Dejan Petković

Dejan Petković

Personal information
Full name	Dejan Petković
Date of birth	10 September 1972 (1972-09-10) (age 39)
Place of birth	Majdanpek, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Attacking midfielder
Youth career
1987	FK Majdanpek
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1988–1992	Radnički Niš	53	(34)
1992–1995	Red Star Belgrade	132	(38)
1995–1997	Real Madrid	8	(1)
1996	→ Sevilla (loan)	5	(0)
1997	→ Racing Santander (loan)	8	(1)
1997–1999	Vitória	29	(16)
1999–2000	Venezia	13	(1)
2000–2001	Flamengo	44	(18)
2002–2003	Vasco da Gama	19	(2)
2003	Shanghai Shenhua	22	(7)
2004	Vasco da Gama	36	(18)
2004–2005	Al-Ittihad	0	(0)
2005–2006	Fluminense	39	(11)
2007	Goiás	2	(0)
2007	Santos	21	(1)
2008	Atlético Mineiro	27	(4)
2009–2011	Flamengo	53	(13)
National team‡
1995–1999	FR Yugoslavia	7	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 5, 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of June 5, 2011

Dejan Petković (Serbian Cyrillic: Дејан Петковић, pronounced [dɛ̂jan pɛ̂tkɔv̞it͡ɕ]) (born 10 September 1972 in Majdanpek, Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a retired Serbian football player. In his native country he's widely known under the nickname Rambo while in Brazil he often goes by Pet. He has played seven times for the FR Yugoslav national team, having scored one goal.

Early life

Born to father Dobrivoje (traffic technician from Niš) and mother Milena (construction technician from Petrovac na Mlavi) who met in Majdanpek where they both arrived in search of work, young Dejan immediately took to football.^[1]

Early career in Serbia

Radnički Niš

His playing career started in 1988 at Radnički Niš. He became the youngest player ever to play an official match in the history of old Yugoslav First League, debuting on September 25, 1988 when he was 16 years and 15 days old, against Željezničar Sarajevo^[2] thus beating Mitar Mrkela's record by 1 day. Radnički ended up winning 4-0 that day. Petković's age record has since been broken by Slavko Perović and Danijel Aleksić. Until nowadays, Petković helps his first club,^[3] which has since then fallen on hard times.

Red Star Belgrade

In July 1992, Petković was bought by Red Star Belgrade. Though not even 20 years of age yet, he arrived with a reputation as a skilled technical playmaker. Since bona fide stars such as Dejan Savićević, Darko Pančev, Vladimir Jugović, and Siniša Mihajlović left the club during the same summer, young Petković was thrown into the mix right away by new head coach Milan Živadinović, appearing in 30 league matches and scoring 5 goals in his first season in Belgrade.

He ended up staying with Red Star until December 1995 (three and a half seasons), winning two Yugoslav First League titles. His transfer to Real Madrid was principally agreed during summer 1995, but Red Star decided to hang on to him for the 1995–96 UEFA Cup where the club expected to do well after finally being allowed back on the European scene following years of sporting sanctions under UN trade embargo. However, Red Star got upset by Swiss club Neuchâtel Xamax in the preliminary round.

Spain

In December 1995 Petković joined the Spanish giants Real Madrid. Playing under head coach Jorge Valdano, Rambo was not able to earn a regular playing spot, appearing only in 3 league matches (as a sub in all three) before being loaned out to Sevilla where he finished out the 1995-1996 La Liga season and to Racing de Santander in 1997. He had briefly returned to Real until 1997 when he was discovered by the Brazilian football club Vitória in a friendly tournament where both teams (Real with his B side) played,^[3] along with Real Mallorca and Flamengo.

Arriving in Brazil with Vitória

He joined Vitória along with Bebeto and Túlio Costa, the three signed for the club thanks to the sponsorship of Banco Excel.^[4] In the rubro-negro baiano he started his successful Brazilian career, winning two Bahia State Championships and a Copa do Nordeste. He stayed until 1999 at Vitória.

Brazil second time

Flamengo

In 1999 he moved to Venezia but failed to succeed, quickly returning to Brazil, where he joined Flamengo. In Flamengo his skills were fundamental in helping the team win the last two titles of the historic three in a row series against arch-rivals Vasco, from 1999 to 2001. One Flamengo supporter was quoted saying that "his amazing 89th minute free kick goal in the 2001 final match, which granted the title to Flamengo, shall never be forgotten".

One month later, another free kick goal by Petkovic, against São Paulo, allowed Flamengo to win the Copa dos Campeões and return to Copa Libertadores next year. Hugely popular at the time, he was known as "Pet" by the supporters.

However, at 2001 Campeonato Brasileiro, Flamengo finished only one position above the relegated teams. The club also lost, in January 2002, the Copa Mercosul final against the Argentine side San Lorenzo, in a match in which "Pet" received the red card.

