Refik Šabanadžović (born 2 August 1965) is Šabanadžovića Bosniak former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and defender.
Born in Montenegro, at the time part of SFR Yugoslavia, Šabanadžović played internationally for Yugoslavia and unofficially for the predecessor of Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team.
Club career
Šabanadžović began his career with a Montenegrin club FK Dečić. He was spotted there by Titograd's Budućnost and moved there shortly after. Before the 1983–84 season, following his senior debut with OFK Titograd, he moved to Sarajevo's Željezničar where he became one of the more notable Yugoslav defenders under the guidance of Ivica Osim. He gave his contribution to the club's best European result, UEFA Cup semi-finals in the 1984–85 season.
After four seasons playing for this Bosnian side, he left for Red Star Belgrade. He won three championship titles and one national cup at the club, but the most important moment of his entire career was winning the European Cup in the 1991 against Marseille.
After that, Šabanadžović went to Greece to sign for AEK Athens, where he was brought by the then coach Dušan Bajević. He established himself immediately in front of the defensive line, as modern defensive midfielder, who played box to box. Alongside Savevski they formed one of the greatest midfield duos in the history of the club. In his first three seasons he won as many championships, along with a Greek Cup and a Greek Super Cup, with Šabanadžović being one of the protagonists. His last year at AEK was accompanied by stunning football, with the addition of Tsiartas and Ketsbaia in the midfield, with the club winning the Cup and finishing second in the league.
In the summer of 1996, his contract was expired and Šabanadžović, followed his coach, Bajević to Olympiacos, as they offered them a greater deal. In Piraeus, he added two more league titles to his portfolio, but he never reached the standards of his previous career making only 25 appearances in two seasons.
In the winter of 1998, Šabanadžović moved to Major League Soccer club Kansas City Wizards where he came on the recommendation of his friend Preki Radosavljević. He played there for two years before finally retiring at the end of the 1998–99 season.
International career
Šabanadžović's appearances in the Yugoslavia national team were largely sporadic. With 8 caps in total (6 starts and 2 substitute appearances) spanning four years from 1986 until 1990, all under head coach Ivica Osim, the highlight of Šabanadžović's time with the national team was his appearance at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. Though he made 4 starting appearances during the competition, with confident defensive displays, he is mostly remembered for getting sent-off in the 31st minute of the quarter-final versus Argentina.
Euro 1988 qualifying
Šabanadžović made his national team debut on 29 October 1986, as a starter in defensive line in the opening Euro 88 qualifier versus Turkey in Split. National team head coach Ivica Osim—himself only in his 4th match overall leading the squad and his first one doing it alone as he had previously shared the coaching duties with Ivan Toplak—knew the twenty-one-year-old Željezničar defender well from their time together at Grbavica from 1983 until 1986 and decided to include him in the team as a result of an injury incurred by defensive mainstay Faruk Hadžibegić thereby causing a bit of a surprise by having a debutante in the starting lineup of a competitive match. In fact, Šabanadžović was one of three players to get a start on their debut that day—the other two being yet another Željo youngster Radmilo Mihajlović (about to turn twenty two) and Rijeka goalkeeper Mauro Ravnić (almost twenty seven years of age). Yugoslavia recorded a comfortable 4–0 win, with Šabanadžović putting in a decent performance. Two weeks later, Yugoslavia traveled to Wembley for a pivotal qualifier versus Bobby Robson's England. Šabanadžović again got the start in defence, but unfortunately this time had a match to forget much like the rest of the Yugoslav team as they lost easily 0–2. He didn't feature again for the rest of the qualifying cycle as Hadžibegić recovered from injury.