Dejan Savićević

Budućnost

Teenage Savićević played at Budućnost's youth setup from January 1983 until summer 1984, a period during which he recorded nine league appearances (most of them substitute) for the full squad as well. The club signed him to a 4-year stipend-based agreement, which was not a professional contract. Furthermore, throughout this period, he had been receiving regular call-ups to the Yugoslavia national under-20 football team as well as SR Montenegro youth select team (alongside future notable professionals such as Božidar Bandović and Refik Šabanadžović) that competed at annual tournaments against other Yugoslav republics' select squads. On 5 October 1983, week 10 of the league season, due to an injury incurred by the starting forward Željko Janović, head coach Folić gave the seventeen-year-old Savićević his first full-squad starting appearance at home versus Red Star Belgrade and the youngster ended up scoring on an 81st minute put-back that he chased down ahead of Red Star's defender Zoran Banković and its goalkeeper Tomislav Ivković. Savićević's first-ever top-flight goal ended up being the winning one as Budućnost recorded a famous 1-0 league victory over the heavily favoured Belgrade visitors.

1984–85 season: regular playing time

In the summer of 1984, in preparation for the upcoming 1984–85 league season, newly arrived head coach Josip Duvančić made seventeen-year-old Savićević a full squad member at the expense of the thirty-two-year-old club…

Spanning 13 years, Savićević's national team career is divided in two distinct parts: first six years under head coach Ivica Osim for Yugoslavia national team of SFR Yugoslavia and last five years under head coach Slobodan Santrač representing FR Yugoslavia, which consisted of Serbia and Montenegro. His years under Osim were marked by the tumultuous relationship the two men shared, with conservative Osim often distrustful of Savićević's talents, preferring players he considered to be more mature and reliable for the forward and attacking midfield positions such as Zlatko Vujović, Mehmed Baždarević, Dragan Stojković, and even veteran Safet Sušić. Under Santrač, Savićević was an automatic regular, but due to the UN embargo imposed on FR Yugoslavia and resulting sporting sanctions, he missed two and a half years of national team football altogether. Also, since Yugoslavia did not resume playing competitive matches until mid-1996, it meant Savićević was prevented from playing any competitive national team matches from the time he was 25 until almost turning 30.

Euro 88 qualifying

Twenty-year-old Budućnost midfielder Savićević made his national team debut on 29 October 1986 in a Euro 88 qualifier versus Turkey in Split. Head coach Ivica Osim—himself only in his fourth match overall coaching the national team (and his first doing it alone as he previously shared the coaching duties with Ivan Toplak)—put the talented twenty-year-old in as a 53rd-minute substitute for…

Savićević's two-year spell as head coach of the national side was a polar opposite of his distinguished playing career. Immediately after retiring from playing in May 2001, the thirty-four-year-old was named the FR Yugoslavia national team head coach, in succession to the short, tempestuous, and hugely disappointing 3-month tenure of Milovan Đorić. Despite Savićević's complete lack of any relevant coaching experience and the side's already faint chances of qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, the announcement was generally well received by the Yugoslav public. His appointment came as part of the general changing of the guard in the Yugoslav FA (FSJ) with Savićević's close friend Dragan Stojković taking over as FSJ president.

2002 World Cup qualifying

At first, Savićević was part of a 3-man coaching commission with the experienced Vujadin Boškov and Ivan Ćurković by his side. At the time of their arrival to the bench, Yugoslavia was sitting in fourth place of the qualifying group with only 5 points from 4 matches, behind Russia (13 points), Switzerland (8), and Slovenia (7). However, Yugoslavia had a game in hand and with a win in Moscow had a chance to overtake Slovenia and join the Swiss tied on points in the second spot. On the other hand, a loss to Russia in Moscow would probably mean losing any hope of finishing in the top two. Savićević thus faced a make-it-or-break-it prospect right on his coaching debut. Despite the fact that the national team was officially…

Born to father Vladimir Savićević, an employee of the state-owned Titograd railway transport company, and mother Vojislava "Vojka" Đurović, an administrative clerk in the same company, Dejan grew up with a younger brother Goran in the family's apartment located in Titograd's Drač neighbourhood near the Titograd railway station. From early adolescence, he took up street football as an activity with neighbourhood friends—playing on outdoor surfaces in the vicinity of his apartment building, mostly on a nearby field called Đečevića Livada.

Futsal and youth football

Savićević's first attempt at playing structured association football took place at age 13 in the fall of 1979 within Budućnost's youth system under coach Dragan Šaković. Barely a teenager, Savićević arrived there on recommendation from lower league FK Grafičar Titograd goalkeeper Čedo Šaković, cousin of Budućnost's youth coach. However, only three months into young Savićević's participation at Budućnost, coach Šaković was transferred to the club's first team coaching staff and his successor at the youth coach position decided not to include Savićević in the squad being taken to a youth tournament in Borovo. Disappointed about being cut, young Savićević quit the team altogether and went back to playing street football. His street football activity would soon take on a slightly more serious note with participation at outdoor concrete and clay surface futsal tournaments. Due to the popularity of this…