Ivan Šaponjić (

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 ...

: Иван Шапоњић; born 2 August 1997) is a Serbian 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 lea ...

who plays as a striker for Fehérvár FC. At international level, Šaponjić won the gold medal for

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup, scoring two goals in the process.

Club career

Partizan

Born in

Nova Varoš Nova Varoš ( sr-cyr, Нова Варош, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia. The municipality of Nova Varoš has a population of 13,507, while the town of Nova Varoš itself has a population of ...

, Šaponjić started playing football at local clubs Zlatar Nova Varoš and Sloboda Užice before joining the youth academy of Partizan. He made his senior debut for the club in a league game on 30 November 2013, coming on as a 76th-minute substitute in a 2–0 home win over Spartak Subotica. He eventually failed to make any other competitive appearance in the 2013–14 season. On 30 May 2014, he signed his first professional contract with Partizan, penning a three-year deal. He scored his first competitive goal for the team in a 2–0 away victory over Jagodina in the second leg of the

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије / Kup Srbije), also known as Mozzart Serbian Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. ...

semi-final on 8 April 2015. Five days later, he scored his first league goal in a 3–1 away win over

OFK Beograd OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English language, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club''), also known in English as OFK Belgrade and currently referred to as OFK ...

. In total, he scored 5 goals in 16 appearances in all competitions during the 2014–15 season. On 25 July 2015, Šaponjić scored a brace in a 6–0 home league win over Jagodina. He scored his first international goal for Partizan with an overhead kick in a 2–1 home win over BATE Borisov in the return leg of the Champions League play-off round on 26 August 2015. This was the club's 100th victory in

European football UEFA competitions (), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur association football and futsal. T ...

. He also scored both goals for Partizan in their 2–0 Serbian Cup win over Sinđelić Beograd on 28 October 2015.

Benfica

On 12 January 2016, Šaponjić signed a five-and-a-half-year contract with Portuguese champions Benfica and was immediately assigned to their

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

. In July 2017, he was loaned out to Belgian club Zulte Waregem.

Atlético Madrid

On 11 July 2019, Šaponjić signed a three-year contract with

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

for an undisclosed fee, reported to be in region of 500 thousand euros. He made his debut on 23 January 2020, in a

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

clash against Cultural Leonesa. On 22 January 2021, Šaponjić joined fellow

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

on loan until the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. On 31 January 2021, he made his club debut in a 2–4 home league defeat against his contractual owners, Atlético Madrid.

Slovan Bratislava

In January 2022, Slovan Bratislava announced the signing of Šaponjić on a 3,5 year deal.

Fehérvár

In 30 January 2025, Šaponjić signed with Fehérvár in Nemzeti Bajnokság,

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

International career

Internationally, Šaponjić represented his homeland at various youth levels. He was the team's joint top scorer (alongside Luka Jović) with five goals in their unsuccessful qualification campaign for the 2014 UEFA Under-17 Championship. With three goals, Šaponjić was the team's joint top scorer (again with Jović) in their unsuccessful qualification campaign for the 2015 UEFA Under-19 Championship. Šaponjić was included in the final 21-man squad for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He scored an injury time equalizer against

in the round of 16 on 10 June 2015, with Serbia eventually winning the game 2–1 after extra time. On 17 June 2015, he scored an extra time winning goal in the semi-final against

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

. He was the team's joint top scorer (alongside

Nemanja Maksimović Nemanja Maksimović ( sr-Cyrl, Немања Максимовић, ; born 26 January 1995) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Super League club Panathinaikos and the Serbia national team. Club career Ear ...

, Staniša Mandić and

Andrija Živković Andrija Živković ( sr-Cyrl, Андрија Живковић, ; born 11 July 1996) is a Serbian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Winger (association football), winger for Super League Greece, Greek Super League club P ...

) with two goals, as Serbia eventually won the tournament.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Partizan *

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

: 2014–15 *

: Runner-up 2014–15 Slovan Bratislava * Fortuna Liga: 2021–22

International

Serbia *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saponjic, Ivan 1997 births Living people People from Nova Varoš Footballers from Zlatibor District Men's association football forwards Serbian men's footballers Serbia men's youth international footballers Serbia men's under-21 international footballers FK Partizan players S.L. Benfica B players S.V. Zulte Waregem players Atlético Madrid footballers Cádiz CF players ŠK Slovan Bratislava players Bandırmaspor footballers Ümraniyespor footballers Fehérvár FC players Serbian SuperLiga players Liga Portugal 2 players Belgian Pro League players La Liga players Slovak First Football League players TFF 1. Lig players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Serbian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary