Football Player's Biography 7: Dejan Stanković

Full name	Dejan Stanković
Date of birth	11 September 1978 (1978-09-11) (age 32)
Place of birth	Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Midfielder

Dejan Stanković (Serbian Cyrillic: Дејан Станковић, born 11 September 1978 in Belgrade) is a Serbian footballer who currently plays for the Italian Serie A side Internazionale and the Serbian national team, which he captains. He is an attacking midfielder who can also play out wide on the wings or track back in a defensive midfield role. "Deki", as he is nicknamed, is best known for his effective, accurate passing, versatility and creativity as well as his ability to score goals from long distance.^[1]
On 13 June 2010, Stanković became the first player to represent three different countries in the FIFA World Cup: Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro.

Early life

Stanković grew up in Zemun, a municipality of Belgrade. Both of his parents, Borislav and Dragica, have strong football backgrounds.

Club career

Stanković began playing football for FK Teleoptik, based in his neighbourhood of Zemun. When spotted by Red Star cadet squad coach Branko Radović, however, 14-year-old Dejan transferred to Red Star Belgrade's youth system.

Red Star Belgrade

Stanković then passed every age category at his hometown club.^[2] In the youth teams, he was coached by Pižon Petrović, playing alongside future professionals Nikola Lazetić and Nenad Lalatović.
During the 1994–95 season, Stanković's debut opportunity for first team action came under head coach Ljupko Petrović against crosstown rivals OFK Beograd. Fighting for a spot on the team led by, among others, Rambo Petković, Darko Kovačević, and Nebojša Krupniković, 16-year-old Dejan made seven league appearances that season as the team won league title. He scored his first goal against Budućnost Podgorica, soon becoming a first team regular and a fan favourite. Before the start of the 1997–98 season, he was made squad captain at the tender age of 19, the youngest ever in the club's history. Despite not winning the league he captained the team to two domestic cup victories.
During the early '90s, Red Star was under an international ban because of a United Nations sanction imposed on FR Yugoslavia, meaning that the team could not compete in any European competition. The ban was lifted ahead of the 1996–97 season, and Stanković played a huge part in a memorable two-leg victory over Kaiserslautern in the Cup Winners' Cup.

Lazio

In the summer of 1998, he transferred for £7.5 million (DM24 million) to Lazio,^{[citation needed]} where he scored on his Serie A debut versus Piacenza on 13 September 1998. In those years, Lazio had an all-star squad with world class players at almost every position, but Stanković quickly secured a regular first-team place despite competition from fellow midfielders Pavel Nedvěd, Juan Sebastián Verón, and Roberto Mancini. He formed a formidable midfield combination with Nedvěd and Mancini and were an integral part of the successful Lazio side at the turn of the decade. His work rate and impressive performances earned him the nickname Il Dragone (The Dragon) from fans.^[3] He had five-and-a-half successful seasons in the biancoceleste part of Rome, before earning a high profile move to Internazionale in February 2004.

Internazionale

As Stanković began the 2003-04 season at Lazio, the Biancoceleste struggled with financial problems and were forced to sell many of their best players. Big name teams in European football knew that the club would have to sell the midfielder in the nearest future, so there was fierce competition for his services during the 2003–04 winter transfer window. Juventus were favorites in the chase for Stanković's signature with even some preliminary paperwork reportedly signed between the two parties in early January 2004,^[4] but the player eventually chose Internazionale. He was signed as part of a deal worth €4 million that also sent Macedonian international Goran Pandev (plus 50% of Pandev's contract) in the opposite direction.^[5]^[6]
The fact that old friend, former teammate, and head coach from Lazio Roberto Mancini was already rumoured to be soon taking over the head coaching duties at Inter may have influenced Stanković's decision. In early February 2004, Stanković played his debut match for Inter under head coach Alberto Zaccheroni, a Serie A clash at home against Siena that ended 4-0. On 21 February 2004, he scored a spectacular goal directly from a corner kick to put Inter 1–0 up in Derby della Madonnina versus fierce rivals Milan. Inter finished the league season in fourth place thus qualifying for Champions League. Still, president Massimo Moratti was not convinced with Zaccheroni and at the end of the season, just like rumoured, brought Mancini from the financial shipwreck at Lazio.

