Saša Bjelanović

Saša Bjelanović
Personal information
Full name Saša Bjelanović
Date of birth (1979-06-11) 11 June 1979
Place of birth Zadar, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Playing position Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–1999 Zadar 76 (18)
1999 Dinamo Zagreb 1 (0)
1999–2000 Istra 18 (4)
2000–2002 Varaždin 51 (27)
2002–2003 Como 15 (2)
2003 → Chievo (loan) 12 (4)
2003–2005 Genoa 41 (12)
2004–2005 → Lecce (loan) 22 (5)
2005–2007 Ascoli 57 (11)
2007–2009 Torino 19 (0)
2008–2009 → Vicenza (loan) 39 (12)
2009–2010 Vicenza 35 (8)
2010–2011 CFR Cluj 13 (3)
2011 Atalanta 10 (1)
2011–2012 Verona 26 (5)
2012–2013 CFR Cluj 14 (4)
2013–2014 Varese 22 (4)
2014 Messina 10 (2)
2015 Pordenone 12 (1)
National team‡
2005 Croatia 1 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:41, 27 December 2015 (UTC).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14 November 2008 (UTC)

Saša Bjelanović (born 11 June 1979) is a retired Croatian footballer who is currently the assistant sporting director of HNK Hajduk Split.

He has held an Italian passport since 2007, as his grandmother was from Trieste, Venezia Giulia; this made him eligible to acquire Italian nationality at birth.[2]

Club career

Saša Bjelanović started his career at Zadar. At the age of 20, he had already made 76 appearances for his native club. In summer 1999, he was signed by Croatian giant Dinamo Zagreb. However, he made only one appearance before being transferred to NK Istra from Pula and then NK Varteks.[3]

On 31 May 2002, Como, at that time in Serie A, brought Bjelanović to Italy. He played 15 Serie A games for Como, and left on loan to Chievo.

As Como was relegated in summer 2003, on 16 July 2003, Bjelanović was loaned to Perugia. But on 30 August 2003, he was sold to Genoa C.F.C. of Serie B on a co-ownership deal for €1 million.[4] Genoa was owned by former Como owner Enrico Preziosi.

Bjelanović played 41 out of possible 46 games for Genoa, and as Como was relegated again, this time to Serie C1, Genoa bought all the registration rights at the end of the season for another €150,000.[4][5]

Genoa did not win promotion in summer 2004 and Bjelanović played his second Serie A season for U.S. Lecce on loan.

In summer 2005, Genoa finally won promotion to Serie A, but due to match fixing scandal, Genoa was relegated to play in the Serie C1 next season. As a result, Bjelanović was sold to Ascoli, the team which was promoted in Genoa's place, on a co-ownership deal.

Bjelanović scored four goals in 31 Serie A appearances for Ascoli in the 2005–06 season. He then went on to score seven goals in the 2006–07 season and became the top scorer for Ascoli for the season. This is due to players leaving the club and Ascoli relegated to Serie B after finishing at 19th.

Bjelanović signed for his 6th Italian club, Torino F.C., along with Paolo Zanetti, on 21 June 2007, on a co-ownership deal. In June 2008 Torino full contracted with Bjelanović.

In August 2008, Bjelanović was transferred to Vicenza.[6] On 1 July 2009 he joined Vicenza definitely in 3-year contract for €700,000 as part of Nicolás Gorobsov's deal (for €800,000).[7][8][9]

In June 2010 he was transferred to Liga I champions CFR Cluj for €250,000.[9][nb 1]. He played only six months in Romania, in January 2011 being sold back in Italy, to Serie B club Atalanta for €385,000.[10] However he was transferred to Serie B club Hellas Verona F.C. for free from the 2011 Serie B champion on 31 August 2011, the last day of Italian transfer window, after a nil game in 2011–12 Serie A.[10][nb 2][11] At Verona he re-joined the former Cluj coach, Italian Andrea Mandorlini. On 3 September 2012 the last day of Romanian transfer window, he returned to Cluj for undisclosed fee.[12]

He then joined Lega Pro club Messina for the 2014–15 season, but left the club in December 2014 by mutual consent,[13] successively signing for Pordenone, another Lega Pro club, five days later.[14][15]

International career

Bjelanović was a member of the Croatian Youth team at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship, where he made only one appearance and scored one goal.

He made his debut for the Croatian senior national team on 9 February 2005, coming on as a second-half substitute in a friendly match against Israel, which ended in a 3–3 draw. In late March 2005, he was also part of the Croatian squad that played Iceland and Malta in the 2006 World Cup qualifying, but remained an unused substitute in both matches.

Honours

Club

CFR Cluj
Atalanta

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Due to error the annual report of 2009–10 Vicenza Calcio SpA, the report did not shown the amount of departure. However it shown a loss of €216,667 which only occur when the transfer fee of €250,000 deducting residual contract value of €466,667 (€700,000 multiplied by two-third, the length of remaining contract)
  2. ↑ Player identification table and the explanatory note about written-off items of 2011 financial report.

References

  1. ↑ "Scheda anagrafica di Sasa Bjelanovic" (in Italian). AIC.Football.it. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  2. ↑ "Bjelanovic italiano fa gola a molti". Il Resto del Carlino (in Italian). 29 May 2007. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  3. ↑ "Statistika: Saša Bjelanović" (in Croatian). Hrvatska nogometna liga. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
  4. 1 2 "COMUNICATO UFFICIALE N. 54/CDN (2007–08)" (PDF). FIGC (in Italian). 15 May 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  5. ↑ Calcio Como SpA Report and Accounts on 30 June 2004 (Italian)
  6. ↑ "Bjelanovic al Vicenza". Torino FC (in Italian). 7 August 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  7. ↑ "Leggo – Gorobsov fa impazzire i tifosi" (in Italian). TuttomercatoWeb. 15 July 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
  8. ↑ Vicenza Calcio SpA Report and Accounts on 30 June 2009 (Italian), CCIAA
  9. 1 2 Vicenza Calcio SpA Report and Accounts on 30 June 2010 (Italian), CCIAA
  10. 1 2 Atalanta BC Report and Accounts on 31 December 2011 (Italian), CCIAA
  11. ↑ "Calciomercato, Bjelanovic e Lepiller all'Hellas Verona" (in Italian). Hellas Verona FC. 31 August 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  12. ↑ "Ufficiale: Bjelanovic ceduto al Cluj" (in Italian). Hellas Verona FC. 3 September 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  13. ↑ "UFFICIALE: Messina, rescinde l'attaccante Bjelanovic" (in Italian). TuttoMercatoWeb. 22 December 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  14. ↑ "UFFICIALE: Pordenone, colpo in attacco" (in Italian). TuttoLegaPro. 27 December 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  15. ↑ "GRAN "COLPO" IN ATTACCO, BJELANOVIĆ È NEROVERDE" (in Italian). Pordenone Calcio. 27 December 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
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