Rade Bogdanović

Yugoslavia

Bogdanović began his career in hometown Željezničar. His debut for the club, playing at the time in the Yugoslav First League, came in 1987. The promising forward stayed there until 1992, which is when he left Sarajevo as the Bosnian War broke out. The 22-year-old fled to Belgrade along with several other Željo players such as Simo Krunić, Gordan Vidović, Suvad Katana, Siniša Nikolić, and Srećko Ilić. Once there, they were accommodated by FK Partizan's technical director Nenad Bjeković and general secretary Žarko Zečević who took care of their basic living needs and allowed them to train at the club facilities in order to maintain fitness while looking for new clubs even though they weren't on Partizan's roster.

Japan and South Korea

Soon afterwards Bogdanović made a jump to the Far East, signing with Korean POSCO Atoms from Pohang in July 1992. Playing in the modest league consisting of only six teams, he quickly established himself as one of its best players.

After spending four and a half seasons at the club Bogdanović signed in October 1996 with Japanese JEF United Ichihara. Two months later he got a dream offer from Louis van Gaal's Ajax Amsterdam and, seeing it as a chance to finally come back to Europe, he signed with them in late December 1996 without making them aware that he was under contract with JEF. This created problems, so the UEFA arbitration committee got involved. He signed a preliminary agreement with Ajax and went on trial in January 1997. Bogdanović was hoping to come to some sort of compensation agreement with JEF that would allow him to go to Ajax, but in the end he was forced to stay in Japan where he spent five months, playing the first part of the J1 league season.

Return to Europe: Atlético Madrid, Breda loan

During summer 1997, Bogdanović's wish of returning to Europe finally came true as compatriot Radomir Antić signed him to a contract with Atlético Madrid. He made his debut for the club at home versus Valladolid on 6 September 1997, scoring two first half goals as los Colchoneros routed the visitors 5–0 by the end. The dream start prompted Atlético's impulsive president Jesús Gil to buy him a brand new BMW 316i as a reward. However, the presence of Christian Vieri and Kiko meant few starting opportunities for Bogdanović though he still managed four more league goals by January 1998. During the winter transfer window he got loaned out to Dutch NAC Breda.

Werder Bremen

After playing out the 1997–98 season in Eredivisie, Atlético sold Bogdanović to Werder Bremen for a fee of around €1,350,000. In December 2000, he was banned from playing for six months after having been ruled to have spit Rostock's goalkeeper Martin Pieckenhagen in the face during Werder's 2–5 defeat to Hansa Rostock. He stayed at the German club for four years.

Later years, retirement

In the 2002–03 season, he played for Arminia Bielefeld, and then went to Al-Wahda from United Arab Emirates. After that, he retired from professional football.

International career

Bogdanović also played three times and scored two goals for national team of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He was asked to play for national team of Bosnia-Herzegovina, but he chose to play for FR Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro).

Post-playing career

Bogdanović tried his hand at coaching and football administration with a few low-profile stints, most notably at FK Rad and BASK.

Since early 2011 he owns and runs a football recreation facility called Posco Arena (after his Korean team) in Belgrade's neighbourhood of Careva Ćuprija.

In April 2011, Bogdanović caused controversy in an interview for Belgrade daily newspaper Sport with a claim that Atletico's last match of the 1997–98 La Liga season on 15 May 1998 away at Racing Santander was fixed by Atletico president Jesus Gil because Atletico needed three points to ensure the UEFA Cup spot for the following season. Bogdanović said: "Gil walked into the dressing room before the match and said that each player has to set aside DM25,000 out of the DM150,000 bonus in order for the win to be bought". The match ended 0–1 for the Madrid visitors.

Personal life

Bogdanović and his wife Aleksandra have three children, the oldest daughter is Kristina (born 1 June 1994 in South Korea), the second is called Marija (born 17 October 2000 in Germany) and the third is Sofija (born 26 July 2007 in Spain). Bogdanović and his family reside in Belgrade though they also spend time in Marbella where he owns an apartment.

Bogdanović's nephews Vladimir Jovančić and Darko Jovančić are also football players currently with FK Rad and BASK, respectively.

International goals

Club

Individual