| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Refik Šabanadžović | ||
| Date of birth | (1965-08-02)2 August 1965 (age 60) | ||
| Place of birth | Tuzi,SR Montenegro,Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder,defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Dečić | |||
| Budućnost Titograd | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1982–1983 | OFK Titograd | 23 | (1) |
| 1983–1987 | Željezničar | 82 | (0) |
| 1987–1991 | Red Star Belgrade | 62 | (2) |
| 1991–1996 | AEK Athens | 143 | (5) |
| 1996–1998 | Olympiacos | 25 | (0) |
| 1998–1999 | Kansas City Wizards | 27 | (0) |
| Total | 362 | (8) | |
| International career | |||
| 1986–1990 | Yugoslavia | 8 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Refik Šabanadžović (born 2 August 1965) is a former Yugoslav professionalfootballer who played as amidfielder anddefender.
Born inMontenegro, at the time part ofSFR Yugoslavia, Šabanadžović played internationally forYugoslavia and unofficially for the predecessor ofBosnia and Herzegovina national football team.
Šabanadžović began his career with a Montenegrin clubFK Dečić. He was spotted there by Titograd'sBudućnost and moved there shortly after. Before the 1983–84 season, following his senior debut withOFK Titograd, he moved to Sarajevo'sŽeljezničar where he became one of the more notableYugoslav defenders under the guidance ofIvica Osim. He gave his contribution to the club's best European result,UEFA Cup semi-finals in the1984–85 season.
After four seasons playing for this Bosnian side, he left forRed Star Belgrade. He won threechampionship titles and onenational cup at the club, but the most important moment of his entire career was winning theEuropean Cup in the1991 againstMarseille.[1]
After that, Šabanadžović went toGreece to sign forAEK Athens, where he was brought by the then coachDušan Bajević. He established himself immediately in front of the defensive line, as modern defensive midfielder, who played box to box. AlongsideSavevski they formed one of the greatest midfield duos in the history of the club.[2] In his first three seasons he won as manychampionships, along with aGreek Cup and aGreek Super Cup, with Šabanadžović being one of the protagonists. His last year at AEK was accompanied by stunning football, with the addition ofTsiartas andKetsbaia in the midfield, with the club winning the Cup[3] and finishing second in the league.[4]
In the summer of 1996, his contract was expired and Šabanadžović, followed his coach, Bajević toOlympiacos, as they offered them a greater deal. InPiraeus, he added two more league titles to his portfolio, but he never reached the standards of his previous career making only 25 appearances in two seasons.[5]
In the winter of 1998, Šabanadžović moved toMajor League Soccer clubKansas City Wizards where he came on the recommendation of his friendPreki Radosavljević. He played there for two years before finally retiring at the end of the 1998–99 season.
Šabanadžović's appearances in the Yugoslavia national team were largely sporadic. With 8 caps in total (6 starts and 2 substitute appearances) spanning four years from 1986 until 1990, all under head coachIvica Osim, the highlight of Šabanadžović's time with the national team was his appearance at the1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. Though he made 4 starting appearances during the competition, with confident defensive displays, he is mostly remembered for getting sent-off in the 31st minute of the quarter-final versus Argentina.
Šabanadžović made his national team debut on 29 October 1986, as a starter in defensive line in the openingEuro 88qualifier versus Turkey inSplit.[6] National team head coach Ivica Osim—himself only in his 4th match overall leading the squad and his first one doing it alone as he had previously shared the coaching duties withIvan Toplak—knew the twenty-one-year-old Željezničar defender well from their time together atGrbavica from 1983 until 1986 and decided to include him in the team as a result of an injury incurred by defensive mainstayFaruk Hadžibegić thereby causing a bit of a surprise by having a debutante in the starting lineup of a competitive match. In fact, Šabanadžović was one of three players to get a start on their debut that day—the other two being yet another Željo youngsterRadmilo Mihajlović (about to turn twenty two) andRijeka goalkeeperMauro Ravnić (almost twenty seven years of age). Yugoslavia recorded a comfortable 4–0 win, with Šabanadžović putting in a decent performance. Two weeks later, Yugoslavia traveled toWembley for a pivotal qualifier versusBobby Robson's England. Šabanadžović again got the start in defence, but unfortunately this time had a match to forget much like the rest of the Yugoslav team as they lost easily 0–2. He didn't feature again for the rest of the qualifying cycle as Hadžibegić recovered from injury.
