goals in 34 league matches while letting in only 15. Further solidifying the defensive focus was the December arrival of Marcel Desailly
who became a regular right away. Still, for his inspirational and creative play, Savićević was hailed as Il Genio (The Genius) by club president Berlusconi with whom Dejan developed great rapport. Basically, it was Berlusconi's personal support that kept Savićević from leaving the club at various low points of his relationship with Capello.
Still, the season ended on a high note for Savićević. His performance in the 1994 UEFA Champions League Final at Athens
' Olympic Stadium
on May 18 would turn out to be his greatest moment in football and arguably one of the finest individual displays seen in the competition. He already gave indications of improved form and confidence in the second part of the Champions League season, scoring twice during March right after the winter break in consecutive home-and-away matches versus Werder Bremen (though the goal at San Siro came as result of an atrocious mistake by Werder defender). Still, despite smoothly finishing on top of the group and easily winning the one-match semifinal, Milan was in bit of a disarray heading into the final as both central defenders Franco Baresi
and Alessandro Costacurta
, the core of Capello's tactical defensive setup, were suspended. Considering that the opponent was the high-flying Johan Cruijff's FC Barcelona
"dream team" with Romario
, Hristo Stoichkov
, Ronald Koeman
, José Mari Bakero
, Pep Guardiola, etc., Capello made a decision to fight fire with fire by sending out a lot more offense-minded formation. The changed approach suited Savićević just fine: he created the opening goal for Daniele Massaro
and then scored a spectacular 35 yard half volley for 3-0 to put the game beyond Barcelona's reach. The sheer audacity and technical brilliance of the goal - decision to go for a well-placed lob from the right edge of the penalty area on Barca goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta
who was slightly off his line in a situation when most would get closer and opt for a hard-driven shot as no defender was near - won Savićević much praise and accolades.
at Stadio San Nicola
, the site of his European Cup triumph with Red Star.
Despite the team’s mid-table Serie A form in 1995, Savićević continually played well for Milan in the Champions League en route to their third successive final that, for him, culminated in a spectacular semi-final versus Paris SG
, where he scored twice in the return leg at San Siro. Before that in the first leg Savićević set up Boban in injury time for the game's only goal. Despite his brilliant performance against PSG and his statistical importance to the team in 1995, he was not part of the team Capello took to Vienna
for the 1995 Champions League Final
due to 'injury', even though Savićević insisted he was fit. In the final, very negative and defense-minded Milan created few opportunities and ultimately lost to Louis van Gaal
's Ajax
1-0.
and George Weah
as well as the signing of Roberto Baggio
increased the midfield competition, but 29-year-old Savićević managed to turn in a successful season with 23 league appearances and 6 league goals. His brightest moments occurred in the Derby della Madonnina
as he finally scored a goal versus the cross-town rivals Inter. On more than one occasion Savićević displayed his amazing technical skills and ball control such as when he dribbled and danced around Parma defenders Fernando Couto
and Luigi Apolloni
to set up Baggio for the opening goal against Parma at San Siro, before scoring one of his own for 3-0 final score.
In his total career at the San Siro, Milan won 7 trophies, including 3 scudetti (Serie A
championships) - 1992-93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1 European Cup - 1993-94 and 1 European Super Cup
, but he was criticized in the Italian media for not always trying against smaller teams and his performances regularly blew hot and cold.
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 places upfront 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.
versus Turkey in Split. Head coach Ivica Osim
, who himself was only in his fourth match overall coaching the national team (and his first doing it alone as he previously shared the coaching duties with Ivan Toplak
), put the talented 20-year-old in as the 53rd minute substitute for Haris Škoro
with Yugoslavia 2-0 up through Zlatko Vujović
's first half brace. Debutante Savićević wasted no time in making a mark as he scored the goal for 3-0 in 73rd minute before Vujović completed a hat-trick for a 4-0 final scoreline. However, despite getting a goal on his debut, Savićević's thunder was somewhat stolen by another debutante - 22-year-old Semir Tuce
who put in a confident midfield display on the left wing that got him all the headlines. Two weeks later Osim did not call up Savićević for the important qualifier away at Wembley versus England while Tuce got the callup and made a second half substitute appearance. Yugoslavia lost 0-2.
Youngster Savićević would wait a whole year for his second cap. In mid October 1987, Euro 1988 qualifying was still on with Yugoslavia playing Northern Ireland at Grbavica
in Sarajevo
, and he came on as the second half sub again, this time for Fadil Vokrri
. Yugoslavia won the game easily 3-0, and with England destroying Turkey 8-0 at home on the same day, the stage was set for the crucial Yugoslavia vs. England clash that would decide who goes to Germany
. If England was to win or draw it would automatically qualify and if Yugoslavia was to win, it would then also have to later win away at Turkey in order to qualify and overtake England. The match was played on 11 November 1987 in front of a packed house of 70,000 at Marakana in Belgrade
and Savićević again did not get a chance to play as England beat Yugoslavia 1-4, thus qualifying for the Euro.
A month later, Osim gave 21-year-old Savićević his first national team start in a meaningless remaining qualifier versus Turkey in İzmir
.
Over the coming period between two qualifying cycles, Yugoslavia played six friendlies from March to September 1988 and Savićević featured in only first two of them (full 90 minutes versus Wales and Italy in late March 1988) as his uneasy relationship with Osim - who was not fired by the Yugoslav FA despite the failure to qualify for Euro 88 - continued.
qualifying
started in October 1988 with Savićević, who in the meantime completed the big time summer move to Red Star Belgrade
and right away went to serve the mandatory army service, not being called up for the first match away at Scotland.
Then, a month later, perhaps surprisingly knowing the coach's conservative nature, Osim brought on the in-form Savićević (who was coming off a great performance in Red Star's tie versus AC Milan) as a 69th minute sub for Bora Cvetković right after France went ahead 1-2 a minute earlier on a goal by Franck Sauzée
. The substitution paid off in a big way as French players had no answer for Savićević's fresh legs and creativity in midfield. Dejan first participated in a move that ended with Sušić scoring the equalizer and then with two players guarding him provided a perfect cross from the right for Red Star teammate Stojković to score the winning goal in 83rd minute as Yugoslavia recorded a big comeback 3-2 win at the JNA Stadium in Belgrade.
Savićević's great performance against France put him in Osim's good books, for the time being at least, as he got a chance to start the next qualifier at home versus Cyprus in December. Dejan, still officially in his army service, returned the favour, scoring a hat-trick as Yugoslavia won 4-0 at Marakana. The following qualifier in late April 1989 was a crucial one away at France and Osim decided not to play Savićević, choosing instead to continue with his older regulars upfront such as Zlatko Vujović, Sušić, and Baždarević as Yugoslavia eked out a hard fought scoreless draw at the Parc des Princes
.
Savićević would also not play in the next qualifier away at Norway, returning only as a second half sub for Dragan Jakovljević
in September 1989 at Maksimir
in Zagreb
versus Scotland. With the 3-1 win over Scotland, Yugoslavia overtook the Scots at the top of the table. So, with two matches remaining, Yugoslavia were now leading the pack with 10 points (4 wins and 2 draws) followed by Scotland with 9, and France and Norway with 5. In such circumstances, conservative Osim certainly was not about to tinker with the team, which meant that Savićević only got his chance in friendlies. The match point for Yugoslavia took place at Koševo in Sarajevo versus Norway in October 1989, and not surprisingly Savićević again did not get a single minute of play. The team won 1-0, and combinend with the fact that Scotland got beate by France 0-3 in Paris, Yugoslavia clinched the top spot in the group, qualifying for the World Cup in Italy. The last qualifier was a meaningless affair away at Cyprus (the match was actually played in Athens since Cyprus were penalized for the riots during their match versus Scotland), and Savićević got a chance to start along with a slew of other young and up-and-coming players from the domestic league that Osim normally shied away from using in competitive matches such as Darko Pančev
, Robert Prosinečki
, Branko Brnović
, and Slobodan Marović
.
where he put in an inspired performance. The game itself, however, took a back seat to the controversy caused by nationalist Croatian fans who booed the Yugoslav national anthem and thoroughly insulted the players.
At San Siro
on 10 June 1990, the same starting eleven that faced Holland in the final friendly also started versus Germany, including Savićević. Playing in front of almost 75,000 fans (the largest crowd of the entire 1990 FIFA World Cup), the team was picked apart by speed and strength of the German players as Lothar Matthäus
and Jürgen Klinsmann
had the Elf 2-0 up before halftime. Shortly after the break Davor Jozić
pulled one back for Yugoslavia, which was a signal for head coach Osim to make changes in hopes of sparking a comeback. One minute later he took off Savićević who was mostly invisible, having a game to forget much like most of the Yugoslav team, and put Dragoljub Brnović
on as part of the double midfield substitution that also saw Prosinečki replace Sušić. The move did not do much, though, as Matthäus rampaged through Yugoslav defense before unleashing a powerful shot for another score. Fourth German goal came as the final insult as goalkeeper Ivković made a mess of Brehme's easy shot.
Getting nothing from the Germany match pretty much meant that the next group contest versus Colombia was a must win. Osim made three changes in the starting lineup, and one of them was Savićević who got benched in favour of Brnović. Yugoslavia made tough work of the plucky Colombians, but got a 1-0 victory in the end with Savićević not getting a single minute of action. More or less the same lineup faced minnows United Arab Emirates in the final group match, which meant that Savićević was again surplus to Osim's requirements as Yugoslavia won easily 4-1.
In the knockout stages
, Savićević was again on the bench for the start of the match against Spain
in the excruciating late afternoon heat of Verona
, but got his chance early into the second half with the score still tied at 0-0, coming on for largely ineffective club temmate Darko Pančev
. Substituting striker for a midfielder, meant that Osim changed his formation from 3-5-2 to a bit more defensive 3-6-1 with only Zlatko Vujović
up front. The match was soon taken over by Dragan Stojković who scored a beautiful goal in the 78th minute, but the score at the end of 90 minutes was 1-1, with Savićević putting in a confident performance. In the extra-time Stojković scored his second of the match on a masterfully placed free-kick. Incidentally, the free-kick came after a foul on Savićević during one of his surging runs across the midfield from right to left.
Despite his satisfactory showing against the Spaniards, Savićević was benched again for the quarterfinal clash against reigning world champions Argentina
four days later. Starting the match in 4-5-1 formation, Osim had Zoran Vulić
back in the lineup as part of the four-man defensive unit, and youngster Prosinečki replacing injured Katanec in midfield while Vujović was now alone in attack from the very start. Riding behind midfield playmaker Stojković, Yugoslavia looked very good throughout the match even when reduced to ten men following the 31st minute expulsion of Refik Šabanadžović
. Somewhat surprsingly, Osim did not make any substitutions after the sending off, deciding to wait until 15 minutes into the second half to put on Savićević instead of Sušić. Savićević's fresh legs gave the team a much needed infusion of energy and another target in the middle for Stojković to pass to after his surging runs, however Savićević was not able to convert on any of them. The most glaring miss came early on in the extra-time as Stojković masterfully got free on the right side before providing a perfect pass to Savićević who was unmarked 5–6 meters from the goal line. Alone in front of keeper Sergio Goycochea and with goal at his mercy, Savićević somehow put the ball over the bar. It was one the best chances created by either team throughout the entire match.
