Vanja Milinković-Savić ( sr-Cyrl, Вања Милинковић-Савић, ; born 20 February 1997) is a Serbian 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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Italian club

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

. Born in Spain, he represents the Serbia national team. His elder brother

Sergej Milinković-Savić Sergej Milinković-Savić ( sr-Cyrl, Сергеј Милинковић-Савић, ; born 27 February 1995), also known mononymously as Sergej, is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Lazio and the Serbia ...

plays for

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. After failing to be awarded a UK work permit with English club

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, he was released by the club in November 2015 and signed a contract with

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football club based in Gdańsk. The club was founded in 1945 by people expelled from Lwów, who were supporters of Poland's oldest football team Lechia Lwów, founded in 1903. The club's name comes from Lechia, a ...

. In 2017 he was signed by Torino.

Club career

On 2 April 2014, Milinković-Savić signed his first professional contract with

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

, penning a three-year deal. On 17 May 2014, it was announced by Manchester United that the club reached an agreement with Vojvodina for the transfer of Milinković-Savić. Both clubs agreed that the player would stay with Vojvodina for one more season. The deal was completed on 5 August 2014, for a transfer fee of €1.75 million. Milinković-Savić made his competitive debut for Vojvodina on 10 August 2014, keeping a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

in a 3–0 home league victory over

OFK Beograd OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club'') is a Serbian professional football club based in Belgrade, more precisely in Karaburma, ...

. He played the full 90 minutes in all 15 league games in the first part of the 2014–15 season. After the winter break, Milinković-Savić lost his place as first-choice goalkeeper to experienced

Srđan Žakula Srđan Žakula (Serbian Cyrillic: Срђан Жакула; born 22 March 1979) is a Serbian football former player. He played as a goalkeeper for Radnički Šid last, and then retired and became goalkeeping coach. Honours Vojvodina * Serbian Cu ...

, making only two more league appearances. After failing to earn a work permit to play in England, Milinković-Savić was released by Manchester United in November 2015 and he signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Polish club Lechia Gdańsk on 26 November; the contract commenced on 1 January 2016. On 30 January 2017, Italian club Torino announced they had purchased him and he would join the club on 1 July. He was the first-choice goalkeeper for the national cup, while being the second choice, behind

Salvatore Sirigu Salvatore Sirigu (, ; born 12 January 1987) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Fiorentina and the Italy national team. Sirigu began his career with Venezia, and then Palermo. In 2011, he moved to Paris Sa ...

, for the Serie A. During the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

match against Carpi, he hit the crossbar with a free-kick in injury time. On 6 July 2018, Milinković-Savić signed with S.P.A.L. on loan from Torino until 30 June 2019. On 31 January 2019, Milinković-Savić joined to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

side

Ascoli Ascoli may refer to: Places in Italy *Ascoli Satriano, a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region *Province of Ascoli Piceno, a province of the Marche region **Ascoli Piceno, a city which is the seat of the province above ...

on loan until 30 June 2019. On 29 June 2019, he joined to Belgian club

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

on loan with an option to buy. On 15 June 2021, Torino announced a contract extension until 30 June 2024.

International career

Milinković-Savić was selected to represent the Serbia U19 national team at the 2014 UEFA Under-19 Championship. He served as a backup to

Predrag Rajković Predrag Rajković ( sr-cyr, Предраг Рајковић, ; born 31 October 1995) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Mallorca and the Serbia national team. Club career Jagodina Born in Negotin, ...

, failing to make an appearance at the tournament, as the team was eliminated by

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

on penalties in the semi-finals of the competition. Milinković-Savić again served as a backup to Rajković at the

2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the twentieth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition took place for the first time in New Zealand, the third time on Oceanian soil after ...

, where the Serbian team won the gold medal. He made his debut for the senior national team on 11 November 2021 in a friendly against

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

. In November 2022, he was selected in Serbia's squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

in Qatar. He played in all three group stage matches, against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Serbia finished fourth in the group.

Personal life

Milinković-Savić was born in Orense, Spain, to parents

Nikola Milinković Nikola Milinković (; born 19 March 1968) is a Serbian retired Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Born in Sanski Most, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the time part of Yugoslavia, Milinković started playing with ...

, who was playing professional football for

CD Ourense Club Deportivo Ourense, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Ourense, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1952 after the dissolution of old UD Orensana, it played in Segunda División B – Group 1, holding home games at ' ...

, and Milana Savić, a professional basketball player. He is the younger brother of midfielder

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

;Serbia U20 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

References

External links