Saša Drakulić (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, t ...

: Саша Дракулић; born 28 August 1972) is a retired

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 ...

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 ...

. The striker went to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

in 1995 and during his nine seasons in the K League made a name for himself as one of the most successful foreign players ever in the league.

Career

Drakulić joined

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

in 1993.

In Asia

In 1995, he joined the Korean side Busan Daewoo Royals, scoring eight goals the first season. He played for the Busan Daewoo Royals until July 1998, when he made the switch to Suwon Samsung Bluewings. With the Bluewings he won two consecutive K-League Championships in 1998 and 1999, before making an ill-fated switch to J. League Division 1 side

Kashiwa Reysol is a Japanese professional football club based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium ...

. He spent a short unhappy period in Japan before returning to Suwon in May 2000, He was returned Suwon Samsung Bluewings as loan trade with

Hwang Sun-hong Hwang Sun-hong (born 14 July 1968) is a South Korean former football player and current head coach of the South Korea national under-23 football team. He was the most notable South Korean striker in the 1990s and early 2000s. Club career A ...

in May 2000. In 2011, he was on the move again, joining

Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Seongnam () is the fourth largest city in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province after Suwon and the 10th largest city in the country. Its population is approximately one million. Seongnam is a satellite city of Seoul. It is largely a residential city ...

. Drakulić won three Championship medals from 2001–2003 with the Chunma before departing the K-League and signing for

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

side

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

. During his nine seasons in K League, Drakulić scored 104 goals in his 271 matches (Regular season and

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, at the time the second-highest scoring tally in the history of the league. He holds the record for the most shots on goal with 941 strikes.

Return

In 2005, he moved back to the First League of Serbia and Montenegro 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 ...

, but subsequently moved on to second division side ČSK Čelarevo at the start of 2006. After ČSK, Drakulić joined Mladost Apatin in July 2006. After a successful year with Mladost, Drakulić moved back to Vojvodina in the summer of 2007, and made an appearance in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

tie against

Hibernians FC Hibernians Football Club is a Maltese professional football club based in the town of Paola. History The club played one season in 1922 as Constitutionals FC, representing the pro-British Constitutional Party. They started up again in the 19 ...

. His Vojvodina contract was cancelled in December 2007 after he picked up a cruciate knee injury whilst playing in an indoor football tournament without the permission of his club.

Honours

Club

Busan Daewoo Royals * K League : 1997 *

: 1997-Adidas Cup, 1997-Prospecs Cup Suwon Samsung Bluewings * K League : 1998, 1999 *

: 1999-Adidas Cup, 1999-Daehan Fire Insurance Cup * Super Cup : 1999 Seongnam Ilhaw Chunma * K League : 2001, 2002, 2003 *

: 2002-Adidas Cup

Individual

* K League Top Scorer : 1999 *

K League Best XI The K League Best XI is an award for the best eleven players in a K League season. K League 1 award (1983–present) Winners Players marked bold won the Most Valuable Player award in that respective year. Appearances by player Appearanc ...

: 1998, 1999

Club statistics

Stats in K League

* Other competitive competitions, including the

Korean Super Cup The Korean Super Cup was the annual curtain-raiser to the South Korean football season from 1999 to 2006, and was contested between the champions of K League and Korean FA Cup. It was dropped from the South Korean football calendar in 2007. Afte ...

Asian Super Cup The Asian Super Cup was an annual football competition between the winners of the Asian Club Championship and the Asian Cup Winners' Cup. The competition started in 1995, but came to an end in 2002 after both major AFC tournaments were merged int ...

A3 Champions Cup A3 Champions Cup (also known as East Asian Champions Cup) was an annual football (soccer) tournament jointly organized by the China PR, Japan and Korea Republic football Association. It began in 2003, involving the league champions of China, Japan ...

Peace Cup The Peace Cup was an invitational pre-season friendly football tournament for club teams which was held every two years by the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation. It was usually contested by eight clubs from several continents, though 12 teams pa ...

Stats in J1 League

References

External links

* *
Profile
at Srbijafudbal {{DEFAULTSORT:Drakulic, Sasa 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Vinkovci Serbs of Croatia Serbian footballers Association football forwards Red Star Belgrade footballers Busan IPark players Suwon Samsung Bluewings players Kashiwa Reysol players Seongnam FC players AEK Larnaca FC players FK Vojvodina players FK ČSK Čelarevo players FK Mladost Apatin players FK Proleter Novi Sad players FK Cement Beočin players FK Brodarac players K League 1 players J1 League players Serbian SuperLiga players Cypriot First Division players Serbian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in South Korea Expatriate footballers in Japan Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Serbian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea