Saša Ćurčić

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Saša Ćurčić
Personal information
Full name Aleksandar Ćurčić
Date of birth February 14, 1972 (1972-02-14) (age 36)
Place of birth    Flag of Yugoslavia Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current club Retired
Youth clubs
25. maj Kovilovo
Pionir Besni Fok
Trudbenik
OFK Beograd
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1991-1993
1993-1995
1995-1996
1996-1998
1998-1999
1999
2000
2000-2001		 OFK Beograd
FK Partizan
Bolton Wanderers
Aston Villa
Crystal Palace
MetroStars
Motherwell
Obilić Belgrade		 59 (5)
74 (14)
28 (4)
29 (0)
23 (5)
9 (2)
5 (0)
- (-)   
National team
1991-1998 SFRY/FRY 14 (1)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Aleksandar "Saša" Ćurčić (Александар "Саша" Ћурчић) (born February 14, 1972 in Belgrade, Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian former football midfielder.

Known for his eccentricity, Ćurčić played for OFK Beograd (1991-93), Partizan Belgrade (1993-95), Bolton Wanderers (1995-96), Aston Villa (1996-98), Crystal Palace (1998-99), MetroStars (1999), and Motherwell (2000). In Serbia, he goes by the nickname Đani.

He also turned out 14 times for the national team of Yugoslavia, and scored one of the most memorable goals in the history of the Premier League whilst with Bolton.

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[edit] Early life

Growing up on the banks of Danube in the Belgrade suburb of Besni Fok, Ćurčić was a lively kid who took to football very early. His involvement with the sport came at the expense of everything else, including school as he only completed primary education.

After playing youth football with several local area clubs, he caught the attention of OFK Beograd, a more established club that included him in its youth system.

[edit] Football career

[edit] OFK Beograd

Young Ćurčić cracked OFK Beograd's first team towards the end of 1990/91 season while the club played in Yugoslav Second League under head coach Ilija Petković. The 19-year-old Ćurčić featured in 3 matches that season.

Despite failing to gain promotion OFK still played in the Yugoslav First League for the following 1991/92 season (a season that would turn out to be the last in SFR Yugoslavia) since Croatian and Slovenian teams withdrew from the league. Against this backdrop, Ćurčić became an OFK first team regular, playing 24 league matches and scoring 2 goals. His talent and exuberance turned some heads, including national team head coach Ivica Osim who gave Ćurčić his international debut on October 30, 1991 in an away friendly versus Brazil.

He continued improving during the 1992/93 season (first one in FR Yugoslavia) with 3 goals from 32 league appearances, earning himself a big time summer 1993 move to Yugoslav champions FK Partizan.

[edit] FK Partizan

Coached by Ljubiša Tumbaković, Partizan was in a transitional phase despite coming off a title winning campaign. With team leader Predrag Mijatović leaving for Valencia CF and other important players like Vujadin Stanojković and Zlatko Zahovič departing as well, it was up to the new arrivals to carry the torch. For his part, Ćurčić responded with a fine overall season (7 goals from 33 league matches), contributing greatly to another Partizan league title with key assists and buildup play.

Next season 1994/95 brought more steady play from Ćurčić (5 goals from 31 league matches) as the offers from abroad started coming in for his services.

He began the 1995/96 season at Partizan, but in October 1995 after 10 league matches (2 goals), Bolton Wanderers put in a £1.5 million transfer bid (Bolton's record fee at the time) and he was on his way to England.

[edit] Bolton Wanderers

Making his Bolton debut at the club's Burnden Park stadium on October 31, 1995 versus Arsenal in the Premiership, Ćurčić quickly settled into the new surroundings. Only nine days later he scored his first goal in English football during a 3rd round League Cup replay away at Leicester City.

Entering the 1995/96 campaign Bolton was a club of modest expectations simply trying to survive its first ever season in Premiership. At the time of Ćurčić's arrival, they were in the middle of a bad losing streak firmly tied to the bottom of the table, and unfortunately, his distinguished season-long form didn't help much. Bolton was easily relegated at the end, despite some results improvement following a mid-season coaching change. Still, the season was a success for Ćurčić individually - in addition to playing at a high level throughout he also established himself as a fan favourite, all of which made his departure from the club all the more emotional.

Not too keen on playing football in second-tier First Division, in August 1996 he joined Aston Villa for £4 million.

[edit] Aston Villa

The move to Birmingham turned out to be a rocky one. Despite getting reunited with a familiar face in Villa teammate Savo Milošević whom he knew well from their Partizan days together, Ćurčić struggled to settle in. Playing on £12,000 weekly wages, he made his Villa debut in the league vs. Derby County on August 24, 1996, going on to appear in 22 league matches for the club during the 1996/97 season. Still, he experienced hard time holding a regular first team place as his form from Bolton days was nowhere to be found. In January 1997, he even publicly admitted that leaving Bolton for Aston Villa was a mistake.[1]

Villa manager Brian Little and Ćurčić never really saw eye to eye, but by the time 1997/98 season started their tense relations turned into a full blown feud. As a result Ćurčić would go on to make only 7 league appearances, mostly as a sub, in addition to a few UEFA Cup outings. Little got sacked in February 1998, but Ćurčić's fate at Villa had already been sealed for a while. On March 26, 1998 he was sold to Crystal Palace for £1 million.

In the end, Ćurčić's time at Villa is more remembered for his wild lifestyle and eccentric behaviour than anything football related. The trappings of sudden fame and fortune didn't pass him by and in later interviews he admitted to drug use and out of control partying during his Birmingham days.[2] One of the bigger oddities of his Villa period was his purchase of a double-decker bus, which he used to throw parties.

[edit] Career ending

Ćurčić has been known to sport a shaved head and a fu manchu beard sans mustache. Upon his arrival to Major League Soccer in 1999, he declared his intention to become the "Dennis Rodman of MLS". Ćurčić's stint in the league, however, lasted only nine games.

On 16 March 2000, Ćurčić joined Motherwell. He only made five appearances for the club, before joining Obilić Belgrade in his native Serbia.

In an interview on Sky Sports in April 2001, Ćurčić stated that he had retired from football.

[edit] Post football

On May 5, 2007, Ćurčić entered the Serbian Celebrity Big Brother house and won the contest on June 3, 2007.

[edit] External links