Stefan Savić (

Montenegrin Cyrillic The Montenegrin alphabet is the collective name given to "''Abeceda''" (Montenegrin Latin alphabet) and "''Азбука''" (Montenegrin Cyrillic alphabet), the writing systems used to write the Montenegrin language. It was adopted on 9 June 2009 ...

: Стефан Савић, ; born 8 January 1991) is a Montenegrin 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 plays for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

club Atlético Madrid and the Montenegro national team as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Born in

Mojkovac Mojkovac (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Мојковац, ) is a town in northern Montenegro. It has a population of 3,590 (2011 census). Mojkovac is the centre of Mojkovac Municipality, which has a population of 8,622.Brskovo Brskovo ( cnr, Брсково) is a village in northern Montenegro, within the Municipality of Mojkovac which used to have silver mines and a mint. Brskovo encompasses the whole complex of smaller localities, today overgrown with dense wood and w ...

, before moving to

BSK Borča BSK is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to: Sports * OFK Beograd, Serbian football club * FK BSK Borča, Serbian football club * FK BSK Batajnica, Serbian football club * FK BSK Banja Luka, Bosnian-Herzegovinian football club * FK BSK Led ...

, and then to

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

. He won the

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

with Partizan, and then joined Manchester City for £6 million, winning the

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 Fo ...

title in his only season there. In 2012, he was transferred to

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

, making over 100 appearances across three seasons before signing with Atlético Madrid in 2015, where he won the

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. ...

and

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

in 2018. A full international since 2010, Savić has made over fifty appearances and scored five goals for Montenegro.

Club career

Career in Serbia

Savić began his professional career with

during the 2008–09 season. In early 2010, he was on a ten-day trial with Arsenal. According to Savić, he had agreed to join Arsenal in the summer, but the transfer never went through. On 29 August 2010, it was announced that Savić had signed for

on a four-year contract and was given the number 15 shirt. He made four appearances in the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League group stage and helped the club win the double.

Manchester City

On 6 July 2011, Savić signed a four-year contract for Manchester City in a £6 million deal. He made his debut against Swansea City on 15 August as a substitute at the City of Manchester Stadium. On 1 October, he came off the bench and scored his first goal for the club in a 4–0 victory away to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, heading in the conclusive goal from a corner from

Samir Nasri Samir Nasri (born 26 June 1987) is a French former professional footballer. He primarily played as an attacking midfielder and a winger, although he had also been deployed in central midfield. Nasri was known for his dribbling, ball control ...

. Throughout centre-back

Vincent Kompany Vincent Jean Mpoy Kompany (; ; born 10 April 1986) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back and is the current manager of EFL Championship club Burnley. He most notably played for Manchester Ci ...

's four-match ban from 11 to 25 January, Savić replaced him in the starting line-up, with third-choice

Kolo Touré Kolo Abib Touré (born 19 March 1981) is an Ivorian professional football coach and former player who is the manager of Championship side Wigan Athletic. He played as a defender for Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Celtic and the Ivory Co ...

away on international duty with the Ivory Coast in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. Although Savić showed brief flashes of form in this time, he showed many instances of nervousness resulting in frequent misplaced passes, clearances and crucially conceded a penalty against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

in a

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 ...

match, resulting in a Liverpool win. Via a poor first touch, he caused

Jermain Defoe Jermain Colin Defoe (born 7 October 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He also played for the England national team. Defoe began his career with Charlton Athletic, joining their youth team aged 14, be ...

's goal in City's 3–2 win over

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

. With Kompany's return to the starting team, Savić returned to the bench. He ended the season with 12 league appearances, enough for a medal, as Manchester City won the

2011–12 Premier League The 2011–12 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th season of the Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 13 August 2011 and ended on 13 May 2012 with Manchester Ci ...

on the last day of the season.

Fiorentina

On 31 August 2012, Italian

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 Cop ...

club

signed Savić as part of a deal for

Matija Nastasić Matija Nastasić ( sr-cyr, Матија Настасић; born 28 March 1993) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Spanish La Liga club Mallorca and the Serbia national team. He began his career at Partizan, a ...

to transfer the other way. He was given the number 15 shirt and made his Fiorentina debut on 7 October, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 over

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

, and in December he scored his first two goals in a 2–2 home draw with

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, ...