. He appeared in two games, the first one being a group-stage game against the United States
and the second one against the Netherlands
.
Immediately after retiring from playing in May 2001, he was named as head coach of the FR Yugoslavia / Serbia-Montenegro national squad, in succession to the short, tempestuous, and hugely disappointing 3-month tenure of Milovan Đorić. Despite Savićević's complete lack of any relevant coaching experience, and the side's already faint chances of progressing from the World Cup 2002 qualifying tournament
, the announcement of his appointment was generally well received by the public. His appointment came as part of the general changing of the guard in the Yugoslav FA with Dragan Stojković
(Savićević's good personal friend) taking over as the FA president.
and Ivan Ćurković
by his side. At the time of their arrival to the bench, Yugoslavia was sitting in fourth place of the qualifying group with only 5 points from 4 matches, behind Russia (13 points), Switzerland (8), and Slovenia (7). However, Yugoslavia had a game in hand and with a win in Moscow had a chance to overtake Slovenia and join the Swiss tied on points in the second spot. On the other hand, a loss to Russia in Moscow would probably mean losing any hope of finishing in the top two.
Savićević thus faced a make it or break it prospect right on his coaching debut. Despite the fact that national team was officially headed by the three-man commission, Savićević was the only one of the trio present on the sidelines during matches and was the only one one available to the press. The team fielded on 2 June 2001 at Luzhniki Stadium was substantially the same as Đorić's, both in names called up and playing formation. Other than two debutants - goalkeeper Radovan Radaković
and defensive midfielder Boban Dmitrović
- the jist of the starting squad was still made up of old guard: players like Predrag Mijatović
, Siniša Mihajlović
, and Miroslav Đukić, all of whom were well over thirty, as well as longtime defensive mainstays such as Zoran Mirković
and Goran Đorović. With a defensive approach and mostly unimaginative play with very little created through midfield, Yugoslavia never looked capable of winning. The match ended 1-1 as Russians went ahead following Radaković's poor reaction and Yugoslavia tied some fifteen minutes later on Mijatović's scrambled goal that he managed to put away after Savo Milošević
's header hit the post. The press reaction was not overly negative as the tied score still had the team on course for a second place finish. After next two qualifiers, home and away against Faroe Islands, in which Yugoslavia recorded easy wins, came the decision time - facing Switzerland in a must win situation away on Saturday, September 1. Cheered on by the large expatriate crowd in Basel
, Yugoslavia ended up winning 1-2 in what was easily the team's best showing under Savićević up to that point thus setting up the deciding match at home versus Slovenia four days later. Playing on tough surface as the Partizan Stadium pitch was soaked from the heavy rain that was pouring whole day and throughout the match, Yugoslavia went behind early and only managed to tie the score by the end, which was not enough for the second place. Despite dominating proceedings through veteran Mijatović who was the offensive focal point, the second goal proved elusive. The chance still existed in theory if Faroe Islands managed to win or draw at Slovenia in the final match, however such unlikely scenario did not happen. Afer Slovenia game Savićević bemoaned the bad luck, citing playing in the rain on a soaked surface without injured regulars Mirković and Vladimir Jugović
as the main reasons why his team failed to beat Slovenia.
Savićević was handed the coaching duties all by himself in late December 2001. At the time, he claimed to have taken the solo job on temporary basis only, since Dušan Bajević
rejected it. Savićević also intimated the new permanent coach would take over by the summer of 2002. However, that did not happen and he remained in post until June 2003.
precipitated the striker to temporarily retire from international football. Savićević finally resigned in June 2003 after a humiliating 1-2 defeat to Azerbaijan
in a Euro 2004 qualifier, which was also the team's fifth defeat in a row. His overall managerial record was 4 wins, 11 losses, and 2 draws, in addition to 4 wins, 2 losses, and 2 ties as part of the commission.
(FSCG), which was at the time under the umbrella of Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro
(FSSCG).
On 10 July 2009, Savićević got re-elected as Montenegrin FA president, and will remain at the post for another four years.
His time at the job has been marked with frequent public feuding and controversy.
in Lokeren as part of the qualification round
for the 2006 European under-21 Championship
. In the wake of the disappointing result, Savićević publicly came out against u-21 head coach Milorad Kosanović
by saying he should resign over the loss as well as over the fact that he did not call up any players from the teams based in Montenegro for the Belgium match. In support of his claims Savićević said that "Miroslav Vujadinović
from Budućnost Podgorica
is the best young goalkeeper in Europe and wasn't even called up for the under 21 squad" and went on to add that such state of affairs constitutes "discrimination of Montenegro".
Over the coming months Savićević exerted continuous pressure within the FA ranks for Kosanović to be fired, even going so far as to semi-officially boycott the under-21 team by refusing to allow Montenegrin players to turn up for Kosanović's callups. Savićević's bullish behaviour strained the internal relations within the Serbia-Montenegro FA organization to a maximum. In late 2004, in an effort to ease the tense standoff, Serbia-Montenegro FA president Dragan Stojković (Savićević's close personal friend and longtime teammate during playing days) reportedly asked Kosanović to resign, which he vehemently refused. As a result of the episode each member of the FA's expert council delegated from Serbia resigned in protest - Dušan Savić
, Jovica Škoro, Milovan Đorić, and Miroslav Tanjga
- with Savić stating he wants no part in this "dirty political game" while criticizing Savićević and Montenegrin FA for interfering in under-21 head coach's job.
As for Kosanović, after initially managing to resist, he eventually resigned some four months later on 8 March 2005.
In spring 2006 while interviewed for Montenegrin local station NTV Montena
, Savićević admitted to playing "in a couple of fixed matches" while with Budućnost in the old Yugoslav First League
during the 1980s. He also claimed on the same occasion that most of the matches in that season's (2005-06
) Serbia-Montenegro Superliga are fixed, but declined to elaborate or provide evidence by saying "I don't want to be killed because of football like Branko Bulatović". Naturally, such controversial claims caused a lot of reaction. Serbia-Montenegro FA (FSSCG) announced formal investigation, arranging a hearing for Savićević to provide details and evidence of his claims. Others, like FK Partizan vice-president Ratomir Babić, accused Savićević of scoring political points for his mentors in the separatist-oriented Montenegrin regime by intentionally spreading explosive false rumours in order to bring the union's league into disrepute.
at the time.
Their feud started in mid March 2006 after Zeta vs. Budućnost league fixture in the second part of 2005-06 Serbia-Montenegro Superliga season. Initially, the row culminated on 12 May 2006 during the FSSCG meeting in Belgrade where Savićević and Božović showed up as representatives of regional Montenegrin FA (FSCG). At the said meeting, Savićević abruptly left the premises following a vicious shouting match with Božović. Since Montenegro became independent some 10 days later on 21 May 2006, FSCG became the top footballing body of the newly created country, responsible for the national team and also for organizing a football league. Savićević's presidential term continued as well.
In September 2006, a vicious public rift between two men got reignited following the cancellation of the scheduled league fixture between FK Zeta and Budućnost on 4 September 2006 due to threats of violence and incidents outside the ground between the clubs' managements. Božović accused Savićević of multiple infractions: favouring his old club Budućnost, working against Zeta, and tampering with the referee selection process. Savićević responded by calling on the Montenegrin government and ruling political party DPS
to get involved. In mid-October 2006, FSCG held a meeting during which the majority of delegates supported Savićević, deciding on the same occasion to relieve Božović of his duties as vice-president.
daily newspaper, an issue that's ongoing off-and-on to this day some five years later. Irritated by their criticism of his work as FA president, his pro-independence political engagement during 2006 referendum campaign, as well as his ties with the regime of Milo Đukanović, Savićević verbally abused, shouted at, and generally menaced Dan journalists during FA press conferences. He especially went after Dan sports editor Veselin Drljević (former referee and former member of FSCG) with whom he has a long standing feud.
In March 2007, when Montenegro national team
started playing matches, Savićević raised even more controversy when in an unprecedented move, he banned Dan journalists from attending national team matches. In 2008, Dan editor-in-chief Mladen Milutinović complained about the situation to various international bodies including the International Sports Press Association (AIPS). In 2009, the issue was even discussed at AIPS congress held in Milan during late April and early May. Under pressure from AIPS, Savićević eventually relented and allowed the issuing of matchday accreditation for Dan journalists.
The antagonism reignited two years later, however. All throughout 2011, Savićević publicly expressed anger with Dans criticism of the national team head coach Zlatko Kranjčar
, calling the publication a "Serbian-oriented paper that never has and never will accept Montenegro as an independent state". Savićević even returned to his old ways on 7 October 2011, for the Montenegro vs. England Euro 2012 qualifier
, refusing to issue accreditation for Dan. Because of this, a protest against Savićević was published in their pages. Then a month later, for the deciding home leg playoff qualifier against Czech Republic, Savićević again did the same thing, which led to more critical coverage by the paper. On 17 November 2011, in the wake of the playoff loss to the Czechs, Savićević appeared on TV Vijesti
's talk show Načisto where he was asked by the host Petar Komnenić about his problems with Dan. Savićević's response was that for him Dan is an "unimportant media outlet" and that he prefers giving accreditation to "objective outlets". Dan responded with more pointed criticism of Savićević through sarcasm and ridicule, which led to Savićević scheduling a press conference on Saturday, 19 November 2011 at which he delivered more verbal vitriol towards the paper including a bizarre offer of subjecting himself to a drug test and paying out €2 million to Dan if the test results come in positive while asking for €500,000 from the paper if the test result is negative. Dan responded in the paper's next day issue with more veiled ridicule of Savićević.
on 18 September 2004, Savićević was involved in an incident with Podgorica police at around 2:30am Sunday morning. After driving his Audi TT
at a high rate of speed through Podgorica streets and running a red light, he was stopped by a police patrol. According to the police, when stopped, Savićević insulted the policeman with a series of obscenities and among other things said "I'm God, laws don't apply to me".
Approximately a year later, Savićević was severely injured in a traffic accident that occurred 1 October 2005 on a Podgorica street. He fractured both arms after crashing his motorcycle into the rear end of a moving vehicle, becoming airborne and landing hard on the pavement. He's had three surgeries in Hannover, Germany
during mid-to-late October 2005. The recovery period was about six months long.
) from a 1999 Dutch documentary about the 1987
World Youth Championship winning SFR Yugoslavia under-20 team. Most of the footage was shot in October 1999 just as the FR Yugoslavia and Croatia
national teams were to play a deciding Euro 2000 qualifier in Zagreb
. Conceptualized as a "what might've been" homage of sorts, the documentary interviews different members of the 1987 youth side, now split between the senior national teams of two countries. Savićević was not a member of that 1987 team, but the Dutch filmmakers still decided to include him in the film.
This particular clip shows 33-year-old Savićević being interviewed on the day before the match, in front of the hotel in Zagreb
where Yugoslav team was staying. He is wearing Yugoslavia training gear and as such is easily spotted and recognized by people strolling by. As Dejan is answering a question, man on the street is heard shouting off-camera: "You're a piece of shit!".
Savićević looks up, realizes the comment was directed at him and answers the heckler
by berating him with an obscenity laced tirade. After insulting him sufficiently, Savićević returns his attention to the interview and continues answering the question right where he left off without missing a beat.
Individual
band The Kuguars
recorded the song "Dejo" (a cover of Harry Belafonte
song "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)"), dedicating it to Savićević.
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, SFR Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
), is a Montenegrin former football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
player and is the president of the Montenegrin FA
Football Association of Montenegro
The Football Association of Montenegro is the governing body of football in Montenegro, based in Podgorica.It organizes the football leagues:*Montenegrin First League...
.
His close control and superb vision have won him many admirers during his time with Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade is a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. The club is a part of the Red Star Sports Society.Red Star Belgrade is the most successful Serbian club, with a record of 25 national championships and 23 national cups in both Serbian and ex-Yugoslav competitions...
and A.C. Milan
A.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan , is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in the Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others...
. Following an illustrious professional playing career that lasted 19 seasons in total, as well as short and unsuccessful head coaching stint in early 2000s, he's turned to administrative matters - becoming, during summer 2004, the president of Montenegrin FA
Football Association of Montenegro
The Football Association of Montenegro is the governing body of football in Montenegro, based in Podgorica.It organizes the football leagues:*Montenegrin First League...
(FSCG).
Early years
Born to OrthodoxSerbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
parents Vladimir Savićević and Vojislava Đurović, young Dejan had an immediate affinity for football and quickly developed his gift for the game
Club career
Savićević began playing structured football during the summer of 1981 in the youth teams of OFK Titograd. He was almost 15 years old at the time, which by professional football standards is considered fairly late to be starting out. Before that, and even in parallel to playing with OFK, his involvement with the game revolved around outdoor futsalFutsal
Futsal is a variant of association football that is played on a smaller pitch and mainly played indoors. Its name is a portmanteau of the Portuguese futebol de salão and the Spanish fútbol de salón , which can be translated as "hall football" or "indoor football"...
tournaments on concrete and clay surfaces. Since this kind of "scaled-down football" was very popular in Titograd at the time, many tournaments of semi-formal character were organized in and around the town. Barely a teenager at this point, Savićević played for a team that consisted of men from his street (the informal team was named Tehnohemija after a sponsor company) and quickly marked himself out as skilled player with great ball control and good overall technical ability.
During his year and a half at OFK Titograd he occasionally made appearances with the full squad, but mostly played in the youth setup. In January 1983 at the age of 16, he transferred across town to the more established top-tier league
Yugoslav First League
The Yugoslav First League was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and socialist Yugoslavia...
club FK Budućnost on insistence of their head coach at the time Milutin Folić.
FK Budućnost
Between January 1983 and summer 1984, young Savićević played at Budućnost's youth setup along with a few appearances with the full squad. Furthermore, he made regular appearances with Yugoslavia national under-20 football teamYugoslavia national under-20 football team
The Yugoslavia national under-20 football team represented the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at the FIFA World Youth Championship and various friendly youth tournaments in the period between the mid-1970s and the country's dissolution in the early 1990s...
as well as with SR Montenegro youth select team (alongside future notable professionals such as Božidar Bandović
Božidar Bandović
Božidar Bandović is a Serbian football manager and former player, most recently managing Kerkyra F.C. . He took the technical leadership of the Olympiacos's F.C. team, with Andreas Niniadis as his assistant, after Zico's dismissal...
and Refik Šabanadžović
Refik Šabanadžovic
Refik Šabanadžović is a retired Montenegrin-born Bosnian footballer.-Club career:His career began in a small Montenegrin club FK Dečić Tuzi. He was spotted there by Titograd's FK Budućnost and moved there shortly after...
) that competed at annual tournaments against other Yugoslav republics' select squads.
In the summer 1984, in preparation for the coming 1984-85 league season, newly arrived head coach Josip Duvančić
Josip Duvančić
Josip "Mićo" Duvančić is a Croatian former football player and manager.He coached Sarıyer.-External sources:* at Hajduk Split official website. * at the official website....
made 17-year-old Savićević a full squad member at the expense of aging club legend Ante Miročević
Ante Mirocevic
Ante Miročević is a former Montenegrin football player. He got 6 caps for Yugoslavia. He holds distinction as the very first player playing in a club from Montenegro to earn a cap for the Yugoslavia national team....
who was essentially forced into retirement with a position on the club's coaching staff given to him. The season turned out to be a disaster as the club barely avoided relegation while Duvančić got sacked after only six months at the helm, however, for Savićević personally it marked a bit of breakthrough as he recorded 29 league appearances, scoring 6 goals.
Ahead of 1986-87 season, head coach Milan Živadinović
Milan Živadinovic
Milan Živadinović is a Serbian former football player and most recent manager of Myanmar.He is known as a coach who advocates an old-school system of coaching...
took over the reins and the team started off very well, continually keeping pace by staying in the top 3 as the season went on. In the second half the season, Budućnost ran out of steam, eventually finishing in 7th spot, but Savićević further solidified his playmaking and goalscoring credentials. He earned his first cap for the national side in October 1986 against Turkey
Turkey national football team
The Turkey national football team represents Turkey in association football and is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Turkey. They are affiliated with UEFA...
.
By 1987-88 season, bigger teams such as Red Star Belgrade and FK Partizan started expressing interest in his services, and he soon reached a verbal agreement with Red Star about transferring to their ranks. By late March 1988, Hajduk Split also joined the chase for his signature and, according to Savićević's claims, offered the largest sum of money of the three, but the player still decided to honor his agreement with Red Star.
Red Star Belgrade
Savićević thus joined league champions Red Star Belgrade led by 23-year-old attacking midfielder Dragan StojkovićDragan Stojkovic
Dragan Stojković , also known under the nickname Piksi is a Serbian former footballer and current manager of J...
who already established himself as the team leader. The club additionally had supremely talented 19-year-old midfielder Robert Prosinečki
Robert Prosinecki
Robert Prosinečki is a Croatian football manager and former football midfielder. Prosinečki is regarded by many as the player with best technique that ever played in and for Croatia. Former national squad teammate Zvonimir Boban, humbly, also agreed with this. His dribbling is considered...
as well as a potent up-and-coming all around squad.
Barely a few days after signing with Red Star, still 21-year-old Savićević promptly got called in to serve the mandatory army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
stint that would keep him out of action for the entire 1988-89 league season
Yugoslav First League 1988-89
The 1988–89 Yugoslav First League season was the 43rd season of the First Federal League , the top level association football competition of SFR Yugoslavia, since its establishment in 1946....
. There was much speculation at the time that the timing of the call-up was FK Partizan's (army club with many ties to top military authorities) revenge to the player for signing with their biggest rivals. Serving at nearby Topčider
Topcider
Topčider is a forest park and an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is divided between in the municipalities of Čukarica, Rakovica and Savski Venac...
barracks, the state authorities did allow him to turn up for Red Star's European matches and national team games. Another player joining the club the same summer was Darko Pančev
Darko Pancev
Darko Pančev is a retired Yugoslav and Macedonian footballer, and winner of the Golden Boot award in 1991.-Club career:Pančev was the highest scorer in top-division European football in the 1990–91 season with 34 goals, and should have won the European Golden Boot award...
, 22-year-old natural striker with great goalscoring pedigree from Vardar Skopje
FK Vardar
FK Vardar Skopje is a Macedonian football club based in the capital city of Skopje. FK Vardar is currently a member of the 1-MFL. FK Vardar is the most popular and renowned Macedonian football club both domestically and abroad, having won 6 national championships and 6 national cups...
, who also went away to the army right after signing.
1988-89 season
Savićević, a serving soldier at the time, made his competitive debut for Red Star during September 1988 in the first round European Champions' Cup clash versus Irish champion Dundalk FC, scoring his first goal for the new club during the 3–0 return leg rout. Six weeks later, Savićević re-appeared in the epic second-round match-up against AC Milan played over three matches in late October and early November 1988. He played a prominent part in the first leg at San SiroSan Siro
The Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, originally and commonly referred to as the San Siro because of its location, officially given its current name on 3 March 1980, is a football stadium located in the San Siro district in Milan, Italy. It is the home of both A.C. Milan and F.C. Internazionale Milano...
as Red Star played to a hard fought 1-1 draw with Dragan Stojković
Dragan Stojkovic
Dragan Stojković , also known under the nickname Piksi is a Serbian former footballer and current manager of J...
scoring the valuable away goal. The return leg in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
was even more eventful as Savićević had his team up 1–0 with an excellent strike, but German referee Dieter Pauly
Dieter Pauly
Dieter Pauly is a retired German football referee. He refereed the Bucharest leg of the Liverpool vs Dinamo Bucharest, 1984 European Cup Semi-Final and a match in the 1988 UEFA European Football Championship on home soil in West Germany.- References :*...
stopped and voided the match because of thick fog that engulfed the city. The second leg replay was played the very next day, resulting again in 1–1 scoreline, taking the match to penalties where the Italians came up on top 2-4 as Savićević and Mitar Mrkela
Mitar Mrkela
Mitar Mrkela is a retired Serbian football player, who was a member of the Yugoslavian team that won the bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.-Career:...
failed to convert their spot-kicks.
1989–90 season
Savićević's first season in earnest with Red Star was 1989–90. During the summer 1989 off-season, head coach Branko Stanković was let go and Dragoslav ŠekularacDragoslav Šekularac
Dragoslav Šekularac Dragoslav Šekularac (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгослав Шекуларац) Dragoslav Šekularac (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгослав Шекуларац) (born November 30, 1937 in Štip, Vardar Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia is a Serbian former football player and coach....
was brought in as replacement. The change suited Savićević just fine as he and another key player Dragan Stojković never saw eye to eye with Stanković.
Savićević helped Red Star win three consecutive national titles - in 1989–90, 1990–91 and 1991–92, two national Cups in 1990 and 1992 as well as a European Cup
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
and an Intercontinental Cup, both in 1991.
In 1991, following Red Star's European success, Savićević came joint second in the voting for the European Footballer of the Year
European Footballer of the Year
The "", literally translated as "the golden ball" and often referred to as the European Footballer of the Year award, was an annual association football award. It was presented to the player who had been considered to have performed the best over the previous calendar year...
(Ballon d'Or). In choice of newspaper Sport
DSL Sport
Sport is a Serbian daily sports newspaper. Тhе first edition was published on 5 May 1945 under the name Fiskultura...
, he was declared the best athlete of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
.
AC Milan
Savićević's tremendous close control and vision convinced Serie A champions A.C. MilanA.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan , is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in the Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others...
to secure his services for the reported DM30 million (≈ £9.4 million) ahead of the 1992/93 season as part of the £34 million worth of transfer fees Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
injected into the team that summer. Also arriving to an already star-laden squad during the same transfer window were the world-class players Jean-Pierre Papin
Jean-Pierre Papin
Jean-Pierre Papin is a former French professional football player who was European Footballer of the Year in 1991.Papin achieved his greatest success while playing for Olympique Marseille between 1986 and 1992...
(world record signing
World football transfer record
This is a list of the progression of the world association football transfer record when measured in British pounds.-See also:*Highest transfer fees*Progression of British football transfer fee record-Notes:...
at that moment for £10 million if only for a few weeks until Juve bought Gianluca Vialli
Gianluca Vialli
Gianluca Vialli is an Italian football manager and former player. Since retiring, he has gone into management and punditry and is a commentator for Sky Sport Italia....
from Sampdoria for £12 million), Zvonimir Boban
Zvonimir Boban
Zvonimir Boban is a Croatian former football midfielder who played most of his professional career for Serie A club Milan, with whom he won four Serie A titles and the Champions League. He was a member of the Croatia national team which attained third place at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, with Boban...
, Gianluigi Lentini
Gianluigi Lentini
Gianluigi Lentini is a former Italian winger who was once the world's most expensive footballer, when he moved from Torino to AC Milan for £13 million in 1992....
(another Berlusconi's world record signing
World football transfer record
This is a list of the progression of the world association football transfer record when measured in British pounds.-See also:*Highest transfer fees*Progression of British football transfer fee record-Notes:...
for £13 million), and Stefano Eranio
Stefano Eranio
Stefano Eranio is an Italian former football player, most remembered for his time with AC Milan and Genoa. Eranio played as a winger and represented Italy 20 times between 1990 and 1997. He was voted one of Derby County's 11 greatest ever footballers.-Clubs:Stefano Eranio started his professional...
.
1992–93 season
Dejan was thus handed the opportunity to demonstrate his abilities in what was at the time the financial center of European club football - a league where the world's best footballers played. His Serie A debut took place away at PescaraPescara Calcio
Delfino Pescara 1936 is an Italian football club based in Pescara, Abruzzo.The club was formed in 1936 and currently plays in Italian Serie B. Pescara has competed in 5 seasons in Serie A...
on 13 September 1992, two days before his 26th birthday. Milan won 4-5 that day at Stadio Adriatico
Stadio Adriatico
Stadio Adriatico is a stadium in the city of Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy, which opened in 1955. For the 1960 Summer Olympics, it hosted some of the football preliminaries. It originated as a multipurpose facility and is a center of the CONI...
.
However, his first season for the Rossoneri under head coach Fabio Capello
Fabio Capello
Fabio Capello is an Italian football manager and former player. He is the manager of the England national football team.Capello has the distinction of winning the domestic league title with every club he has coached throughout his career...
turned out to be a rather modest affair that saw him feature in only 10 league matches, contributing four goals to Milan's successful title defense. Since Savićević was Berlusconi's rather than Capello's signing, the head coach pretty much ignored him during the first half of the season. All-star Milan squad already had a creative midfield presence in influential Marco van Basten who, when healthy, was the preferred option by Capello throughout most of the season. Even the 30-year-old Ruud Gullit
Ruud Gullit
OON is a Dutch football manager and former football player, who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s. He was the captain of the Netherlands national team that was victorious at Euro 88 and was also a member of the squad for the 1990 World Cup. He was named the European Footballer of the...
who was increasingly becoming a peripheral figure in Milan under Capello was still ahead of Savićević in the pecking order most of the time. Due to UEFA enforcing the three foreigners rule at the time, Savićević often found himself omitted from the squad on matchdays since in addition to Gullit and van Basten, the Milan roster also featured high quality foreigners Frank Rijkaard
Frank Rijkaard
Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard is a Dutch football manager of Dutch and Surinamese descent and former player. Rijkaard has played for Ajax, Real Zaragoza and Milan, and represented his national side 73 times, scoring 10 goals. In his coaching career, he has been at the helm of the Dutch national side,...
, Papin, and Boban. Additionally, Capello often preferred workhorse midfielders such as Demetrio Albertini
Demetrio Albertini
Demetrio Albertini is a former professional Italian football midfielder who spent most of his career with AC Milan of the Italian Serie A, winning five Serie A titles and three UEFA Champions League titles with that club...
and Stefano Eranio for his tactical setup over the high-priced creative imports.
Savićević and Capello quickly developed an antagonistic relationship with the former frustrated at being regularly dropped from the first team, and the latter unwilling to change the winning formula that had the team on an undefeated run in the league dating back to May 1991 (the streak would eventually end after 58 matches in March 1993 versus Parma). In November 1992, when asked how he copes with leaving out world class players such as Savićević or Papin, Capello responded:
By December, Savićević was so unhappy with his status at the club that he made a firm decision to leave during the winter transfer window as he had offers from Olympique Marseille and Atletico Madrid. However, he decided to stay.
It was not until 24 January 1993 that Savićević scored his first goal – a 78th-minute penalty kick effort at home versus Genoa
Genoa C.F.C.
Genoa Cricket and Football Club, commonly referred to simply as Genoa , is a professional Italian football club based in the city of Genoa, Liguria...
that turned out to be the game-winner. Finally opening his scoring account encouraged Savićević somewhat and two weeks later he got another one versus lowly Pescara. His shining moment in the otherwise forgettable debut league season in Italy came on 7 March 1993 at home versus Fiorentina when he scored a second-half brace for a 2–0 Milan win.
To cap off the frustrating season, Savićević was not included in the team Capello took to Munich to face Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille is a French association football club based in Marseille. Founded in 1899, the club plays in Ligue 1 and have spent most of its history in the top tier of French football. Marseille have been French champions nine times and have won the Coupe de France a record ten times. In...
in the 1993 UEFA Champions League Final
1993 UEFA Champions League Final
The 1993 UEFA Champions League Final was a football match between French club Marseille and Italian club Milan, played on 26 May 1993 at the Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany....
.
At the end of the campaign, following his less than mediocre season, Savićević's fate at the club was being decided among Milan brass. Capello wanted him out while Berlusconi was adamant about the player staying and getting more opportunities to play.
1993–94 season
The summer 1993 off-season brought some player personnel changes that would end up benefiting Savićević. His main two attacking midfield competitors Gullit and van Basten were gone, the former transferring to Sampdoria frustrated at seeing his role at Milan greatly reduced and the latter taking a year off to heal his ankle injury that would eventually turn out to be career-ending. Also, Frank Rijkaard transferred to AjaxAjax Amsterdam
Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax , also referred to as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam or simply Ajax , is a professional football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands...
, which freed up even more room. New foreign summer arrivals Brian Laudrup
Brian Laudrup
Brian Laudrup is a Danish former football player and current football commentator, pundit and analyst on TV3+. Along with former international goalkeeper Lars Høgh, Laudrup manages a football academy for marginalized youth...
and Florin Răducioiu
Florin Raducioiu
Florin Valeriu Răducioiu is a former Romanian football striker, who played for Dinamo Bucureşti, A.C. Milan, Brescia Calcio, West Ham United, RCD Espanyol, VfB Stuttgart and A.S...
found little playing in Capello's structure, all of which made the competition for three foreign spots easier for the remaining foreigners Savićević, Boban, and Papin during the first part of the season.
From the beginning of the new league campaign
Serie A 1993-94
The 1993–94 Serie A was won by A.C. Milan, being the 14th title for the rossoneri.-Final classification:-Results:-Top scorers:23 goals* Giuseppe Signori 18 goals* Gianfranco Zola 17 goals* Roberto Baggio...
, Savićević started getting more first team opportunities and responded with decent performances. Although still not a regular in true sense and often played out of position, he finally began to establish himself in the club. However, more setbacks would follow. First, as the Champions League group phase began in late November 1993, Capello named Savićević to the reserves for the first match away at Anderlecht
R.S.C. Anderlecht
Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, usually known as Anderlecht or RSCA , is a Belgian professional football club based in Anderlecht in the Brussels Capital Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian Pro League and is the most successful Belgian football team in European competitions as well as in the...
to which the Montenegrin reacted by refusing to sit on the bench thereby causing a lot of friction in the club. Then, a couple of weeks later in mid-December, the antagonism continued as Capello dropped him from the squad altogether for the 1993 Intercontinental Cup
1993 Intercontinental Cup
The 1993 Intercontinental Cup was a football match played on December 12, 1993 between A.C. Milan, runners-up of the 1992-93 UEFA Champions League, and São Paulo, winners of the 1993 Copa Libertadores. The match was played at the National Stadium in Tokyo...
in Tokyo versus Telê Santana
Telê Santana
Telê Santana da Silva, also known as Telê Santana , was a Brazilian football manager and former player...
's São Paulo, which led to another heated run-in between the midfielder and the coach. This mutiny of sorts actually ended up working out for Savićević since he became a regular for the remainder of the season, putting in a significant contribution to the Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
and Champions League double, despite not scoring any goals in his 20 league appearances.
The playing setup Capello employed throughout this season was an extremely defensive 4-4-2 that resulted in the entire squad scoring only 36 goals in 34 league matches while letting in only 15. Further solidifying the defensive focus was the December arrival of Marcel Desailly
Marcel Desailly
Marcel Desailly is a retired Ghanaian born French footballer and star of the France national football team squad, with whom he won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000...
who became a regular right away. Still, for his inspirational and creative play, Savićević was hailed as Il Genio (The Genius) by club president Berlusconi with whom Dejan developed great rapport. Basically, it was Berlusconi's personal support that kept Savićević from leaving the club at various low points of his relationship with Capello.
Still, the season ended on a high note for Savićević. His performance in the 1994 UEFA Champions League Final at Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
' Olympic Stadium
Olympic Stadium (Athens)
The Olympic Stadium "Spiros Louis" , is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. It is named after the first modern Olympic marathon race winner in 1896, Spiros Louis.-History:...
on May 18 would turn out to be his greatest moment in football and arguably one of the finest individual displays seen in the competition. He already gave indications of improved form and confidence in the second part of the Champions League season, scoring twice during March right after the winter break in consecutive home-and-away matches versus Werder Bremen (though the goal at San Siro came as result of an atrocious mistake by Werder defender). Still, despite smoothly finishing on top of the group and easily winning the one-match semifinal, Milan was in bit of a disarray heading into the final as both central defenders Franco Baresi
Franco Baresi
Franco Baresi is an Italian football youth team coach and former player. He played as a sweeper and spent his entire career with Serie A club AC Milan, acknowledged as one of the greatest defenders ever to play the game. Baresi was nicknamed "Piscinin", Milanese for "Little one"...
and Alessandro Costacurta
Alessandro Costacurta
Alessandro "Billy" Costacurta is an Italian former professional football defender turned manager.Costacurta spent some twenty years at Milan, with a brief period spent in AC Monza on loan. He is best known for his role alongside Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini and Mauro Tassotti, forming one of the...
, the core of Capello's tactical defensive setup, were suspended. Considering that the opponent was the high-flying Johan Cruijff's FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona , also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....
"dream team" with Romario
Romário
Romário de Souza Faria , better known simply as Romário , is a former footballer who played striker,manager and current politician where is currently running for a mayor like position in his hometown...
, Hristo Stoichkov
Hristo Stoichkov
Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov , sometimes Stoitchkov; born 8 February 1966 in Plovdiv) is a retired Bulgarian footballer. He is regarded as one of the best footballers of his generation and the greatest Bulgarian footballer of all time. Nicknamed The Dagger , The Dog , The Modern Left...
, Ronald Koeman
Ronald Koeman
Ronald Koeman is a former Dutch footballer, and the current manager of Feyenoord. He is the younger brother of former Feyenoord coach Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman...
, José Mari Bakero
José Mari Bakero
José María Bakero Escudero is a retired Spanish footballer, and the current coach of Lech Poznań in Poland.Having played mainly for Real Sociedad and FC Barcelona, he began his career as a forward but was converted into an attacking midfielder, who possessed passing and netting ability José María...