Vasco da Gama

In 2002 he moved to Vasco da Gama, where he stayed until 2004. He played for a short time at the Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua during this period. During his second spell at Vasco he helped his team avoid relegation at Campeonato Brasileiro, being the club's top scorer and top assistant.^[5] Vasco failed to record a win the 10 matches without "Pet", acquiring only 10% of available points; with him the cruzmaltinos obtained 45,7% of these points.^[5] Leader of Vasco campaign of salvation, Petković was awarded the Bola de Prata from Placar Magazine as one of the two best midfielders of Brasileirão.

During that year he often played with an ex-teammate from Radnički, Montenegrin goalkeeper Željko Tadić,^[3] who was scouted by him.^[6]

Brazil third time

Fluminense

After a half-year in Saudi Arabia, where he played for Al-Ittihad, he returned to Rio de Janeiro in August 2005, now to play for Fluminense. Already 33 years old, Petković had to face a certain mistrust from the Tricolor fans. However, his amazing performance in his third match against Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, put an end to fan's misgivings. Playing at the opponent stadium, (Mineirão), he led Flu in a 6-2 rout of Cruzeiro, scoring twice. His first was the 1000th goal score by the Fluminense in the Brazilian Championship, earning Petković a commemorative plate in his honor at the club's headquarters. In this goal, "Pet" passed through three opponents in a short space, shooting just in time to avoid the incoming goalkeeper. In the second one, Petković placed a powerful left foot shot from outside the penalty box.^[7]

After other great exhibitions, the Serb received his second consecutive Silver Ball in the Brazilian federation annual award ceremony. After a bad season in 2006, when Fluminense had to fight relegation, he left the club.^[6]

Other clubs

In 2007, he played at Santos after signing a short term deal from Goiás until the end of the 2007 season. In 2008, "Pet" played for Atlético Mineiro, signed in late March 2008 as the great star of the centennial celebrations of Galo. Nevertheless, his contract was not renewed at the end of the season on orders from the newly arrived coach, Emerson Leão who previously also cut Petković from Santos when he arrived there in December 2007.^[8]

Return to Flamengo

On 20 May 2009 Flamengo announced the free transfer signing of Serbian attacking midfielder "Rambo" who already spent two hugely successful seasons at the club from 2000 to 2001.^[9] Following those campaigns his relations with the club leadership soured to the point where they even went to court over unpaid wages in the amount of US$9 million.^[10] Though the two parties managed to settle the outstanding financial issues out of court prior to his signing, Petković's return was still met with a lot of skepticism, even outright opposition, from many people within the club as well as outside observers^[11] all of whom had doubts about his ability to perform at such an age. Some also expressed concern over the fact that he missed the Rio de Janeiro state championship part of the season, meaning that he hasn't played any competitive football in the 6 months since his dismissal from Mineiro.

However, much to the surprise of many people, the 37-year-old Serbian played a pivotal role for Flamengo, scoring 8 goals (including 2 Olympic goals) and leading the Rubro-Negro challenge to eventually win its sixth Brazilian Championship title, the first of Pet's career. Still, it wasn't smooth sailing from the get go. At the time of Pet's arrival to the squad in early June 2009, Flamengo was sitting in 14th spot of the Brazilian championship league standings. Furthermore, he had trouble breaking into the first team as head coach Cuca preferred others for his position. On July 23, 2009, Cuca was sacked due to poor results and the arrival of new head coach Jorge Luís Andrade spelled better days for both Petković and the club. Little by little, Flamengo started climbing up the table thanks in large part to his contributions. Pet was praised by the Brazilian press for a number of outstanding performances, including a brace he scored in round 30 for a 0-2 win^[12] away at league leaders Palmeiras on October 18, 2009,^[13][14][15] as well as his round 34 contribution on November 8 away at Atlético Mineiro where the team recorded important 1-3 win.^[16]

On November 20, 2009 he was inducted into the Brazilian Hall of Fame at Maracana,^[17] thus becoming only the fifth non-Brazilian and third European to receive such an honour in Brazil. Then on December 7, as the season finished and Flamengo celebrated its title, Petković won the traditional Bola de Prata (Silver Ball) organized by the sports magazine Placar and ESPN Brasil for best midfielder of the 2009 Brazilian Championship. It was the third time he was awarded the prize.

Starting the new season from the very beginning, Pet entered his first match of the 2010 Rio state championship as a 72nd minute sub and scored a goal^[18] on what was virtually his first touch of the contest at Volta Redonda on January 20, 2010.^[19]

Retirement

On 5 June 2011, Petković retired as a professional player after playing the first half of the league match against Corinthians. To commemorate his retirement, all Flamengo players had the Petkovic’s name on the back of their jersey’s in the match.