Simultaneously, while not getting a chance in the national team full squad, young Šabanadžović fared better in the under-23 (Olympic) team, getting included in the squad taken to Seoul for the1988 Olympics where he started each of the three Yugoslavia matches as the team failed to progress out of the first round group stage. Also selected and coached by the national team full squad coach Osim, the inclusion of Šabanadžović in the Olympic team came as a bit of surprise considering the twenty-three-year-old was still recovering from the horrific head injury he had endured in a Yugoslav league match some 10 months earlier that saw him in coma for 3 days and out of footballing action for 6 months.
It would be almost two years before Šabanadžović saw national team full squad action again. In mid October 1988, Yugoslavia played its opening1990 World Cupqualifier in GlasgowversusScotland. With the score tied at 1–1, looking to protect the draw, Osim brought the defender on for attacking midfielderBora Cvetković in the 89th minute. Those few minutes were Šabanadžović's only action of the entire qualifying cycle as he got called up a few more times, but remained an unused sub. Yugoslavia finished the group on top thus qualifying to the final tournament in Italy.
The April 1990 inclusion of twenty-four-year-old Šabanadžović in Osim's final squad for the World Cup came as a surprise considering he only played several minutes in qualifiers and had only one substitute appearance in the pre-World Cup friendlies – the match versus Spain in Ljubljana.
For thegroup stageopener versusWest Germany atSan Siro, Šabanadžović stayed on the bench without a single minute of action. Due to the heavy opening loss, Osim decided to reshuffle the defensive line for the next group match againstColombia inBologna, benchingZoran Vulić andMirsad Baljić while giving Šabanadžović andVujadin Stanojković a start. Šabanadžović played the full ninety as Yugoslavia recorded ahard-fought 1–0 win. Five days later, he again got the start in the final group match versus minnowsUnited Arab Emirates before getting subbed off towards the end for club teammateRobert Prosinečki as Yugoslavia managed aneasy 4–1 win.
For theknockout stage versusSpain, Šabanadžović again got the start and repaid the coach's trust with a confident display as Yugoslavia progressed with a2–1 extra-time win. By now, Šabanadžović's stock in Osim's eyes was raised to the point that the coach gave him the unenviable task of guardingDiego Maradona in thequarter-final versusArgentina inFlorence. Unfortunately, the matchup ended very early for Šabanadžović as he collected two yellow cards in the span of only seven minutes during first half: the first for what the Swiss refereeKurt Röthlisberger adjudged to be improper behaviour during the setting up of the Yugoslav wall before Argentinian free-kick and the second one in the 31st minute for a foul on Maradona. Until the end, the 10-man Yugoslavia fought bravely, creating several excellent goal-scoring opportunities, but eventually lost on penalties in heart-breaking fashion.
Šabanadžović never played for the national team again. In total, he collected 8caps in the Yugoslavia national team.[7]
In March 1993, while theBosnian War was raging, 27-year-old Šabanadžović took part in two friendly matches as part of "Bosnia-Herzegovina Humanitarian Stars" versusK.R.C. Genk and1. FC Kaiserslautern inGenk andKoblenz, respectively.[8] The hastily arranged team also featured many Bosnian born players who previously played in the Yugoslavia national team such asFaruk Hadžibegić,Safet Sušić,Mehmed Baždarević,Mirsad Baljić,Davor Jozić,Blaž Slišković,Haris Škoro,Semir Tuce,Meho Kodro,Predrag Jurić, andHusref Musemić. Though the matches only had humanitarian character, they were played with FIFA's approval and were widely seen as the first step in the eventual formation of theBosnia and Herzegovina national football team.
Once the Bosnian national team started playing official matches in late November 1995, Šabanadžović didn't make further appearances.
Šabanadžović lives inSarajevo,Bosnia and Herzegovina with his wife Zerina Dervišević and their four children.[9] His sonAnel is a footballer who also plays for AEK Athens.[10]
On 15 October 1987, only three months after transferring to Red Star Belgrade from FK Željezničar, Šabanadžović was injured severely during his first match back in Sarajevo against his old club. Early into theleague contest atGrbavica Stadium, while jostling for position to go up for aheader, Željezničar's forwardZoran Slišković elbowed Šabanadžović's head, striking histemple forcefully.[11] The impact was so powerful that Šabanadžović ended up in acoma for 3 days. He was immediately airlifted by helicopter to Belgrade and hospitalized for a month.[11]
Luckily, he recovered completely and returned to competitive action about six months later to great success. Couple of months after returning to football, he was named to the Olympic squad taken to Seoul during summer 1988.
Red Star
AEK Athens
Olympiacos
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