, Pep Guardiola, etc., Capello made a decision to fight fire with fire by sending out a lot more offense-minded formation. The changed approach suited Savićević just fine: he created the opening goal for Daniele Massaro
Daniele Massaro
Daniele Massaro is a former Italian football forward. He was a member of the Italian squad that won the FIFA World Cup held in Spain in 1982....
and then scored a spectacular 35 yard half volley for 3-0 to put the game beyond Barcelona's reach. The sheer audacity and technical brilliance of the goal - decision to go for a well-placed lob from the right edge of the penalty area on Barca goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta
Andoni Zubizarreta
Andoni Zubizarreta Urreta is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a goalkeeper.The all-time most capped player for the Spanish national team for several years, he played with individual and team success for Athletic Bilbao and FC Barcelona , appearing in more than 950...
who was slightly off his line in a situation when most would get closer and opt for a hard-driven shot as no defender was near - won Savićević much praise and accolades.
1994-95 season
Despite his much publicized Champions League final performance, the following 1994-95 season began much the same way for Savićević. His stock at the club was obviously raised, but since Capello returned to his usual manner of running the team with tactics and defense dominating over offensive creativity, Savićević was still forced to endure occasional omissions on match days (though the competition for foreign spots became easier with only returnee Gullit who left again by mid-season, Boban, and Desailly as competition). On top of that, nagging injuries followed Savićević throughout the season so the Montenegrin only appeared in 19 league matches out of 34. However, he managed to score 9 league goals (his greatest single season scoring output in Serie A), including 4 goals in a single match on 14 January 1995 versus BariA.S. Bari
Associazione Sportiva Bari is an Italian football club founded in 1908, they are based in Bari, Apulia and plays in Serie B. The club have spent many seasons bouncing between the top two divisions in Italian football, Serie A and Serie B....
at Stadio San Nicola
Stadio San Nicola
The Stadio San Nicola is a multi-use all-seater stadium designed by Renzo Piano in Bari, Italy. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Associazione Sportiva Bari. It hosted the 1991 European Cup Final, won by Red Star Belgrade. The stadium itself resembles a...
, the site of his European Cup triumph with Red Star.
Despite the team’s mid-table Serie A form in 1995, Savićević continually played well for Milan in the Champions League en route to their third successive final that, for him, culminated in a spectacular semi-final versus Paris SG
1994–95 UEFA Champions League knockout stage
The knockout stage of the 1994–95 UEFA Champions League began on 1 March 1995 and ended with the final at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna on 24 May 1995. The top two teams from each of the four groups in the group stage competed in the knockout stage. For the quarter-finals, each group winner...
, where he scored twice in the return leg at San Siro. Before that in the first leg Savićević set up Boban in injury time for the game's only goal. Despite his brilliant performance against PSG and his statistical importance to the team in 1995, he was not part of the team Capello took to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
for the 1995 Champions League Final
1995 UEFA Champions League Final
The 1995 UEFA Champions League Final was the 40th edition and took place in Vienna between AFC Ajax and A.C. Milan. It was Milan's third European Cup final in three years and they were aiming to tie Real Madrid's record of having won the European Cup six times...
due to 'injury', even though Savićević insisted he was fit. In the final, very negative and defense-minded Milan created few opportunities and ultimately lost to Louis van Gaal
Louis van Gaal
Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal OON is a Dutch football manager formerly in charge of Ajax, Netherlands, Barcelona, AZ and Bayern Munich...
's Ajax
Ajax Amsterdam
Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax , also referred to as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam or simply Ajax , is a professional football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands...
1-0.
1995-96 season
New foreign arrivals Paulo FutrePaulo Futre
Paulo Jorge dos Santos Futre is a retired Portuguese professional footballer who played mostly as a left winger.After exploding at Sporting Clube de Portugal well before his 20th birthday, he soon moved to Futebol Clube do Porto, after which he embarked in an extensive career - until 1998 - having...
and George Weah
George Weah
George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah is a Liberian humanitarian and politician, and an ex-footballer. He ran unsuccessfully for president in the 2005 election, losing to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the second round of voting...
as well as the signing of Roberto Baggio
Roberto Baggio
Roberto Baggio is a retired Italian footballer. Widely regarded as one of the finest footballers of his generation, Baggio won both the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1993. He is the only Italian player ever to score in three World Cups. He is also one of the top 5 all-time...
increased the midfield competition, but 29-year-old Savićević managed to turn in a successful season with 23 league appearances and 6 league goals. His brightest moments occurred in the Derby della Madonnina
Derby della Madonnina
Derby della Madonnina, or the Milan Derby as it is sometimes known, is a football match between the Italian clubs Associazione Calcio Milan and Football Club Internazionale Milano. It is a hotly contested local derby and is one of the most followed derbies in football...
as he finally scored a goal versus the cross-town rivals Inter. On more than one occasion Savićević displayed his amazing technical skills and ball control such as when he dribbled and danced around Parma defenders Fernando Couto
Fernando Couto
Fernando Manuel Silva Couto, OIH is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a central defender.During a 21-year professional career, he played in a number of top teams in Portugal, Spain and Italy , appearing in nearly 600 official games and winning the national league title of each country,...
and Luigi Apolloni
Luigi Apolloni
Luigi Apolloni is a retired Italian football player, who last served as head coach of Serie B club Grosseto.- Club career :...
to set up Baggio for the opening goal against Parma at San Siro, before scoring one of his own for 3-0 final score.
In his total career at the San Siro, Milan won 7 trophies, including 3 scudetti (Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
championships) - 1992-93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1 European Cup - 1993-94 and 1 European Super Cup
European Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual football game between the reigning champions of the two cup competitions organized by UEFA: the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League...
, but he was criticized in the Italian media for not always trying against smaller teams and his performances regularly blew hot and cold.
International
Spanning 13 years, Savićević's national team career is divided in two distinct parts: first six years under head coach Ivica OsimIvica Osim
Ivan "Ivica" Osim is a Bosnian former football player and manager. He was most recently head coach of Japan, before he suffered a stroke in November 2007 and left the post...
when the country was called SFR Yugoslavia featuring six republics and last five years under head coach Slobodan Santrač
Slobodan Santrac
Slobodan Santrač is a retired Serbian football player and currently manager of Chinese Super League side Shaanxi Renhe Commercial Chanba F.C.....
representing FR Yugoslavia, which consisted of Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
.
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 places upfront such as Zlatko Vujović
Zlatko Vujovic
Zlatko Vujović is a retired Bosnian Croat footballer who played as a striker....
, Mehmed Baždarević
Mehmed Baždarevic
Mehmed Baždarević is a Bosnian football manager and former football midfielder. He is the current manager of the French Ligue 1 club Sochaux-Montbéliard. Baždarević played for Bosnian side Željezničar Sarajevo and Sochaux-Montbéliard, among others...
, Dragan Stojković
Dragan Stojkovic
Dragan Stojković , also known under the nickname Piksi is a Serbian former footballer and current manager of J...
, and even veteran Safet Sušić
Safet Sušic
Safet "Pape" Sušić is a Bosnian former footballer and current manager of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team. In his playing days, he operated as playmaking attacking midfielder...
.
Under Santrač, Savićević was an automatic regular, but due to the UN embargo imposed on FR Yugoslavia
United Nations Security Council Resolution 757
United Nations Security Council Resolution 757, adopted on May 30, 1992, after reaffirming resolutions 713 , 721 , 724 , 727 , 740 743 , 749 and 752 , the Council condemned the failure of the authorities in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to implement Resolution 752.After demanding the...
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.
Euro 88 qualifying
Savićević made his national team debut, while still at Budućnost, on 29 October 1986 in a Euro 88 qualifierUEFA Euro 1988 qualifying Group 4
Standings and results for Group 4 of the 1988 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying tournament.Group 4 consisted of England, Northern Ireland, Turkey and Yugoslavia...
versus Turkey in Split. Head coach Ivica Osim
Ivica Osim
Ivan "Ivica" Osim is a Bosnian former football player and manager. He was most recently head coach of Japan, before he suffered a stroke in November 2007 and left the post...
, who himself was only in his fourth match overall coaching the national team (and his first doing it alone as he previously shared the coaching duties with Ivan Toplak
Ivan Toplak
Ivan Toplak is a former Serbian football player and manager. He got 1 cap for Yugoslavia.-External links:*...
), put the talented 20-year-old in as the 53rd minute substitute for Haris Škoro
Haris Škoro
Haris Škoro is a former Bosnian football player who represented Yugoslavia at international level....
with Yugoslavia 2-0 up through Zlatko Vujović
Zlatko Vujovic
Zlatko Vujović is a retired Bosnian Croat footballer who played as a striker....
's first half brace. Debutante Savićević wasted no time in making a mark as he scored the goal for 3-0 in 73rd minute before Vujović completed a hat-trick for a 4-0 final scoreline. However, despite getting a goal on his debut, Savićević's thunder was somewhat stolen by another debutante - 22-year-old Semir Tuce
Semir Tuce
Semir Tuce was considered the best player of the 1980s in football club Velež. With his deadly left foot he tortured all the goalkeepers in former Yugoslav league. He played for Velež during 1983–1989 before going to Switzerland to play for Luzern. During his active time he played 187 games for...
who put in a confident midfield display on the left wing that got him all the headlines. Two weeks later Osim did not call up Savićević for the important qualifier away at Wembley versus England while Tuce got the callup and made a second half substitute appearance. Yugoslavia lost 0-2.
Youngster Savićević would wait a whole year for his second cap. In mid October 1987, Euro 1988 qualifying was still on with Yugoslavia playing Northern Ireland at Grbavica
Grbavica Stadium
Grbavica Stadium is located in Grbavica, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The football stadium has terraces close to the pitch and it is the home of FK Željezničar. The stadium has a capacity to hold 12,000 spectators, with 9,000 places that are seated...
in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
, and he came on as the second half sub again, this time for Fadil Vokrri
Fadil Vokrri
Fadil Vokrri is a former Yugoslav football player, from the 1980s.Vokrri was known for his Diego Maradona-like approach with quick movement and strong shooting...
. Yugoslavia won the game easily 3-0, and with England destroying Turkey 8-0 at home on the same day, the stage was set for the crucial Yugoslavia vs. England clash that would decide who goes to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. If England was to win or draw it would automatically qualify and if Yugoslavia was to win, it would then also have to later win away at Turkey in order to qualify and overtake England. The match was played on 11 November 1987 in front of a packed house of 70,000 at Marakana in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
and Savićević again did not get a chance to play as England beat Yugoslavia 1-4, thus qualifying for the Euro.
A month later, Osim gave 21-year-old Savićević his first national team start in a meaningless remaining qualifier versus Turkey in İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
.
Over the coming period between two qualifying cycles, Yugoslavia played six friendlies from March to September 1988 and Savićević featured in only first two of them (full 90 minutes versus Wales and Italy in late March 1988) as his uneasy relationship with Osim - who was not fired by the Yugoslav FA despite the failure to qualify for Euro 88 - continued.
World Cup 1990 qualifying
The 1990 FIFA World Cup1990 FIFA World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams representing 116 national football associations from all six populated...
qualifying
1990 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)
The European zone of qualification for the 1990 FIFA World Cup saw 32 teams competing for 13 places at the finals. UEFA members Italy qualified automatically as hosts of the finals. The qualification process started on 21 May 1988 and ended on 18 November 1989.-Format:Teams were drawn into seven...
started in October 1988 with Savićević, who in the meantime completed the big time summer move to Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade is a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. The club is a part of the Red Star Sports Society.Red Star Belgrade is the most successful Serbian club, with a record of 25 national championships and 23 national cups in both Serbian and ex-Yugoslav competitions...
and right away went to serve the mandatory army service, not being called up for the first match away at Scotland.
