Esteban Ariel Saveljich ( cnr, Естебан Савељић, Esteban Saveljić; born 20 May 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Spanish club Burgos CF. Born in Argentina, he represents the Montenegro national team at international level.

Club career

Born in Tandil,

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

, Argentina, Saveljich joined

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's youth setup in 2006, aged 15. On 23 June 2012, he made his first team – and

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

– debut, in a 2–1 away loss against Vélez Sársfield. Saveljich scored his first professional goal on 1 April 2014, in a 3–3 home draw against Estudiantes. He was also a part of the squad which was crowned champions in that year, but as a backup. In January 2015 Saveljich was loaned to fellow top tier club Defensa y Justicia, until the end of the year. He appeared in 24 matches, scoring once, as his side avoided relegation. On 24 January 2016, Saveljich moved abroad, signing a six-month loan deal with

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

side UD Almería. On 18 August, he signed a permanent four-year deal with fellow league team

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

. On 4 August 2017, after contributing sporadically to the Valencian club's promotion to La Liga, Saveljich was loaned to Albacete Balompié in the second level, for one year. On 31 August 2018, he returned to Almería on loan for the 2018–19 campaign. On 26 July 2019, Saveljich agreed to a permanent four-year deal with Rayo Vallecano, freshly relegated to the second division. On 1 September 2023, he joined Burgos CF in the second division on a one-year contract.

International career

Saveljich obtained Montenegrin nationality in 2015. He was called up for international matches of Montenegro versus Denmark and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in June 2015, both of which he entered as a substitute. In a Euro 2016 qualifying match against Russia, he was in the starting line-up. Under Ljubiša Tumbaković, the new head coach of Montenegro national team, he played in a friendly match against Greece.

Personal life

Saveljich, a

Montenegrin Argentine Argentine Montenegrins are people born in Argentina of Montenegrin descent. During the early 1900s, Montenegrins from the Kingdom of Montenegro began emigrating to the country, and nowadays there are approximately 50,000 Montenegrins and descen ...

, is the cousin of former Montenegrin footballer Niša Saveljić. His paternal great-grandfather and grandmother were immigrants from Montenegro. Saveljich is nicknamed ''el Polaco'' (The Pole) by Argentine media, due to his hair colour. Conversely, in Montenegro he is nicknamed '' Gaucho''.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Racing Club *

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Levante UD *

: 2016–17

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saveljich, Esteban 1991 births Living people Footballers from Tandil Argentine people of Montenegrin descent Argentine men's footballers Montenegrin men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Argentine Primera División players Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Defensa y Justicia footballers La Liga players Segunda División players UD Almería players Levante UD footballers Albacete Balompié players Rayo Vallecano players Burgos CF footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Montenegrin expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Montenegro men's international footballers