. He finished the season with 26 league appearances and one

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 ...

appearance, helping Fiorentina to finish in fourth place in the

2012–13 Serie A The 2012–13 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 111th season of top-tier Italian football, the 81st in a round-robin tournament, and the 3rd since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. ...

, thereby securing a

place for 2013–14. Savić continued to be a mainstay in the Fiorentina defence in the 2013–14 season, making 31 appearances in the league as Fiorentina again finished in fourth place. Savić made four appearances in the Europa League proper and two more in qualifying as Fiorentina made the last 16 of the competition, being beaten 2–1 on aggregate by rivals Juventus. He also played both matches in the

semi-final win over

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a ...

and in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

, where his side lost 3–1 to

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. In the 2014–15 season, Savić reached the milestone of 100 appearances for Fiorentina in all competitions. He was a major part of their run to the semi-finals in the 2014–15 Europa League and the third consecutive fourth-place finish in Serie A, making 41 appearances in all competitions.

Atlético Madrid

On 20 July 2015, Savić moved to Atlético Madrid for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

10 million fee and signed a five-year contract with the club;

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 ...

Mario Suárez moving in the opposite direction for free as part of the deal, though Suárez later sold for €4 million in January 2016. Savić became the first Montenegrin footballer who played in the

Champions League final The UEFA Champions League is a seasonal football competition established in 1955. Prior to the 1992–93 season, the tournament was named the European Cup. The UEFA Champions League is open to the league champions of all UEFA (Union of European ...

in the 21st century, 18 years after

Predrag Mijatović Predrag "Peđa" Mijatović ( sr-Cyrl, Предраг Мијатовић, ; born 19 January 1969) is a Montenegrin retired professional footballer who played as a striker. At club level, Mijatović played for six clubs: Budućnost, Partizan, Va ...

, who scored decisive goal in the 1998 final for Real Madrid against Juventus.

International career

Savić represented Montenegro at every youth level, including under-17, under-19 and under-21 teams. He made his international debut for the senior team in a friendly match against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

on 11 August 2010, replacing Milan Jovanović for the final 15 minutes at the

Stadion Pod Goricom Podgorica City Stadium ( cnr, Stadion pod Goricom) is an all-seater multi-purpose stadium in Podgorica, Montenegro. Although its seating capacity changed over the years due to several renovations, as of 2019 it has 11,050 seats. The stadium is the ...

. On 10 August 2011, he scored twice in a 3–2 friendly loss to neighbours

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

at the

Loro Boriçi Stadium The Loro Boriçi Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi "Loro Boriçi"), previously known as Vojo Kushi Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi Vojo Kushi) is a multi-purpose stadium in Shkodër, Albania, which is used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Vllazn ...

in Shkodër.

Personal life

Stefan's father Dragan was the president of the municipal assembly in

Mojkovac Mojkovac (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Мојковац, ) is a town in northern Montenegro. It has a population of 3,590 (2011 census). Mojkovac is the centre of Mojkovac Municipality, which has a population of 8,622.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 ...

Delije Delije ( sr-cyr, Делије) is a name referring to the supporters of various sports clubs that compete under the Red Star Belgrade multi-sport club banner. The plural of the singular form ''delija'' (делија)—which in Serbian generall ...

ultras, who are otherwise not known for being sympathetic to people associated with crosstown rivals Partizan, held up a banner which said "Support for Stefan Savić" after the loss of his father.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''As of match played 17 November 2022. Montenegro score listed first, score column indicates score after each Savić goal.''

Honours

BSK Borča *

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 ...

: 2008–09 Partizan *

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 ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup (Serbian: Куп Србије, Kup Srbije) is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. From 2006 to 2010, the competition was known as the Lav Cup f ...

Manchester City *

: 2011–12 * FA Community Shield:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

Fiorentina *

runner-up: 2013–14 Atlético Madrid *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

: 2017–18 *

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

runner-up: 2015–16 Individual *Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season:

* Montenegrin Footballer of the Year (5): 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Savic, Stefan 1991 births Living people People from Mojkovac Association football central defenders Montenegrin footballers Montenegro youth international footballers Montenegro under-21 international footballers Montenegro international footballers FK BSK Borča players FK Partizan players Manchester City F.C. players ACF Fiorentina players Atlético Madrid footballers Serbian First League players Serbian SuperLiga players Premier League players Serie A players La Liga players Montenegrin expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Serbia Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Spain Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in England Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Italy Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Spain