Dejan Ranković (; born 25 July 1976) is a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

n 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 ...

who played 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 ...

Career

Smederevo

Born in

Smederevo Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, Belgrade. According to ...

, Ranković passed through the youth ranks of the club then called Sartid. He was later loaned to Železničar Smederevo in order to gain experience. Later on, Ranković also spent some time at Dubočica while serving his military duty in

Leskovac Leskovac (Serbian Cyrillic: Лесковац, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Jablanica District in southern Serbia. According to the 2022 census, City of Leskovac has a 124,889 inhabitants. Etymology Leskovac was historicall ...

. In the summer of 2000, Ranković returned to Sartid and played three games in the 2000–01 season. He also sat on the bench in all four matches in the

2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Aston Villa, Paris Saint-Germain and Troyes. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. First round First leg ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ...

. However, with the arrival of Dragan Žilić and Nebojša Milekić, Ranković was sent out on loan to Bosnian side

Slavija Sarajevo Fudbalski klub Slavija Sarajevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Славија Сарајево) is a professional association football club from the city of Istočno Sarajevo, Republika Srpska that is situated in Bosnia and Herze ...

for the rest of the 2001–02 season. In the summer of 2002, Ranković made another return to Sartid and became a member of the squad that won the

Serbia and Montenegro Cup The Serbia and Montenegro Cup was an association football knockout cup tournament of Serbia and Montenegro played between 1992 and 2006, after which Serbia and Montenegro became separate nations. The competition was the continuation of the old ...

in the 2002–03 season. He began receiving more playing time after the departure of Žilić in the summer of 2004. Following the club's relegation from the top flight in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, Ranković established himself as the team's first-choice goalkeeper and helped them earn promotion back straight away. He continued playing regularly for the side over the next three seasons.

Later career

In July 2012, Ranković moved to fellow

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

club

Sloboda Užice A sloboda ( rus, слобода́, p=sləbɐˈda) was a kind of settlement in the history of the Old Russian regions Povolzhye, Central Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for " freedom" and may be loosely ...

on a free transfer. He missed just one league game in the 2012–13 season, as the team narrowly fell out of a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

spot. In the following campaign, Ranković again missed just one league match, but failed to help the side avoid relegation from the top flight. During the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons, Ranković played regularly for

Serbian First League The Serbian First League ( sr, Прва лига Србије / Prva liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet First League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Прва лига / Mozzart Bet Prva liga) for sponsorship reasons, is the name for the second ...

club Sloga Petrovac.

Personal life

Nicknamed ''Šnicla'' (Serbian for "

schnitzel A schnitzel is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer. Most commonly, the meat is breaded before frying. Breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and is made using veal, pork, chicken, mutt ...

"), Ranković is a

car mechanic An auto mechanic (automotive technician in most of North America, light vehicle technician in British English, and motor mechanic in Australian English) is a mechanic who services and repairs automobiles, sometimes specializing in one or more ...

, owning and maintaining an oldsmobile from 1968.

Career statistics

Honours

;Sartid Smederevo *

: 2002–03

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rankovic, Dejan Association football goalkeepers Expatriate footballers in Bosnia and Herzegovina First League of Serbia and Montenegro players FK Dubočica players FK Slavija Sarajevo players FK Sloboda Užice players FK Sloga Petrovac na Mlavi players FK Smederevo players Serbia and Montenegro expatriate footballers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbia and Montenegro footballers Serbian First League players Serbian footballers Serbian SuperLiga players Sportspeople from Smederevo 1976 births Living people