Saša Kalajdžić ( sr-cyrl, Саша Калајџић; born 7 July 1997) is an Austrian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

and the Austria national team. Kalajdžić began his senior career playing in the third and fourth tiers of Austrian football with SR Donaufeld Wien. In 2016, he signed for

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

club Admira Wacker, where he scored 12 goals in 35 games for the first team. He joined German club

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

in July 2019, sustaining a serious knee injury shortly after joining and not making his debut until May 2020. He scored 24 goals in 60 games for Stuttgart. In August 2022, he was signed by English club Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported fee of £15 million. Kalajdžić played for Austria at under-21 level, before making his senior international debut in October 2020. He was part of Austria's squad at

Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

Club career

FC Admira Wacker Mödling

Kalajdžić joined FC Admira Wacker Mödling in 2016, from SR Donaufeld Wien. He originally played as a midfielder for the club's reserve side in the

Austrian Regionalliga East The Austrian Regional League East (german: Regionalliga Ost) is a third-tier division of Austrian football re-introduced in the 1984–85 season. It covers the Austrian states of Burgenland, Lower Austria and Vienna and is one of three leagues ...

, before being converted into a forward.

VfB Stuttgart

On 5 July 2019, Kalajdžić signed a four-year contract with the German club

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

. Shortly after his arrival, he suffered a torn cruciate ligament during a preseason training camp. He made his league debut on 28 May 2020, coming on as a substitute in the 78th minute of matchday 28 of the 2019–20

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

season against Hamburger SV, and scored his first goal on matchday 33 during a 6–0 rout of FC Nuremberg. In the following season, Kalajdžić frequently led the line for VfB Stuttgart, finishing the season as the 6th top scorer in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

with 16 goals, helping his team finish 9th. The next season, he scored the winner in Stuttgart's 3–2 win over

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

on matchday 25, and the team's first goal in a 2–1 win over

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspi ...

on the final matchday, to ensure the club's presence in the Bundesliga for the 2022–23 season.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 31 August 2022, English club

announced that they had signed Kalajdžić on a five-year-deal, with the option to extend for a further 12 months. The fee was undisclosed by the club, but was reported to be £15 million. He made his debut three days later as a starter in a 1–0

win against

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

at Molineux, but was substituted at half-time due to injury which was later confirmed as an ACL tear requiring surgery. Wolves subsequently announced that the player underwent reparative surgery on 6 September, and cautioned that the typical rehabilitation period after such a procedure is nine months.

International career

Kalajdžić made six appearances for Austria at under-21 level. He made his senior international debut for

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

on 14 October 2020, in a Nations League 1–0 win against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, as an added-time substitute for

Michael Gregoritsch Michael Gregoritsch (born 18 April 1994) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a winger or striker for Bundesliga club SC Freiburg and the Austria national team. Career Kapfenberger SV In 2008, Gregoritsch began his career ...

. On 25 March 2021, he scored his first two international goals in a 2–2 away draw with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

during

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

. He was included in the squad for

, where he scored a goal in a 2–1 loss after extra-time against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in the round of 16.

Style of play

Due to his two-metre stature and relatively slender build, Kalajdžić received comparisons with the English striker Peter Crouch, who similarly to him functioned as an out-and-out

target man Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. During his youth career, Kalajdžić also played as a

holding midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and referred to Nemanja Matić as an inspiration.

Personal life

Born in Austria, Kalajdžić is of

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

descent.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Austria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kalajdžić goal''.

References

External links

Profile
at the Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. website *
Profile
at Austrian Football Association {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalajdzic, Sasa 1997 births Living people Austrian people of Serbian descent Footballers from Vienna Austrian footballers Association football forwards FC Admira Wacker Mödling players VfB Stuttgart players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Austrian Regionalliga players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Premier League players Austria under-21 international footballers Austria international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players Austrian expatriate footballers Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Austrian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in England