Saša Zdjelar

Saša Zdjelar
	Zdjelar with CSKA Moscow in 2022
Personal information
Date of birth	20 March 1995 (age 29)
Place of birth	Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team	CSKA Moscow
Number	5
Youth career
	OFK Beograd
Senior career*
Years	Team
2011–2015	OFK Beograd
2015–2018	Olympiacos
2017	→ Mallorca (loan)
2018	→ Partizan (loan)
2018–2022	Partizan
2022–	CSKA Moscow
International career‡
2011–2012	Serbia U17
2013–2014	Serbia U19
2014–2015	Serbia U20
2015–2017	Serbia U21
2016–	Serbia
Medal record
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 24 August 2024; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 05:20, 26 March 2024 (UTC)

Saša Zdjelar (Serbian Cyrillic: Саша Здјелар; born 20 March 1995) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays for Russian club CSKA Moscow. His primary position is defensive midfielder and he also plays centre-back.

Club career

Zdjelar made his senior debut for OFK Beograd in a 3–0 home league win over Novi Pazar on 3 December 2011, aged 16.^[2] He was later sold to Greek champions Olympiacos in 2013, but remained at his parent club for the next two years. In total, Zdjelar recorded 67 competitive appearances with the Romantičari.

In the summer of 2015, Zdjelar eventually moved to Greece and joined Olympiacos. He made his debut for the club on 28 October 2015, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–2 Greek Cup draw versus Platanias. On 13 January 2016, Zdjelar scored his first ever senior goal for Olympiacos in a 6–0 Greek Cup win over Chania.^[3]

On 13 January 2017, Zdjelar was loaned to Spanish Segunda División side RCD Mallorca until the end of the season.^[4]

On 29 January 2018, he was loaned to Partizan until the end of the 2017–18 season, after being put on Olympiacos' out-of-favour list.^[5] At the end of the 2017–18 season, Partizan announced the signing of the player for an estimated fee at the range of €500,000 ^[6] On 23 May 2018, Zdjelar scored the winner against Mladost Lučani, in the Serbian Cup final.^[7]

In 2018–19 season, Zdjelar won his second Serbian Cup trophy and collected 45 appearances for Partizan, across three competitions.

After an assist by Umar Sadiq, Zdjelar scored a goal from 20 meters away in a 4–0 win over Vojvodina in the Derby of Serbia.^[8] In 2019–20 season, interrupted due to global pandemic of COVID-19, Zdjelar was again the most capped Partizan player, amassing 42 appearances (and skipping only 3 games) across all competitions.^[9]

In July 2020, he wore Partizan's captain armband for the first time.

On 28 July 2022, Zdjelar signed a contract with Russian Premier League club CSKA Moscow for three years with an option to extend.^[10]

International career

Zdjelar represented Serbia at the 2014 UEFA Under-19 Championship, as the team was eliminated in the semi-final by Portugal after penalties.^[11] He was also a member of the team that won the gold medal at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup.^[12]

On 31 May 2016, Zdjelar made his full international debut for Serbia, coming on as a substitute in a 3–1 friendly win over Israel. He subsequently appeared as an injury-time substitute in a 1–1 friendly draw with Russia at Stade Louis II five days later.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 24 August 2024^[13]^[14]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			National cup^[b]		Europe		Other		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
OFK Beograd	2011–12	Serbian SuperLiga	1	0	0	0	0	0	–		1	0
	2012–13	Serbian SuperLiga	15	0	1	0	0	0	–		16	0
	2013–14	Serbian SuperLiga	27	0	3	0	0	0	–		30	0
	2014–15	Serbian SuperLiga	19	0	1	0	0	0	–		20	0
	Total		62	0	5	0	0	0	–		67	0
Olympiacos	2015–16	Super League Greece	8	0	6	1	2	0	–		16	1
	2016–17	Super League Greece	0	0	0	0	1^[c]	0	–		1	0
	2017–18	Super League Greece	4	0	2	0	5^[c]	0	–		11	0
	Total		12	0	8	1	8	0	–		28	1
Mallorca (loan)	2016–17	Segunda División	15	0	0	0	0	0	–		15	0
Partizan (loan)	2017–18	Serbian SuperLiga	12	2	4	1	1^[d]	0	–		17	3
Partizan	2018–19	Serbian SuperLiga	32	1	5	0	8^[d]	0	–		45	1
	2019–20	Serbian SuperLiga	28	1	4	0	12^[d]	0	–		44	1
	2020–21	Serbian SuperLiga	31	1	4	0	3^[d]	0	–		38	1
	2021–22	Serbian SuperLiga	32	0	4	0	14^[e]	0	–		50	0
	2022–23	Serbian SuperLiga	3	0	0	0	0	0	–		3	0
	Total		126	3	17	0	37	0	–		180	3
CSKA Moscow	2022–23	Russian Premier League	27	0	11	0	—		—		38	0
	2023–24	Russian Premier League	28	1	8	0	—		1^[f]	0	37	1
	2024–25	Russian Premier League	6	0	1	0	—		—		7	0
	Total		61	1	20	0	—		1	0	82	1
Career total			288	6	54	2	46	0	1	0	389	8