Aleksandar Luković (

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, th ...

: Александар Луковић; born 23 October 1982) 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 Hung ...

n football manager and a former player who played as a defender. He is the manager of

Serbia national under-16 football team The Serbia national under-17 football team represents Serbia in international football at this age level and is controlled by the Football Association of Serbia, the governing body for football in Serbia. Competitive record European U-16/U-17 C ...

. He appeared in the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

Club career

Early career

Luković started his career at hometown club

Sloga Kraljevo Fudbalski klub Sloga Kraljevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Слога Краљево) is a football club based in Kraljevo, in Serbia. History In 1909 former cavalry captain Mr. Delić came to Kraljevo from Šibenik and broug ...

. In 2002, he was signed by Crvena Zvezda. He played his first

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, cla ...

match on 15 August 2002 after he substituted Nemanja Vidić at second half. Crvena Zvezda won 2–0 to

FC Kairat Football Club Kairat ( kk, Qaırat Fýtbol Klýby) is a professional football club based in Almaty, which plays in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Kazakh football. Founded in 1954 as Lokomotiv Alma-Ata, they became Urozhay in ...

Udinese

In mid-2006, after signing a pre-contract with Udinese, Luković was on loan to

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 ...

from Red Star Belgrade in order for the club to "borrow" the non-EU registration quota of Ascoli for Udinese. He was "loaned" to Udinese from Ascoli in January transfer window. On 27 January 2007, he played his first

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 Copp ...

match for Udinese against

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. The ...

. He was signed permanently in mid-2007 by Udinese from Red Star.

Zenit St. Petersburg

On 29 July 2010, it was officially announced that Luković signed a four-year contract with

FC Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, acco ...

for undisclosed fee. Initially he was a constant starter for the team but eventually got reduced playing time with the arrival of

Domenico Criscito Domenico "Mimmo" Criscito (; born 30 December 1986) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a left-back. He is set to join club Genoa on 2 January 2023. A versatile player, Criscito is effective both offensively and defensively and ...

to the club for left-back position.

Return to Red Star Belgrade

After several consecutive transfer windows of rumors regarding his return, it was announced on 29 December 2014 that Luković signed a 2.5-year contract with Red Star. On 6 February 2015, in a friendly match against

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...

, Luković suffered a serious injury which sidelined him until the summer of 2015. On 23 August 2015, Luković finally made his first appearance for Red Star since his injury, and was applauded by the whole stadium when he came in as a substitute for Savo Pavićević. After the end of contract with club in summer 2017, Luković left the club as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. In July same year, Luković retired from playing football professionally.

International career

He made his international debut against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

on 15 August 2005. He played a part during 2010 World Cup qualifying and mostly partnered Nemanja Vidić in central defense as Aleksandar Kolarov was preferred at left back. In June 2010, he was selected in Serbia's squad for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, where he appeared in group stage matches against

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

and Australia. He was sent off in Serbia's opening match against Ghana on 13 June 2010. In March 2011, two weeks before a crucial

Euro 2012 qualifier The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . Th ...

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. North ...

, Luković surprised everyone by deciding to retire from the national team at the age of 28, choosing to focus on his club Zenit. On the same occasion, his teammate Danko Lazović also made the same announcement.

Career statistics

Club

:Source:

International

:Source:
national football teams , Aleksandar Luković

Honours

Club

Red Star Belgrade *

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 ...

(2): 2005–06, 2015–16 *

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 ...

(2): 2001–02, 2005–06 Zenit St. Petersburg *

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 200 ...

(2):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, 2011–12 *

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Russian Cup winners. If the Premi ...

(1): 2011

Individual

Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season The Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season is an annual award given to a set of 11 footballers in the top tier of Serbian football, the SuperLiga, who are seen to be the best 11 players of the calendar season. Winners 2008–09 Source 2009–10 ...

: 2015–16

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lukovic, Aleksandar Serbian footballers Serbian football managers Serbian expatriate footballers Serbia and Montenegro international footballers Serbia international footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy FK Sloga Kraljevo players FK Jedinstvo Ub players Red Star Belgrade footballers Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C. players Udinese Calcio players FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players Serie A players Serbian SuperLiga players Association football fullbacks Association football central defenders Sportspeople from Kraljevo 1982 births Living people 2010 FIFA World Cup players Russian Premier League players Expatriate footballers in Russia Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Serbia and Montenegro footballers FC Zenit-2 Saint Petersburg players