2004-05 season

The head coaching change suited Stanković just fine and he got reunited with another familiar face from Lazio - Siniša Mihajlović.
On 7 May 2006, Stanković played his 100th match for Inter.

2006-07 season

Coming off the summer appearance at the 2006 World Cup, Stanković carried excellent form right from the start of the 2006–07 Serie A campaign, scoring some decisive goals. His strike against Catania and his memorable goal against city rivals Milan have enhanced his reputation with the fans of Internazionale.
According to the official ratings of the La Gazzetta dello Sport, Stanković was selected as the man of the match five times during the 2006–07 Serie A campaign. He renewed his contract on 2 February 2007, with Inter securing his services until at least 2010.

2008-09 season

With the June 2008 arrival of José Mourinho to the position of Inter's head coach, there was a lot of press speculation about Stanković's exit from the Nerazzuri (along with Adriano, Hernán Crespo, David Suazo, and Nicolás Burdisso) due to reportedly not being held in high regard by the newly arrived Portuguese coach.^[7] A lot of the press' focus was also placed on Stanković's friendship with previous head coach Mancini and assistant coach Mihajlović with veiled suggestions that it was this relationship with the coaching duo that kept the Serb midfielder in the club even when his performances were less than stellar throughout the 2007-08 season. Then in late June after reports that Stanković was told by Mourinho he would not be allowed to show up for pre-season training in South Tyrol^[8] and more reports that Stanković and Juve have agreed personal terms, it seemed that he's definitely on his way out. The press reports of Stanković's pending arrival to Juve sparked the club's fans into protests and online petitions as they would neither forgive his turning down the club back in January 2004 nor his exuberant public celebrations after the 2005-06 Serie A title was stripped from Juve and handed to Inter following the Calciopoli scandal.^[9] The Juve deal fell through within days for a variety of other reasons,^[10] and Stanković was suddenly reported to be happy to stay at Inter.^[11] However, the transfer talk got reignited again by Mourinho's suggestion in mid July 2008 that "Stanković is not the same player he was at Lazio",^[12]^[13] which some took again as a sign that the player's Inter days are numbered.
However, Stanković still decided to stay and fight for a spot on Mourinho's team and soon after the season started he managed to do achieve his aim. On 19 October 2008, Stanković scored a superb goal in Inter's 4–0 hammering of Luciano Spalletti's Roma away at Stadio Olimpico. After receiving a pass from Sulley Muntari, he drove the ball past the Roma goalkeeper into the net, his 24th goal in all competitions for the Nerazzuri, thus ending a year-long goal drought.^[14] The relief and vindication after everything he had gone through during the summer was evident in his goal celebration^[15] and in interviews after the match Stanković talked of his joy to be fully back on form following the injury-prone previous season. He also thanked Mourinho for giving him an opportunity even after the two did not get off on the right foot during summer offseason.^[16]
In December 2008, Stanković, by now an irreplaceable part of Mourinho's midfield, gave another display of his rediscovered form versus ChievoVerona at home: first with a through-pass to Maxwell for the game's opening goal, followed by a goal of his own for 2-0 with a first time shot from the edge of the penalty area, and finally an assist from the right wing to Zlatan Ibrahimović as Inter recorded a 4-2 win.^[17]^[18]
On 7 February 2009, Stanković celebrated his 200th appearance for Inter in all competitions at the away game versus Lecce. Inter hammered the newly-promoted team 3–0 with Stanković heading in the third goal following a slick free-kick cross from Maicon.^[19] Stanković's season-long good form continued as he scored Internazionale's second goal against Milan in the 270th Milan Derby on 15 February. This turned out to be the winning goal after Alexandre Pato had pulled one back. Inter went on to win a fourth consecutive title, his fifth Serie A trophy.
In the Champions League, Inter limped into the second round after losing its final two group stage matches against Panathinaikos and Werder Bremen. In the first elimination round (eight-final) they lost to Manchester United in a hardfought tie. Stanković played the full ninety minutes in the first leg at San Siro, putting in a very lively and active display.^[20] In the return at Old Trafford, Stanković started the match and had a great first half 37th minute effort after playing a one-two with Ibrahimović and striking the ball with the outside of his boot from some 25 meteres out, only to see it go centimeters wide of Edwin van der Sar's right post. Two minutes later Stanković had another glorious opportunity when he got in behind Patrice Evra on the right as Ibrahimović picked him out with a cross from the left, but the Serb did not make good enough contact with the ball in one-on-one situation with van der Sar and the shot went over the bar. In the 57th minute with United leading 2-0 and Inter forced to chase the result, Mourinho took Stanković off and inserted striker Adriano. The match marked Stanković's 63rd Champions League appearance thus overtaking Predrag Đorđević at the top of the list of Serbian players' with most appearances in the competition^[21]

