Aleksandar Šapić

Infobox_Celebrity
name = Aleksandar Šapić


caption =
birth_date = birth date and age|1978|6|1
birth_place = Belgrade, Serbia
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Water polo
salary =
networth =
website =

Aleksandar “Aca” Šapić (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Шапић - Аца), (born June 1, 1978 in Belgrade, Serbia) is a water polo player. At 1.91m and 105kg, he's considered by many to be the best offensive player in the world.

As an instrumental part of Serbia-Montenegro national team Šapić won gold at the World Aquatic Championships in Montreal. At the last two Olympic Games, he collected a silver medal in Athens 2004, along with a bronze from Sydney 2000.

Club career

Šapić started playing water polo at the age of 8. After going through all the age groups at Red Star Belgrade, Šapić transferred to VK Partizan in December 1991 after his previous club's pool in New Belgrade was closed down. In his first year at Partizan he made his senior debut at only 13 years of age.

After year and a half in black-and-white part of Belgrade, he went back to Crvena zvezda for the 1993/94 season as an established national team player.

Next seven seasons Sapic spent in VK Bečej where he won six Yugoslav league titles and six Yugoslav Cups. He also led the team to the 1999/00 European Champions League title, scoring 5 goals in the final versus Zagreb's VK Mladost. He was also that year's Champions League best scorer with 39 goals on the season. [http://www.serbia-info.com/news/2000-05/28/19171.html]

After Bečej got dissolved due to financial difficulties, Šapić moved to Italian league in late summer 2001 and spent three seasons with Camogli.

In the summer of 2004 Sapic swithced teams again, going this time to Savona. He led the club to the Italian league title in his first season.

In 2005/06 Šapić was already one of top five paid players in the sport when towards the end of the season Russian waterpolo club Sturm offered him $300,000 per season (huge sum of money in waterpolo terms), which would make him the single best paid player in the world. [http://www.b92.net/sport/ostalo.php?nav_id=194462&dd=11&mm=04&yyyy=2006]

At the end of 2005/06 season, powerhouse Savona featuring Šapić, Tamás Kásás, Bogdan Rath, and Viktor Jelenić made it to LEN Champions League final four in Dubrovnik but lost 8-9 in a tense semi-final to host VK Jug.

On May 24, 2006, he signed a contract with Russian club Shturm from the town of Chekhov. The terms were not disclosed but it is widely believed to be the highest in waterpolo history. [http://www.mtsmondo.com/sport/vesti/story.php?vest=18284]

As of the end of 2005/06, Šapić is the holder of another significant record. From 1995 on (11 straight seasons and counting), Šapić was always the league's top scorer in whichever team or league he was playing.

National team

At the 2003 European Championships in Kranj, Slovenia, Šapić turned in another star performance, scoring Serbia-Montenegro's winning goal in the final versus Croatia. He also scored the most goals at the championships (24).

At the European Championships 2006 held in Belgrade, Serbia, Šapić won gold with Serbian national team. With 33 goals, Šapić was again the tournament's top scorer.

In 2008, Šapić was again the best scorer of the European Championships in Malaga, Spain thus tying Manuel Estiarte's record of being the top scorer at three consecutive European Championships. [http://www.mtsmondo.com/sport/vesti/text.php?vest=103154]

Playing style

In addition to his considerable playing and goal-scoring abilities Šapić is at times a fiery character:

At the 2003 World Championships, he and Dejan Savić were both banned by FINA for incidents following the semifinal clash with Italy. Šapić received a nine-month ban and Savić six months. He was the top scorer in the European Champions League in 2000 and 2003, and was the leading goal scorer in the 2000 Olympic Games with 18 goals.

In late April 2005, during LEN Cup final second leg match between Šapić's club at the time Savona and one of his former teams, VK Partizan, he got into an altrecation with the visiting fans. He reacted to their taunts and verbal abuse as he exited the pool after the match. [http://arhiva.kurir-info.co.yu/Arhiva/2005/april/23-24/SP-01-23042005.shtml]

Personal

In 2005, Šapić married Ivana Šljukić his girlfriend of few years, and the widow of slain mobster Sredoje Šljukić.

Other endevours

*Šapić had a memorable part in the popular 2004 Serbian movie "Kad porastem biću Kengur". He played the role of a local neighbourhood bully named Gangula.

*In January 2006 he joined the Democratic Party (DS).

References

* [http://www.oks.org.yu/i12703e.htm Serbian Olympic Committee]