Dejan Stanković

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Personal information
Dejan Stanković
Full name	Dejan Stanković
Date of birth	September 11, 1978 (age 28)
Place of birth	Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Nickname	Deki, Cobra, Stan the Man
Playing position	Attacking Midfield
Club information
Current club	Internazionale
Youth clubs
?	Red Star Belgrade
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1994–1998 1998–2004 2004-	Red Star Belgrade S.S. Lazio Internazionale	85 (30) 137 (22) 93 (14)
National team²
1998–present	Serbia	67 (13)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of March 12, 2007. ² National team caps and goals correct as of March 12, 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Dejan Stanković (Serbian Cyrillic: Дејан Станковић, born September 11, 1978) is a Serbian football player.

He grew up in Zemun, a suburb of Belgrade. Both of his parents, Borislav and Dragica, had strong soccer (football) backgrounds.

Stanković currently plays as a midfielder for Internazionale in Milan. Previous club teams included Red Star Belgrade and Lazio of Rome. "Deki" made his international debut, for FR Yugoslavia, against South Korea on April 22, 1998.

He is the current captain of the Serbian national football team.

1 Playing career
2 Inter Milan Honors
3 External links

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Red Star Belgrade

Dejan initially made his name with Red Star Belgrade, his hometown club for which he played in every age category. First opportunity for senior team action came in the 1994/95 season, and he used it to bag his first goal against FK Budućnost Podgorica. He soon became a first team regular and fan favourite.

In those years, Red Star was under an international ban because of a United Nations embargo imposed on FR Yugoslavia, meaning that the team could not compete in European competition. The ban was finally lifted in the 1996/97 season, and Dejan played a huge part in a memorable 2-leg victory over 1.FC Kaiserslautern in Cup Winners' Cup.

Next season, he was picked to be the squad captain, the youngest ever in the club's history.

[edit] S.S. Lazio

In the summer of 1998, he transferred for £7.5 million to S.S. Lazio where he scored on his Serie A debut versus Piacenza in September 1998. In those years, Lazio had an all-star squad, loaded at every position, so it was no small feat that young Dejan was able to hold down a regular first-team place alongside midfield mates like Pavel Nedvěd, Juan Sebastián Verón, Iván de la Peña, Roberto Mancini, etc. He put in 5 and a half memorable seasons in the biancoceleste part of Rome, before moving on to Internazionale in January 2004. At his time in Lazio, He has won almost every title there is, winning:

-Serie A 1999-2000

-Coppa Italia 2003-04

-Italian Super Cup 1998, 2000

-Cup Winners' Cup 1998-99

-UEFA Super Cup 1999

[edit] FC Internazionale Milano

Since most of the big-name teams in Italian football knew the financially strapped S.S. Lazio would have to sell Dejan sooner or later, they were jockeying for his services for quite some time before the transfer finally occurred. Juventus F.C. was very interested and came close to Dejan's signature, but he picked Internazionale instead, perhaps preferring to be reunited with his former teammate and coach at Lazio, Roberto Mancini. In early February 2004 Stanković played his first match for Inter - Serie A clash against A.C. Siena.

On May 7, 2006, again versus Siena in Seria A, he played his 100th match in an Inter jersey (counting all competitions).

Stanković was in good form in the 2006-7 Serie A campaign, scoring some decisive goals. His strike against Catania and his memorable goal against bitter city rivals AC Milan have enhanced his already great reputation with the hardcore ultras of Inter Milan. His emotion on the field can't be compared to any player currently playing for Inter Milan; with a tear in his eye after decisive matches, no wonder he is adored by many an Inter fan.

According to the official ratings of the Gazetta dello sport Stanković has been selected as the man of the match no fewer than 5 times thus far in this years Serie A and has also been prominent in decisive games in the UEFA Champions League.

Stanković has renewed his contract on February 2, 2007, keeping him in Inter until 2010.

[edit] Inter Milan Honors

Coppa Italia; 2004/05
Supercoppa TIM 2005
Coppa Italia, 2005/06
Scudetto 2005/06
Supercoppa TIM 2006

[edit] External links

	FR Yugoslavia squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup
1 Kralj \| 2 Mirković \| 3 Đorović \| 4 Jokanović \| 5 Đukić \| 6 Brnović \| 7 Jugović \| 8 Savićević \| 9 Mijatović \| 10 Stojković \| 11 Mihajlović \| 12 Leković \| 13 Komljenović \| 14 Saveljić \| 15 Drulović \| 16 Petrović \| 17 Milošević \| 18 Govedarica \| 19 Stević \| 20 Stanković \| 21 Ognjenović \| 22 Kovačević \| Coach: Santrač

	Serbia and Montenegro squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Jevrić \| 2 Ergić \| 3 Dragutinović \| 4 Duljaj \| 5 Vidić \| 6 Gavrančić \| 7 Koroman \| 8 Kežman \| 9 Milošević \| 10 Stanković \| 11 P. Đorđević \| 12 Kovačević \| 13 Basta \| 14 N. Đorđević \| 15 Dudić \| 16 D. Petković \| 17 Nađ \| 18 Vukić \| 19 Žigić \| 20 Krstajić \| 21 Ljuboja \| 22 Ilić \| 23 Stojković \| Coach: I. Petković