Vladimir Jugović ( sr-cyr, Владимир Југовић, ; born 30 August 1969) is a Serbian former 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 ...
. A versatile player, he was usually employed as a
left or
attacking midfielder
A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...
, but could play anywhere in
midfield
Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...
. He represented
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
at the
1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...
and at
UEFA Euro 2000
The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe.
The finals tournament was ...
, collecting 41 international appearances between 1991 and 2002, and scoring three goals.
Born in
Milutovac, a village near
Trstenik, Jugović played throughout his career for numerous top European teams. He won the European Cup and Intercontinental Cup with Red Star in 1991 and won both competitions again with Juventus in 1996. He is regarded as one of the finest players that Serbia has ever produced and one of the best
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 ...
s of his generation.
Club career
Red Star Belgrade
Jugović was scouted by Red Star at the age of 15 by former Red Star player
Toma Milićević.
After making his debut for Red Star, he was loaned to
FK Rad in the second half of the 1989–90 season. When
Ljupko Petrović
Ljubomir "Ljupko" Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Љубомир "Љупко" Петровић; born 15 May 1947) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. He also holds a Bosnian passport.
As a manager, Petrović's biggest success wa ...
became coach of Red Star, Jugović was brought back to the starting eleven. In 1991, Jugović played in the
1991 European Cup Final
The 1991 European Cup Final was a football match held at the Stadio San Nicola in Bari, Italy, on 29 May 1991, that saw Red Star Belgrade of Yugoslavia defeat Marseille of France in a penalty shoot-out. After normal time and extra time could ...
, which Red Star won. Subsequently, he won the
Intercontinental Cup as Red Star beat
Colo-Colo
Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has pla ...
3–0, scoring the first two goals.
By the end of his career with Red Star, he was awarded the
Star of Red Star and became one of the most celebrated footballers in Yugoslavia.
Sampdoria
Sampdoria
Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa.
The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...
invited Jugović at the insistence of
Vujadin Boškov
Vujadin Boškov ( sr-cyr, Вујадин Бошков, ; 16 May 1931 – 27 April 2014) was a Serbian footballer and manager.
A midfielder, he played 57 matches for the Yugoslav national team. He experienced his greatest success as a coach in 1 ...
, who was their coach until 1992.
He spent three successful seasons at Sampdoria,
during which he helped the team win the
1993–94 Coppa Italia. Notably, he scored a brace in the
1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-final first leg against
Arsenal, but missed a penalty after overtime in the subsequent leg, after which Arsenal progressed.
Juventus
In 1995 Jugović was purchased from Sampdoria by
Juventus, whose coach at the time was
Marcello Lippi. In his first season, Juventus finished as runners-up in
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
. In the
1996 UEFA Champions League Final, he came on as a substitute for
Antonio Conte
Antonio Conte (; born 31 July 1969) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.
Playing as a midfielder, Conte began his career at local club Lecce and later ...
and scored the decisive penalty for Juventus against
Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...
, following a 1–1 draw after extra-time. In a 2017 interview with ''
Goal.com
GOAL is an international association football news website for FC Barcelona fans founded in 2004 by Chicco Merighi and Gianluigi Longinotti-Buitoni. It is published in 19 languages, with 38 national editions and 600 contributors. It is owned by ...
'', he recalled that he felt calm before taking his penalty against Ajax keeper
Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar (; born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch football executive and former professional player who is currently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, with whom he began his senior playing career in the early 1990s; he is considered to be a m ...
.
Romeo Agresti. Goal.com: ''Jugovic: I entered into Juventus legend with Champions League winner'' . 2 June 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2018. After his role in their Champions League victory, Jugović played for Juventus for one more season, during which he featured in the
1996 Intercontinental Cup, which Juventus won 1–0 over
Riverplate.
That season, Juventus went on to win the
1996–97 Serie A title,
after which Jugović left for Lazio.
In total, he made 77 appearances for the Turin–based club, scoring 10 goals.
Looking back at the trainings content and discipline under
Marcello Lippi he noted: "The way we were training was a thing to watch and analyze. We didn't have time to rest and we would begin our first training in the day with a 40 minute work in the gym succeeded by running sessions, and that was only a warm up. In the afternoon we had a tactical training combined with a football playing and the third drill was around 20:00 p.m. containing mostly stretching. So, none of our success happened by an accident, we deserved everything and i do not like when someone oppugn our achievements. That was maybe a reason why we had such a big amount of injuries. I think that no club today train as hard as we did then."
Later career
In the summer of 1997, he joined
Lazio
it, Laziale
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spending only one season with the Roman club winning his second Coppa Italia (
1997–98 Coppa Italia), beating Milan in the two-leg final, also the club reached the
1998 UEFA Cup Final, losing to Inter in the all Italian final.
Jugović successively moved to
Atlético Madrid
Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...
for the 1998–99 season before joining
Inter
Inter may refer to:
Association football clubs
* Inter Milan, an Italian club
* SC Internacional, a Brazilian club
* Inter Miami CF, an American club
* FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club
* FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club
* FK Inter Bratislava, a form ...
the following year, where he spent two seasons.
Jugović finished his career at
LR Ahlen
Rot Weiss Ahlen is a German football club based in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 2006 the club was known as ''LR Ahlen'' for its major sponsor, but underwent a name change when the sponsor withdrew its support after the team was relegated ...
, after stints with
AS Monaco FC
Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fre ...
and