Darko Savić (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (, ), also known as the Serbian script, (, ), is a standardized variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language. It originated in medieval Serbia and was significantly reformed in the 19th cen ...

: Дарко Савић; born 19 January 1979) is a retired Serbian

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 lea ...

who played as a defender and manager of Septemvri Sofia II. He has played much of his career in a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

role, but he has also been used as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Playing career

Savić began his career with Sartid Smederevo. After four years of playing in the

First League of FR Yugoslavia The First League of Serbia and Montenegro () was the top football league of Serbia and Montenegro, before the country's dissolution in 2006. The league was formed as the First League of FR Yugoslavia following the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992, ef ...

, he was signed by

Spartak Varna FC Spartak Varna () is a Bulgarian association football club based in Varna, which currently competes in the First League, the top level of Bulgarian football league system. Spartak plays its home matches at the local Stadion Spartak. Founded ...

in the summer of 2002.

Spartak Varna

Savić made his

Bulgarian A PFG The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

debut on 10 August 2002, replacing

Stefan Donchev Stefan Donchev (; born 28 August 1975 in Varna) is a former Bulgarian 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, Americ ...

in a 3–1 away loss against

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sports Club of the Army'' ...

. Seven days later, he made his first start for Spartak, in a 1–0 loss against

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv (), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Stadion Lokomotiv (Plovdiv), Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park and ha ...

at Spartak Stadium. On 24 February 2004, Savić scored an own goal in a 2–1 home loss against Cherno More in the derby of

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city ** Varna Province ** Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna ** Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis * Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy * Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia Asia * Var ...

Lokomotiv Sofia

On 3 September 2004, Savić joined

Lokomotiv Sofia FC Lokomotiv Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently plays in the First League, the top tier of Bulgarian football. Founded as Railway Sports Club in 1929, and refounded in 2015, following ...

on a free transfer. He made his first league appearance for Lokomotiv in the 4–0 defeat by

on 11 September. On 18 April 2009, he scored his first goal in Bulgaria in a 3–2 win over Cherno More, opening the scoring with a trademark strike from 25 yards out. On 31 May Savić was sent off in a match against his previous side

for a foul on Angel Stoykov. On 11 April 2011, Savić became the second foreign player after

Nebojša Jelenković Nebojša Jelenković ( sr-Cyrl, Небојша Јеленковић; born 26 May 1978) is a former Serbian professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He has played more than 290 domestic games with Litex Lovech and holds the ...

, who has made 200 appearances in the

. As of March 2015, he has played 246 matches in the top division of Bulgarian football, being third in the all-time appearance list for foreigners. Savić is also the non-Bulgarian defender with the most games. It was announced on 10 June 2011 that, along with

Valentin Galev Valentin Plamenov Galev (; born 1 January 1984) is a Bulgarian professional footballer currently playing for Rilski Sportist as a goalkeeper. He also served as a goalkeepers coach for Vitosha Bistritsa. Career Valentin Galev earned his first p ...

Kristian Dobrev Kristiyan Dobrev (; born 23 September 1978) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who is currently the sporting director of Septemvri Sofia. Career Dobrev was raised in Lokomotiv Sofia's youth teams. Between 1998 and 2003, he played fo ...

, Marcho Dafchev and Rumen Goranov, Savić had agreed to sign a new two-year contract, which would keep him with Lokomotiv until 2013. The contract was finally signed on 19 June. On 9 February 2012, his contract with Lokomotiv was terminated.

Botev Vratsa

On 14 February 2012, Savić joined

Botev Vratsa Botev () is a Bulgarian professional association football, football club based in Vratsa, that competes in the First Professional Football League (Bulgaria), First League, the top division of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 1921. Si ...

. He made his debut for Botev in a 1–0 home loss against

Slavia Sofia PFC Slavia Sofia 1913 () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the First League. Slavia's home ground is the Stadion Aleksandar Sh ...

on 3 March.

Managerial career

On 23 August 2019, Savić was appointed manager of Sportist Svoge. He was fired on 4 January 2020. In February 2020, Savić was appointed manager of

Kostinbrod Kostinbrod ( ) is a town in western Bulgaria. It is the seat of Kostinbrod Municipality. It is located 15 km west of the capital city of Sofia. It is located on two important transport corridors: Lom — Sofia — Thessaloniki and Sofia — ...

. He left the position shortly before the start of the 2021–22 season.Александър Гидионов пред Efirbet: Манталитетът на младите е под всякаква критика
duma.bg, 27 October 2021

Career statistics

References

External links

at Semedrija.com (FK Smederevo fans official site) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Savic, Darko 1979 births Living people Footballers from Vršac Men's association football defenders Men's association football central defenders Serbia and Montenegro men's footballers Serbian men's footballers FK Smederevo 1924 players FC Spartak Varna players FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players POFC Botev Vratsa players FC Botev Ihtiman players FC Sportist Svoge players OFC Kostinbrod players First League of Serbia and Montenegro players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Serbia and Montenegro expatriate men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Serbian expatriate men's footballers Serbian football managers Serbian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Bulgaria