2009-10: Tripletta season

The 2009–10 season began well for Stanković. In the 29 August Milan derby, he played in a deeper role to replace the injured Esteban Cambiasso. Nevertheless, he scored Inter's fourth goal and his second in consecutive Milan derbies in a 4–0 thrashing, a spectacular 30-yard strike after quickly collecting Sulley Muntari's pass.^[22] He subsequently scored against Rubin Kazan and Udinese to continue his rich vein of form under the Portuguese José Mourinho.
He also scored a wonder-goal from 54 metres out in a 5–0 thrashing against Genoa, volleying the ball straight in from Marco Amelia's clearance.^[23]

2010-11 season

Playing under new head coach Rafa Benítez, Stanković continued his usual midfield role. On the 28th of November 2010, Stanković netted a hat-trick in an emphatic 5-2 victory over Parma at the San Siro.
At the FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi in mid December, Stanković played an excellent semifinal versus Seongnam, scoring the opening goal turning in an all around midfield performance.^[24] However, despite this, Benítez decided to bench Stanković for the final versus TP Mazembe, only bringing him on for Christian Chivu in the 54th minute. Soon Benítez got sacked despite winning the trophy, and couple of weeks later Stanković expressed his dismay at Benítez's decision to leave him on the bench for the final.^[25] On the same occasion, despite publicly backing the beleguerd coach months earlier,^[26] Stanković said that Benítez simply "didn't work" at Inter.^[27]
Under newly arrived head coach Leonardo Araújo, Stanković continued to be the automatic midfield choice, displaying his versatility (at times filling in for injured Wesley Sneijder in the midfield organizational role). Stanković scored his first goal under new coach at home versus Bologna in mid-January, and then continued with the same form away at Udinese, scoring the opening goal and then hitting the post in a match that Inter lost 3-1. In Coppa Italia quarterfinal at Napoli on January 26th, Stanković injured his thigh muscle that intitially ruled him out for a month. However, he came back ahead of schedule for a Serie A match at Fiorentina on February 16th, putting in a lively performance with surging runs and two good scoring opportunities as Inter won 2-1 to come within five points of league leaders AC Milan.^[28]

International career

Stanković made his international debut for the old Yugoslavia team against South Korea on 22 April 1998, scoring two goals in a 3–1 victory.^[29] He played at the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 when the Serbian national team was still called Yugoslavia and soon established himself as an important player.
The Yugoslavian team became Serbia and Montenegro by the time 2006 World Cup qualifying started, and Stanković started in all games and scored two goals, but missed the last qualifier through injury. At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he was given the number 10 shirt and Savo Milošević captained the new Serbia and Montenegro team in their first World Cup, but they failed to progress to the knock-out rounds after losing all their group matches to Côte d'Ivoire, Argentina, and the Netherlands. After Milošević retired, the midfielder took over as captain of the re-formed Serbian national team, following the break up of Serbia and Montenegro.
In the 2010 World Cup qualifying, Stanković has started in and captained all but two of Serbia's matches. They qualified for their first World Cup as an independent nation. He was instrumental in their shock 1-0 win over favorites Germany but they were not able to progress to the next round due to narrow losses against Ghana and Australia.