Then, a month later, perhaps surprisingly knowing the coach's conservative nature, Osim brought on the in-form Savićević (who was coming off a great performance in Red Star's tie versus AC Milan) as a 69th minute sub for Bora Cvetković right after France went ahead 1-2 a minute earlier on a goal by Franck Sauzée
Franck Sauzée
Franck Sauzée is a former French international footballer and manager. He played 39 times for the French national team between 1988 and 1993, scoring nine goals and captaining the team several times...
. The substitution paid off in a big way as French players had no answer for Savićević's fresh legs and creativity in midfield. Dejan first participated in a move that ended with Sušić scoring the equalizer and then with two players guarding him provided a perfect cross from the right for Red Star teammate Stojković to score the winning goal in 83rd minute as Yugoslavia recorded a big comeback 3-2 win at the JNA Stadium in Belgrade.
Savićević's great performance against France put him in Osim's good books, for the time being at least, as he got a chance to start the next qualifier at home versus Cyprus in December. Dejan, still officially in his army service, returned the favour, scoring a hat-trick as Yugoslavia won 4-0 at Marakana. The following qualifier in late April 1989 was a crucial one away at France and Osim decided not to play Savićević, choosing instead to continue with his older regulars upfront such as Zlatko Vujović, Sušić, and Baždarević as Yugoslavia eked out a hard fought scoreless draw at the Parc des Princes
Parc des Princes
The Parc des Princes is an all-seater football stadium located in the southwest of Paris, France. The venue, with a seating capacity of 48,712 spectators, has been the home of French football club Paris Saint-Germain since 1974. The current Parc des Princes was inaugurated on 4 June 1972, endowed...
.
Savićević would also not play in the next qualifier away at Norway, returning only as a second half sub for Dragan Jakovljević
Dragan Jakovljevic
Dragan Jakovljević is a Bosnian Serb striker who played for SFR Yugoslavia.-External links:*...
in September 1989 at Maksimir
Maksimir Stadium
Maksimir Stadium is a stadium in the Croatian capital of Zagreb. It takes its name from the neighbourhood of Maksimir. It is primarily the home of Dinamo Zagreb, the top football team in the country. It is also home to Dinamo Zagreb's farm team NK Lokomotiva....
in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
versus Scotland. With the 3-1 win over Scotland, Yugoslavia overtook the Scots at the top of the table. So, with two matches remaining, Yugoslavia were now leading the pack with 10 points (4 wins and 2 draws) followed by Scotland with 9, and France and Norway with 5. In such circumstances, conservative Osim certainly was not about to tinker with the team, which meant that Savićević only got his chance in friendlies. The match point for Yugoslavia took place at Koševo in Sarajevo versus Norway in October 1989, and not surprisingly Savićević again did not get a single minute of play. The team won 1-0, and combinend with the fact that Scotland got beate by France 0-3 in Paris, Yugoslavia clinched the top spot in the group, qualifying for the World Cup in Italy. The last qualifier was a meaningless affair away at Cyprus (the match was actually played in Athens since Cyprus were penalized for the riots during their match versus Scotland), and Savićević got a chance to start along with a slew of other young and up-and-coming players from the domestic league that Osim normally shied away from using in competitive matches such as Darko Pančev
Darko Pancev
Darko Pančev is a retired Yugoslav and Macedonian footballer, and winner of the Golden Boot award in 1991.-Club career:Pančev was the highest scorer in top-division European football in the 1990–91 season with 34 goals, and should have won the European Golden Boot award...
, Robert Prosinečki
Robert Prosinecki
Robert Prosinečki is a Croatian football manager and former football midfielder. Prosinečki is regarded by many as the player with best technique that ever played in and for Croatia. Former national squad teammate Zvonimir Boban, humbly, also agreed with this. His dribbling is considered...
, Branko Brnović
Branko Brnovic
Branislav "Branko" Brnović is a retired Montenegrin professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, and the current manager of the Montenegro national football team.-Club career:After making his professional debuts with local FK Budućnost Podgorica, Brnović signed...
, and Slobodan Marović
Slobodan Marovic
Slobodan Marović is a Montenegrin football manager and former player.During his playing career he played for NK Osijek, IFK Norrköping, and Silkeborg IF...
.
World Cup 1990
Heading into the World Cup, Savićević's chances of playing a larger national team role looked to have received a bit of a boost as Mehmed Baždarević, one of his competitors for an attacking midfield spot, was suspended by FIFA for spitting at the Turkish referee Yousouf Namoglou during the crucial qualifier versus Norway. However, Savićević did not get a chance in the first two friendlies in March at Poland and in May at home versus Spain, leading to conclusions that he would again be looking from the outside in. But then in early June, only 7 days before the opening World Cup match, he got to play the full 90 minutes at the "dress rehearsal" at Maksimir in Zagreb versus HollandYugoslavia v Netherlands (1990)
On June 3, 1990 Yugoslavia hosted the Netherlands in an international friendly at Zagreb's Maksimir stadium. The match was the last preparation friendly for Ivica Osim's Yugoslavia side ahead of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy...
where he put in an inspired performance. The game itself, however, took a back seat to the controversy caused by nationalist Croatian fans who booed the Yugoslav national anthem and thoroughly insulted the players.
At San Siro
San Siro
The Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, originally and commonly referred to as the San Siro because of its location, officially given its current name on 3 March 1980, is a football stadium located in the San Siro district in Milan, Italy. It is the home of both A.C. Milan and F.C. Internazionale Milano...
on 10 June 1990, the same starting eleven that faced Holland in the final friendly also started versus Germany, including Savićević. Playing in front of almost 75,000 fans (the largest crowd of the entire 1990 FIFA World Cup), the team was picked apart by speed and strength of the German players as Lothar Matthäus
Lothar Matthäus
Lothar Herbert Matthäus , is a German football manager and former player.In 1990, he was named European Footballer of the Year and World Soccer Player of the Year after captaining West Germany to victory in the 1990 World Cup...
and Jürgen Klinsmann
Jürgen Klinsmann
Jürgen Klinsmann is a German football manager and former player who is currently the coach of the United States Men's National Team. As a player, Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe and was part of the West German team that won the 1990 FIFA World Cup and the German one that...
had the Elf 2-0 up before halftime. Shortly after the break Davor Jozić
Davor Jozic
Davor Jozić is a former footballer of Bosnian Croat ethnicity.Jozić started playing at a local club FK Igman Konjic and then he moved to FK Sarajevo where he played in 450 games. After came clubs such as Cesena, Club América, and Spezia...
pulled one back for Yugoslavia, which was a signal for head coach Osim to make changes in hopes of sparking a comeback. One minute later he took off Savićević who was mostly invisible, having a game to forget much like most of the Yugoslav team, and put Dragoljub Brnović
Dragoljub Brnovic
Dragoljub Brnović is a former Montenegrin football player. He was born on 2 November 1963 in Montenegro, Yugoslavia. He played at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy for the Yugoslav team, where he became notorious for missing one of the penalty kicks in the quarter-finals against Argentina, sending...
on as part of the double midfield substitution that also saw Prosinečki replace Sušić. The move did not do much, though, as Matthäus rampaged through Yugoslav defense before unleashing a powerful shot for another score. Fourth German goal came as the final insult as goalkeeper Ivković made a mess of Brehme's easy shot.
Getting nothing from the Germany match pretty much meant that the next group contest versus Colombia was a must win. Osim made three changes in the starting lineup, and one of them was Savićević who got benched in favour of Brnović. Yugoslavia made tough work of the plucky Colombians, but got a 1-0 victory in the end with Savićević not getting a single minute of action. More or less the same lineup faced minnows United Arab Emirates in the final group match, which meant that Savićević was again surplus to Osim's requirements as Yugoslavia won easily 4-1.
In the knockout stages
1990 FIFA World Cup knockout stage
In the 1990 FIFA World Cup, the knockout stage was the second and final stage of the World Cup, following the group stage. The top two teams from each group and four best third-placed teams advance to the knockout stage to compete in a single-elimination style tournament...
, Savićević was again on the bench for the start of the match against Spain
Spain national football team
The Spain national football team represents Spain in international association football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain. The current head coach is Vicente del Bosque...
in the excruciating late afternoon heat of Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
, but got his chance early into the second half with the score still tied at 0-0, coming on for largely ineffective club temmate Darko Pančev
Darko Pancev
Darko Pančev is a retired Yugoslav and Macedonian footballer, and winner of the Golden Boot award in 1991.-Club career:Pančev was the highest scorer in top-division European football in the 1990–91 season with 34 goals, and should have won the European Golden Boot award...
. Substituting striker for a midfielder, meant that Osim changed his formation from 3-5-2 to a bit more defensive 3-6-1 with only Zlatko Vujović
Zlatko Vujovic
Zlatko Vujović is a retired Bosnian Croat footballer who played as a striker....
up front. The match was soon taken over by Dragan Stojković who scored a beautiful goal in the 78th minute, but the score at the end of 90 minutes was 1-1, with Savićević putting in a confident performance. In the extra-time Stojković scored his second of the match on a masterfully placed free-kick. Incidentally, the free-kick came after a foul on Savićević during one of his surging runs across the midfield from right to left.
Despite his satisfactory showing against the Spaniards, Savićević was benched again for the quarterfinal clash against reigning world champions Argentina
Argentina national football team
The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in association football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association , the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentina's home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti and their head coach is Alejandro...
four days later. Starting the match in 4-5-1 formation, Osim had Zoran Vulić
Zoran Vulic
Zoran Vulić is a retired Croatian footballer, who is currently working as a football manager.-Playing career:For hometown HNK Hajduk Split Vulić, a central defender with a powerful shot, played eight seasons, amassing 167 league games, with 25 goals.He then had successful abroad stints with RCD...
back in the lineup as part of the four-man defensive unit, and youngster Prosinečki replacing injured Katanec in midfield while Vujović was now alone in attack from the very start. Riding behind midfield playmaker Stojković, Yugoslavia looked very good throughout the match even when reduced to ten men following the 31st minute expulsion of Refik Šabanadžović
Refik Šabanadžovic
Refik Šabanadžović is a retired Montenegrin-born Bosnian footballer.-Club career:His career began in a small Montenegrin club FK Dečić Tuzi. He was spotted there by Titograd's FK Budućnost and moved there shortly after...
. Somewhat surprsingly, Osim did not make any substitutions after the sending off, deciding to wait until 15 minutes into the second half to put on Savićević instead of Sušić. Savićević's fresh legs gave the team a much needed infusion of energy and another target in the middle for Stojković to pass to after his surging runs, however Savićević was not able to convert on any of them. The most glaring miss came early on in the extra-time as Stojković masterfully got free on the right side before providing a perfect pass to Savićević who was unmarked 5–6 meters from the goal line. Alone in front of keeper Sergio Goycochea and with goal at his mercy, Savićević somehow put the ball over the bar. It was one the best chances created by either team throughout the entire match.
1998 World Cup
Dejan Savićević was picked as a part of Yugoslavia's national squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 16th FIFA World Cup, was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. France was chosen as host nation by FIFA on 2 July 1992. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the final...
. He appeared in two games, the first one being a group-stage game against the United States
United States men's national soccer team
The United States men's national soccer team represents the United States in international association football competitions. It is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF...
and the second one against the Netherlands
Netherlands national football team
The Netherlands National Football Team represents the Netherlands in association football and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association , the governing body for football in the Netherlands...