International career

Petković debuted for FR Yugoslavia in 1995, but he played only a few matches due to disagreements with the coach Slobodan Santrač, who did not call him for 1998 FIFA World Cup. He returned to the national team, curiously, in a friendly against Brazil, after the World Cup, in September 1998, when Milan Živadinović became the new Yugoslavia coach. At that time playing for EC Vitória, Petković traveled to São Luís, where the game would be played, in the same flight of the Brazilian team.^[20]

His last match for Yugoslavia was in December 1999 (when he was in Venezia), with him being the captain.^[2] Another reason for him not being called very often to the national team was the fact that he was playing for a South American club side, and therefore being out of the spotlight and the sight of the Yugoslavian coaches, who tend to follow European football only. After he returned to Brazil to play for Flamengo, Vujadin Boškov did not remember him for the Euro 2000. In an interview to Placar magazine, he declared that, if he had stayed in Venezia, a "ten times weaker club than Flamengo", he would have continued to be called.^[2] Yet another reason for his unfrequent call-up to the Yugoslavian/Serbian national team could have been his alleged bad relations with the Football Association of Yugoslavia committee.^[3]

It has been said that if he was Brazilian, he would have made it to the national team. So, after the breakway of Yugoslavia and the appearance of Serbia and Montenegro, in 2003, he planned to naturalize Brazilian, desiring to play for the Seleção, because the national team the he already played didn't exist anymore (what could release him to play for another country).^[21]

In 2006, for the World Cup in Germany, there was a campaign in Serbia to include him in the team.^[22] In an interview for the Brazilian media, Savo Milošević said "Pet" would have a place in the group.^[23] However, nothing came out of it and he was not picked. Serb coach Ilija Petković thought he would disrupt the team's harmony, as he had a reputation for having a very loud personality. Ironically, he called another Petković for the Cup, his son Dušan, who had never played for the national team.

"Pet" has not been called for the new Serbian national team either.

The skills

He is considered one of the best foreign players to have played in Brazil, a great free and corner kicker and ball passer. In 2006 while playing for Fluminense, he scored an Olympic goal against Grêmio. In the next game he scored another Olympic goal, but the ball hit the hand of a player from Fluminense and entered the goal; nonetheless the officials counted it as one. Overall he scored eight goals from corner kicks in his career, the last one on November 8, 2009 for Flamengo against Atlético Mineiro in the Brazilian Série A. He is currently the record holder for most Olympic goals scored in football history.

Other

• Petković is fluent in Portuguese language. His learning was easier due to his fluency in Spanish, after two years playing in Spain.^[7]
• His great success in the first half of 2001 opened doors in Brazilian football to another five Yugoslavian-origin players that year, before Đorđević. The same Željko Tadić who would play later with "Pet" in Vasco arrived in 2001 signed by XV de Piracicaba, playing also for Londrina, Bragantino and Uberaba; Miodrag Anđelković (who would be known in Brazil as "Andjel") and Nikola Damjanac (known there by his first name) came to play for Coritiba and, later, Fluminense; Dejan Osmanović, like Petković, came to Vitória; and Vladimir Petković was hired by Botafogo, asking to be known as "Vlad" to be not confused with "Pet".^[24]
• He attended and graduated from the streamlined Medicinal high school. During the course, he met and started to date the woman who he would later marry - Violeta.^[21]
• In November 2009, following Petković's pinnacle season at Flamengo, Serbian film director Darko Bajić started shooting a documentary on Petković's life and career path. Initially with the working title of Rambo Petković - 90 minuta sa produžecima, životni meč and later O Gringo, the film is meant to be shown before the 2010 World Cup.^[25] Apparently, the director wanted to make the film ever since Petković's initial successes with Flamengo in 2001, but the player wasn't thrilled with the idea. Petković eventually agreed during his second stint with Flamengo. The yet unfinished movie was promoted in Belgrade on December 29, 2009.^[26]
• His pivotal role in Flamengo's road to its sixth league title motivated a pop song, "É o Pet".
• Although his return home to possibly finish out his career with Red Star and/or perhaps take an administrative role in the club once his playing career is over was occasionally mentioned in Serbian media, Petković said in early 2010 that he'll continue living in Brazil even after stopping playing. Though not mentioning anything specific, he said that he wants to take advantage of the opportunities 2014 World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympics will provide for those who want to be involved with sports.^[27]

Honours

Club

Flamengo

• Rio de Janeiro State Championship: 2000, 2001
• Copa dos Campeões: 2001
• Brazilian Série A: 2009