.
Coaching career
Savićević's two-year spell as head coach of the national side was a polar opposite of his distinguished playing career.Immediately after retiring from playing in May 2001, he was named as head coach of the FR Yugoslavia / Serbia-Montenegro national squad, in succession to the short, tempestuous, and hugely disappointing 3-month tenure of Milovan Đorić. Despite Savićević's complete lack of any relevant coaching experience, and the side's already faint chances of progressing from the World Cup 2002 qualifying tournament
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)
Listed below are the dates and results for the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for the European zone . For an overview of the qualification rounds, see the article 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification....
, the announcement of his appointment was generally well received by the public. His appointment came as part of the general changing of the guard in the Yugoslav FA with Dragan Stojković
Dragan Stojkovic
Dragan Stojković , also known under the nickname Piksi is a Serbian former footballer and current manager of J...
(Savićević's good personal friend) taking over as the FA president.
2002 World Cup qualifying
At first, Savićević was part of a 3-man coaching commission with the experienced Vujadin BoškovVujadin Boškov
Vujadin Boškov is a retired Serbian football player and coach.Boškov was born in the village of Begeč near Novi Sad, Danube Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia). He played with FK Vojvodina for most of his career...
and Ivan Ćurković
Ivan Curkovic
Ivan Ćurković had a professional goalkeeping career and was the president of the FK Partizan and of the Serbian Olympic Committee...
by his side. At the time of their arrival to the bench, Yugoslavia was sitting in fourth place of the qualifying group with only 5 points from 4 matches, behind Russia (13 points), Switzerland (8), and Slovenia (7). However, Yugoslavia had a game in hand and with a win in Moscow had a chance to overtake Slovenia and join the Swiss tied on points in the second spot. On the other hand, a loss to Russia in Moscow would probably mean losing any hope of finishing in the top two.
Savićević thus faced a make it or break it prospect right on his coaching debut. Despite the fact that national team was officially headed by the three-man commission, Savićević was the only one of the trio present on the sidelines during matches and was the only one one available to the press. The team fielded on 2 June 2001 at Luzhniki Stadium was substantially the same as Đorić's, both in names called up and playing formation. Other than two debutants - goalkeeper Radovan Radaković
Radovan Radaković
Radovan Radaković is a retired Serbian international football goalkeeper and is current head coach of OFK Mladenovac.-Club career:...
and defensive midfielder Boban Dmitrović
Boban Dmitrović
Boban Dmitrović is a Serbian footballer. He currently plays for FK Sloga Kraljevo in the Serbian First League .-Club career:...
- the jist of the starting squad was still made up of old guard: players like Predrag Mijatović
Predrag Mijatovic
Predrag "Peđa" Mijatović is a Montenegrin football player and former sports director of Real Madrid. He is considered one of Yugoslavia's best players of the 1990s. He was acclaimed as the best athlete of Yugoslavia in 1997...
, Siniša Mihajlović
Siniša Mihajlovic
Siniša Mihajlović is a Serbian football manager and former player. He was in charge of Serie A club Fiorentina since June 2010 to November 2011....
, and Miroslav Đukić, all of whom were well over thirty, as well as longtime defensive mainstays such as Zoran Mirković
Zoran Mirkovic
Zoran "Bata" Mirković is a former Serbian footballer.-Club career:Mirković made his first appearance for FK Rad during the 1990–91 season. But even before that he and his teammates won the Yugoslav title in the under-21 category, the biggest success this club ever had...
and Goran Đorović. With a defensive approach and mostly unimaginative play with very little created through midfield, Yugoslavia never looked capable of winning. The match ended 1-1 as Russians went ahead following Radaković's poor reaction and Yugoslavia tied some fifteen minutes later on Mijatović's scrambled goal that he managed to put away after Savo Milošević
Savo Miloševic
Savo Milošević is a retired Serbian footballer who played as a striker.After making a name for himself at Partizan, he signed for Aston Villa, and went on to spend the vast majority of the following decade playing in Spain, where he represented four clubs, amassing La Liga totals of 241 games and...
's header hit the post. The press reaction was not overly negative as the tied score still had the team on course for a second place finish. After next two qualifiers, home and away against Faroe Islands, in which Yugoslavia recorded easy wins, came the decision time - facing Switzerland in a must win situation away on Saturday, September 1. Cheered on by the large expatriate crowd in Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, Yugoslavia ended up winning 1-2 in what was easily the team's best showing under Savićević up to that point thus setting up the deciding match at home versus Slovenia four days later. Playing on tough surface as the Partizan Stadium pitch was soaked from the heavy rain that was pouring whole day and throughout the match, Yugoslavia went behind early and only managed to tie the score by the end, which was not enough for the second place. Despite dominating proceedings through veteran Mijatović who was the offensive focal point, the second goal proved elusive. The chance still existed in theory if Faroe Islands managed to win or draw at Slovenia in the final match, however such unlikely scenario did not happen. Afer Slovenia game Savićević bemoaned the bad luck, citing playing in the rain on a soaked surface without injured regulars Mirković and Vladimir Jugović
Vladimir Jugovic
Vladimir Jugović is a retired Serbian football player renowned for his vision and technique.-Career:Born in Milutovac, a village near Trstenik, Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia, Jugović played throughout his career for numerous top European teams, winning the Champions League twice...
as the main reasons why his team failed to beat Slovenia.
Savićević was handed the coaching duties all by himself in late December 2001. At the time, he claimed to have taken the solo job on temporary basis only, since Dušan Bajević
Dušan Bajevic
Dušan Bajević is a Bosnian football manager and former Yugoslav international.-Playing career:...
rejected it. Savićević also intimated the new permanent coach would take over by the summer of 2002. However, that did not happen and he remained in post until June 2003.
Euro 2004 qualifying
Throughout his reign, he failed to achieve a settled team, and his personal disputes with Mateja KežmanMateja Kežman
Mateja Kežman is a Serbian football striker who plays for FC BATE Borisov of the Belarusian Premier League....
precipitated the striker to temporarily retire from international football. Savićević finally resigned in June 2003 after a humiliating 1-2 defeat to Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan national football team
The Azerbaijan national football team is the national football team of Azerbaijan and is controlled by Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan...
in a Euro 2004 qualifier, which was also the team's fifth defeat in a row. His overall managerial record was 4 wins, 11 losses, and 2 draws, in addition to 4 wins, 2 losses, and 2 ties as part of the commission.
Administrative / Political career
In the summer of 2004, 37-year-old Savićević became the president of the Football Association of MontenegroFootball Association of Montenegro
The Football Association of Montenegro is the governing body of football in Montenegro, based in Podgorica.It organizes the football leagues:*Montenegrin First League...
(FSCG), which was at the time under the umbrella of Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro
Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro
The Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro was the governing body of football in Serbia and Montenegro, based in Belgrade. It organized the football league, the national team, the cup tournament as well as the Second Leagues of both republics....
(FSSCG).
On 10 July 2009, Savićević got re-elected as Montenegrin FA president, and will remain at the post for another four years.
His time at the job has been marked with frequent public feuding and controversy.
Feud with Milorad Kosanović
On 17 November 2004, Serbia-Montenegro under-21 national team lost 4-0 against the Belgian u-21 teamBelgium national under-21 football team
The Belgium national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Belgium and is controlled by the Belgian Football Association. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years...
in Lokeren as part of the qualification round
2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification
The qualifying groups for the UEFA U-21 Championship 2006, where possible, matched the 7- and 6-team World Cup 2006 qualifying groups of the senior European teams. The exceptions were where Andorra, Faroe Islands, Liechtenstein, and Northern Ireland were involved; none of whom entered an under-21...
for the 2006 European under-21 Championship
2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship
-Group B:---------------------Knockout stage:-Semi-finals:-----Final:-Goalscorers:4 goals Klaas Jan Huntelaar3 goals Thomas Kahlenberg Nicky Hofs2 goals Bryan Bergougnoux Ruslan Fomin Artem Milevskiy...
. In the wake of the disappointing result, Savićević publicly came out against u-21 head coach Milorad Kosanović
Milorad Kosanovic
Milorad Kosanović is a Serbian football manager and former footballer. He is currently the manager of Chinese Super League team Shaanxi Zhongjian Chanba F.C.....
by saying he should resign over the loss as well as over the fact that he did not call up any players from the teams based in Montenegro for the Belgium match. In support of his claims Savićević said that "Miroslav Vujadinović
Miroslav Vujadinovic
Miroslav Vujadinović is a Montenegrin football goalkeeper playing for KS Vllaznia Shkodër.-External links:* at playerhistory.com...
from Budućnost Podgorica
FK Buducnost Podgorica
FK Budućnost is a football club from Podgorica, Montenegro, currently competing in the First League of Montenegro. Its colours are blue and white. FK Buducnost is a part of the Budućnost sport society.-History:...
is the best young goalkeeper in Europe and wasn't even called up for the under 21 squad" and went on to add that such state of affairs constitutes "discrimination of Montenegro".
Over the coming months Savićević exerted continuous pressure within the FA ranks for Kosanović to be fired, even going so far as to semi-officially boycott the under-21 team by refusing to allow Montenegrin players to turn up for Kosanović's callups. Savićević's bullish behaviour strained the internal relations within the Serbia-Montenegro FA organization to a maximum. In late 2004, in an effort to ease the tense standoff, Serbia-Montenegro FA president Dragan Stojković (Savićević's close personal friend and longtime teammate during playing days) reportedly asked Kosanović to resign, which he vehemently refused. As a result of the episode each member of the FA's expert council delegated from Serbia resigned in protest - Dušan Savić
Dušan Savic
Dušan "Dule" Savić is a Serbian former football player.He started playing football in the local side Jedinstvo Ub in his home town.-Club career:...
, Jovica Škoro, Milovan Đorić, and Miroslav Tanjga
Miroslav Tanjga
Miroslav Tanjga is a Serbian former football player. He grew up in the village of Stari Jankovci....
- with Savić stating he wants no part in this "dirty political game" while criticizing Savićević and Montenegrin FA for interfering in under-21 head coach's job.
As for Kosanović, after initially managing to resist, he eventually resigned some four months later on 8 March 2005.
Montenegrin independence referendum
Savićević then publicly came out in favour of Montenegrin independence, becoming an important part of the pro-independence campaign organized by Movement for Independent Montenegro. He attended, and spoke at, rallies alongside Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović. Savićević's face also appeared on billboards urging the citizens of Montenegro to vote 'Yes' at the referendum.In spring 2006 while interviewed for Montenegrin local station NTV Montena
NTV Montena
Nezavisna Televizija Montena is a regional broadcaster in Montenegro. It is based in Podgorica and can be seen in most of Montenegro...
, Savićević admitted to playing "in a couple of fixed matches" while with Budućnost in the old Yugoslav First League
Yugoslav First League
The Yugoslav First League was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and socialist Yugoslavia...
during the 1980s. He also claimed on the same occasion that most of the matches in that season's (2005-06
Serbia and Montenegro Superliga 2005-06
2005-06 Serbia and Montenegro Superliga is the last edition before the dissolution of the state union between Serbia and Montenegro.-League table:||||rowspan=5 style="background:white;"|...
) Serbia-Montenegro Superliga are fixed, but declined to elaborate or provide evidence by saying "I don't want to be killed because of football like Branko Bulatović". Naturally, such controversial claims caused a lot of reaction. Serbia-Montenegro FA (FSSCG) announced formal investigation, arranging a hearing for Savićević to provide details and evidence of his claims. Others, like FK Partizan vice-president Ratomir Babić, accused Savićević of scoring political points for his mentors in the separatist-oriented Montenegrin regime by intentionally spreading explosive false rumours in order to bring the union's league into disrepute.
Feud with Rajo Božović
Simultaneously, all throughout 2006, Savićević butted heads with his own second-in-command, FSCG vice-president Radojica "Rajo" Božović who was also the president of FK ZetaFK Zeta
FK Zeta is a football club from Montenegro. It is based in Golubovci, a suburb of Podgorica.- History :The club was formed in 1927 as FK Danica. In 1945 it was renamed to FK Napredak. In 1955 it was renamed to FK Zeta....
at the time.
Their feud started in mid March 2006 after Zeta vs. Budućnost league fixture in the second part of 2005-06 Serbia-Montenegro Superliga season. Initially, the row culminated on 12 May 2006 during the FSSCG meeting in Belgrade where Savićević and Božović showed up as representatives of regional Montenegrin FA (FSCG). At the said meeting, Savićević abruptly left the premises following a vicious shouting match with Božović. Since Montenegro became independent some 10 days later on 21 May 2006, FSCG became the top footballing body of the newly created country, responsible for the national team and also for organizing a football league. Savićević's presidential term continued as well.
In September 2006, a vicious public rift between two men got reignited following the cancellation of the scheduled league fixture between FK Zeta and Budućnost on 4 September 2006 due to threats of violence and incidents outside the ground between the clubs' managements. Božović accused Savićević of multiple infractions: favouring his old club Budućnost, working against Zeta, and tampering with the referee selection process. Savićević responded by calling on the Montenegrin government and ruling political party DPS
Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro
The Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro is the ruling social-democratic political party in Montenegro....
to get involved. In mid-October 2006, FSCG held a meeting during which the majority of delegates supported Savićević, deciding on the same occasion to relieve Božović of his duties as vice-president.
Feud with Dan newspaper
Also in this period Savićević got into the row with Podgorica's DanDan (newspaper)
Dan is a daily newspaper published in Montenegro. Its first issue appeared on December 31, 1998. It took its name from the old day Cetinje monthly newspaper that was published in the old Montenegrin state at the beginning of the 20th century...
daily newspaper, an issue that's ongoing off-and-on to this day some five years later. Irritated by their criticism of his work as FA president, his pro-independence political engagement during 2006 referendum campaign, as well as his ties with the regime of Milo Đukanović, Savićević verbally abused, shouted at, and generally menaced Dan journalists during FA press conferences. He especially went after Dan sports editor Veselin Drljević (former referee and former member of FSCG) with whom he has a long standing feud.
In March 2007, when Montenegro national team
Montenegro national football team
The Montenegro national football team represents Montenegro in association football and is controlled by the Football Association of Montenegro, the governing body for football in Montenegro...
started playing matches, Savićević raised even more controversy when in an unprecedented move, he banned Dan journalists from attending national team matches. In 2008, Dan editor-in-chief Mladen Milutinović complained about the situation to various international bodies including the International Sports Press Association (AIPS). In 2009, the issue was even discussed at AIPS congress held in Milan during late April and early May. Under pressure from AIPS, Savićević eventually relented and allowed the issuing of matchday accreditation for Dan journalists.
The antagonism reignited two years later, however. All throughout 2011, Savićević publicly expressed anger with Dans criticism of the national team head coach Zlatko Kranjčar
Zlatko Kranjcar
Zlatko "Cico" Kranjcar is a Croatian football manager and former striker. He is the currently head coach of Sepahan in Iran Pro League.-Club career:...
, calling the publication a "Serbian-oriented paper that never has and never will accept Montenegro as an independent state". Savićević even returned to his old ways on 7 October 2011, for the Montenegro vs. England Euro 2012 qualifier
UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group G
This page shows the standings and results for Group G of the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying tournament.- Standings :- Results and fixtures :A meeting was held in Zürich, Switzerland, on 15 March to determine the Group G fixture schedule...
, refusing to issue accreditation for Dan. Because of this, a protest against Savićević was published in their pages. Then a month later, for the deciding home leg playoff qualifier against Czech Republic, Savićević again did the same thing, which led to more critical coverage by the paper. On 17 November 2011, in the wake of the playoff loss to the Czechs, Savićević appeared on TV Vijesti
TV Vijesti
Televizija Vijesti is a national broadcaster in Montenegro. It is based in Podgorica.Televizija Vijesti aims to become the leader in informative programming in Montenegro. It also plans on finally con TV Vijesti employs around one hundred workers, including expert journalists and technical...
's talk show Načisto where he was asked by the host Petar Komnenić about his problems with Dan. Savićević's response was that for him Dan is an "unimportant media outlet" and that he prefers giving accreditation to "objective outlets". Dan responded with more pointed criticism of Savićević through sarcasm and ridicule, which led to Savićević scheduling a press conference on Saturday, 19 November 2011 at which he delivered more verbal vitriol towards the paper including a bizarre offer of subjecting himself to a drug test and paying out €2 million to Dan if the test results come in positive while asking for €500,000 from the paper if the test result is negative. Dan responded in the paper's next day issue with more veiled ridicule of Savićević.
Private life
Savićević was married to Valentina Brajović (divorced in 2000) with whom he has two children. One of his sons, Vladimir Savićević (born 1989), started his football career at FK Mladost Podgorica youth teams, and was capped for Montenegrin U19 team.Traffic infractions
Following a Saturday night out in TrebinjeTrebinje
Trebinje is the southernmost municipality and town in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is administratively part of the Republika Srpska entity and is located in southeastern Herzegovina, some from the Adriatic Sea....
on 18 September 2004, Savićević was involved in an incident with Podgorica police at around 2:30am Sunday morning. After driving his Audi TT
Audi TT
The Audi TT is a two-door sports car manufactured by the German automaker and Volkswagen Group subsidiary Audi since 1998.The Audi TT has been produced in two generations. Both generations have been available in two car body styles; as a 2+2 Coupé, or two-seater Roadster...
at a high rate of speed through Podgorica streets and running a red light, he was stopped by a police patrol. According to the police, when stopped, Savićević insulted the policeman with a series of obscenities and among other things said "I'm God, laws don't apply to me".
Approximately a year later, Savićević was severely injured in a traffic accident that occurred 1 October 2005 on a Podgorica street. He fractured both arms after crashing his motorcycle into the rear end of a moving vehicle, becoming airborne and landing hard on the pavement. He's had three surgeries in Hannover, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
during mid-to-late October 2005. The recovery period was about six months long.
1999 Heckler Controversy
Savićević is the protagonist of a widely circulated internet clip (viral videoViral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
) from a 1999 Dutch documentary about the 1987
1987 FIFA World Youth Championship
The 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Chile from October 10 to October 25, 1987. The 1987 championship was the 6th contested and won for the first time by Yugoslavia. Remarkably, in the course of the tournament the Yugoslavs defeated each of the three other semi-finalists, and...
World Youth Championship winning SFR Yugoslavia under-20 team. Most of the footage was shot in October 1999 just as the FR Yugoslavia and Croatia
Croatia national football team
The Croatia national football team represents Croatia in international football. The team is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in the country, and has been managed since 2006 by former player Slaven Bilić...
national teams were to play a deciding Euro 2000 qualifier in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
. Conceptualized as a "what might've been" homage of sorts, the documentary interviews different members of the 1987 youth side, now split between the senior national teams of two countries. Savićević was not a member of that 1987 team, but the Dutch filmmakers still decided to include him in the film.
This particular clip shows 33-year-old Savićević being interviewed on the day before the match, in front of the hotel in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
where Yugoslav team was staying. He is wearing Yugoslavia training gear and as such is easily spotted and recognized by people strolling by. As Dejan is answering a question, man on the street is heard shouting off-camera: "You're a piece of shit!".
Savićević looks up, realizes the comment was directed at him and answers the heckler
Heckler
A heckler is a person who harass and try to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes.Hecklers are often known to shout disparaging comments at a performance or event, or interrupts set-piece speeches, for example at a political meeting, with intent to disturb its performers or...
by berating him with an obscenity laced tirade. After insulting him sufficiently, Savićević returns his attention to the interview and continues answering the question right where he left off without missing a beat.
Honours
Club Career- SFR Yugoslavia ChampionsYugoslav First LeagueThe Yugoslav First League was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and socialist Yugoslavia...
: 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92. - Yugoslav CupYugoslav CupThe Yugoslav Cup, officially the Marshal Tito Cup, was one of two major football competitions in the former Yugoslavia, the other one being the Yugoslav League Championship. The Yugoslav Cup took place after the league championships when every competitive league in Yugoslavia had finished, in order...
: 1989-90. - FR Yugoslavia / Serbia and Montenegro CupSerbia and Montenegro CupThe Serbia and Montenegro Cup is a defunct cup tournament. The competition was formed in 2003 after FR Yugoslavia had changed its name to Serbia and Montenegro on February 4, 2003. The format from this tournament did not change at all from that of the Yugoslav Cup the only difference was the name...
: 1998-99. - European Cup (now called UEFA Champions LeagueUEFA Champions LeagueThe UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
):Champions (1): 1991. - Intercontinental CupIntercontinental Cup (football)The European/South American Cup, commonly referred to as the World Club Championship, Intercontinental Cup or Toyota Cup, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, contested between the winners of the European Cup and the South American Copa Libertadores...
(defunct, succeeded by FIFA Club World CupFIFA Club World CupThe FIFA Club World Cup is a football competition between the champion clubs from all six continental confederations.The first FIFA Club World Championship took place in Brazil in January 2000...
):Champions (1): 19911991 Intercontinental CupThe 1991 Intercontinental Cup was a football match played on 8 December 1991 between Red Star of Yugoslavia, winners of the 1990–91 European Cup, and Colo-Colo of Chile, winners of the 1991 Copa Libertadores. The match was played at the neutral venue of the National Stadium in Tokyo in front of...
. - Serie ASerie ASerie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
: 1993, 1994, 1996. - Italian SupercupSupercoppa ItalianaThe Supercoppa Italiana is a pre-season football competition held the week before the season begins in Italy every year. It is contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season, as a curtain raiser to the new season. It is usually played at the home of the Serie A...
: 1993, 1994. - Champions LeagueUEFA Champions LeagueThe UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
: 1994. - European Supercup: 1994.
Individual
- Ballon d'Or:
- Runner-up 1991.
- The best athlete of Yugoslavia
- Winner 1991
- The Sixth Star of Red Star (Šesta Zvezdina zvezda) as part of 1991 Red Star team.
In popular culture
In 1998, Serbian comedy rockComedy rock
Comedy rock is rock music mixed with comedy, often satire and parody.-History:Early USA examples include Stan Freberg, who lampooned artists such as Elvis Presley, Harry Belafonte and The Platters, and Sheb Wooley whose "Purple People Eater" reached No...
band The Kuguars
The Kuguars
The Kuguars were a successful short-lived Serbian comedy rock band from Belgrade, mainly consisting of famous Serbian actors...
recorded the song "Dejo" (a cover of Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
song "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)"), dedicating it to Savićević.