Al Ittihad

• Arab Champions League: 2005

Shanghai Shenhua

• Chinese Jia-A League: 2003

Vasco da Gama

• Rio de Janeiro State Championship: 2003

Vitória

• Bahia State Championship: 1999
• Copa do Nordeste: 1999

Real Madrid

• La Liga: 1996-97
• Supercopa de España: 1997

Red Star Belgrade

• Yugoslav First League: 1991-92, 1994–95
• Yugoslav Cup: 1992-93, 1994–95

Individual

• Prêmio Craque do Brasileirão - Best XI: 2005, 2009
• Bola de Prata - Best XI: 2004, 2005, 2009

Orders and special awards

• EC Vitória's Player of the Twentieth Century (by popular vote)
• Scored the thousandth goal of Fluminense FC in the Campeonato Brasileiro (v. Cruzeiro, on September 7, 2005)
• Scored the most Olympic goals ever by a professional footballer: 8
• Nominated to the Maracanã Walk of Fame
• Named Honorary Citizen of Rio de Janeiro by the State Legislative Assembly

Diplomatic career

On June 20. 2010, the Minister of Serbian Foreign Affairs, Vuk Jeremić, announced the appointment of Dejan Petković to Honorary Consul of Serbia in Brazil.^{[28][29][30][31][32]}

References

1. ^ Prvo sam potrčao za loptom pa prohodao, Blic, January 3, 2010
2. ^ ^{a b c} "A boa vida dos gringos", Placar nº. 1239, September 2002, Editora Abril, pp. 48-49
3. ^ ^{a b c d} "Petkovício", Rafael Maranhão, Placar nº. 1289, December 2005, Editora Abril, pp. 62-67
4. ^ "500 Times do Brasil", Placar nº. 1263-A, October 2003, Editora Abril, pp. 20
5. ^ ^{a b} "Salvo pelo gringo", Placar nº. 1278-A, January 2005, Editora Abril, pp. 53
6. ^ ^{a b} "Vai dar suco?", Lédio Carmona, Placar nº. 1292, March 2006, Editora Abril, pp. 73
7. ^ ^{a b} "Petkovic - O gringo mais brasileiro", Sérgio Xavier Filho, Placar nº. 1287, October 2005, Editora Abril, pp. 16
8. ^ Estadao.com.br: Santos dispensa Petkovic, Baiano e Leonardo
9. ^ Serbian midfielder Petkovic returns to Flamengo
10. ^ Serbian midfielder Petkovic returns to Flamengo; AOL News, May 21, 2009
11. ^ Dejan Petković is back
12. ^ Palmeiras-Flamengo 0:2, October 18, 2009
13. ^ Brasileirão Round 30 or Dejan Petkovic is an Unstoppable Force of Nature!
14. ^ Dejan Petkovic (Flamengo) scores a brace v Palmeiras
15. ^ Petkovic brilha e Flamengo bate Palmeiras por 2 a 0; Abril.com, October 18, 2009
16. ^ Atlético Mineiro-Flamengo 1:3, November 8, 2009
17. ^ Dejan Rambo Petković ušao u "Kuću slavnih" na Marakani!
18. ^ Petkovic for 1-3 at Volta Redonda
19. ^ Rambo Petković - prvi kontakt u sezoni i gol!; Blic, January 21, 2010
20. ^ Folha Online: O injustiçado Petkovic e a seleção
21. ^ ^{a b} "Pátria amada, Brasil", Flávia Ribeiro, Placar nº. 1274, September 2004, Editora Abril, pp. 50-53
22. ^ JB Online: A chance de Petkovic
23. ^ GloboEsporte.com: Petkovic teria lugar na seleção
24. ^ Onde a Coruja Dorme: Eles fizeram o caminho inverso
25. ^ Darko Bajić danas putuje u Brazil - Snimiću životnu priču Ramba Petkovića, Blic, November 2, 2009
26. ^ Dejan Petković - "O Gringo"; B92, December 29, 2009
27. ^ Rambo Petković: „Uživam u fudbalu“, B92, January 5, 2010
28. ^ Српски фудбалер Дејан Петковић постаће један од почасних конзула у Бразилу, најавио је министар Вук Јеремић
29. ^ Serbie-Brésil: Un joueur de foot nommé consul
30. ^ Petković postaje počasni konzul u Brazilu
31. ^ Rambo Petković počasni konzul Srbije u Brazilu
32. ^ Petković počasni konzul u Brazilu

External links

• Official Site (English) (Serbian) (Portuguese)
• Dejan Petković at National-Football-Teams.com
• Profile at reprezentacija.rs (Serbian)
• Petković to Santos
• Rambo Petković u Atletiko Mineiru, B92, 26 March 2008
• atletico.com.br (Portuguese)
• Rambo Petković receives a hero's welcome in Belgrade, December 13, 2009

Persondata
Name	Petkovic, Dejan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 10, 1972
Place of birth	Majdanpek, SFR Yugoslavia
Date of death
Place of death