Aleksandar Kolarov

Aleksandar Kolarov
Александар Коларов

Personal information
Full name	Aleksandar Kolarov
Date of birth	(1985-11-10) 10 November 1985 (age 26)
Place of birth	Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in)[1]
Playing position	Left back
Club information
Current club	Manchester City
Number	13
Youth career
1999–2004	Red Star Belgrade
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2006	Čukarički	44	(2)
2006–2007	OFK Beograd	38	(5)
2007–2010	Lazio	82	(6)
2010–	Manchester City	36	(3)
National team‡
2007	Serbia U-21	8	(2)
2008–	Serbia	31	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:50, 8 April 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20:18, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

Aleksandar Kolarov (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Коларов, Serbian pronunciation: [alɛksǎːndar kɔlǎrɔʋ]; born 10 November 1985) is a Serbian professional association football defender playing for Premier League side Manchester City^[2] and the Serbian national team. Although primarily a left back, Kolarov can also operate anywhere along the left flank and is known for his overlapping runs on the wing and his ball striking ability.^[3][4] He had won the Serbian Player of the Year 2011. He is highly regarded by Real Madrid Coach,Jose Mourinho and also Pep Guardiola. He is touted to be the world best left back in future.

Club career

Kolarov's football career started in the Red Star Belgrade youth system. He spent five years in the club, but never made the first team.

Čukarički

During January 2004, eighteen-year-old Kolarov moved across town to Čukarički, which played in the top-tier Serbia-Montenegro League. Signing a three-year contract, he finished out the 2003-04 season in the club's youth setup and during summer 2004 got introduced to full squad. Making 27 league appearances in his debut season, the youngster left a good impression, but couldn't help the beleaguered team avoid relegation.

He started the 2005-06 campaign for Čukarički in the second-tier league competition, but during the winter break controversially transferred to top-tier league club OFK Beograd.

OFK Beograd

Kolarov joined OFK Beograd in February 2006 and finished out the season with them, scoring his first league goal.

Lazio

In the summer of 2007, OFK Beograd sold Kolarov to Italian side Lazio for €925,000.^[5]

Kolarov's first goal for Lazio came at the Stadio Oreste Granillo in Reggio Calabria on 30 September 2007, as he hit a rocket from 40 meters to secure a draw against lowly Reggina.^[6] During his time in Rome, Kolarov has also gathered experience in the UEFA Champions League.

In his second season in Italy, Kolarov established himself as Lazio's first choice at left back, scoring a spectacular goal against Lecce at the Stadio Via del Mare.^[7] It got even better for the Serbian in the second Derby della Capitale of the season. With Lazio 3–2 up, Kolarov received the ball in defence from goalkeeper Fernando Muslera and proceeded to run the length of the pitch virtually unopposed. Having run 85 metres, Kolarov then slotted the ball past a hapless Doni in the Roma goal. Scoring in the penalty shootout in the 2009 Coppa Italia Final, thus helping Lazio win the trophy, capped a great season for the Serbian.

As the 2009–10 season drew to an end, Kolarov was instantly linked with a move away from Lazio with Manchester City and Real Madrid interested.

Manchester City

On 24 July 2010 it was announced that he had signed for Manchester City^[2] for £16 million.^[8] On 14 August 2010, Kolarov made his Premier League debut in a 0–0 draw against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.^[9] On 18 January 2011, Kolarov scored his first goal for the club in a 4–2 victory over Leicester City in the FA Cup while on 2 February 2011, Kolarov recorded his first Premier League goal from a free kick in a 2–2 draw against Birmingham City.

The summer 2011 arrival of Gaël Clichy to the club marginalized Kolarov's role in the squad and he saw his first team opportunities greatly reduced. On 14 September 2011, he scored an equaliser for City in the 1–1 draw against Napoli in their first 2011–12 UEFA Champions League group stage match. On Saturday 1 October 2011, he started and played the full 90 minutes in the left-back slot against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park in an important 4-0 away victory in the Barclays Premier League. He then added another with a long range swing which earned city a point against Sunderland at home

Career statistics

As of 8 April 2012

International career

Kolarov was a part of the successful Serbia under-21 side which reached the final of the 2007 U-21 Championships held in the Netherlands.

As a key member of that side, Kolarov was named in the UEFA Team of the tournament. In the semi-final clash with Belgium, he scored a free-kick from long range.

Also representing Serbia at the 2010 World cup and since playing a major role in Euro 2012 qualifiers and friendlies.

Kolarov was eventually awarded for a good 2011 with the Serbian footballer of the year award.^[10]

Honours

Club

Lazio

• Coppa Italia (1): 2008–09
• Supercoppa Italiana (1): 2009

Manchester City

• FA Cup (1): 2010–11
• Premier League (1): 2011–12

Individual

• Serbian Player of the Year: 2011

Transfer controversy

Kolarov's switch from FK Čukarički to OFK Beograd in February 2006, during the 2005-06 season winter break, was highly controversial. Under contract with Čukarički at the time, Kolarov filed a request to be released dated January 31, 2006 on the grounds of "contract expiry" even though it was good until January 2007. Soon after handing in his request to Čukarički, Kolarov publicly stated his desire to join OFK Beograd. Seeing that they had a disgruntled player on their hands, Čukarički set a €300,000 transfer fee for Kolarov due to the fact he still had one more year left on his contract with the club. OFK for their part simply ignored this fact and simply signed Kolarov without paying a fee. Over the coming years Čukarički took the case in front of Serbian Football Association (FSS), where all of their official complaints got rejected.

Year and a half later, during summer 2007, when Kolarov was sold by OFK Beograd to S.S. Lazio for €800,000, Čukarički president Aleksandar Mihajlović went public with an accusation that Kolarov "was stolen from Čukarički by OFK Beograd". For that, he was punished by Serbian FA on the verbal delict grounds and given a year-long ban on performing any functions in Serbian football.

The entire Kolarov case was featured in early 2008 on B92 television's investigative journalism programme Insajder that focused on criminal activities in Serbian football. The programme claims that Kolarov's case was part of a wide initiative by Serbian FA president Zvezdan Terzić (formerly the president of OFK) who made sure young promising players signed for OFK and then raise their transfer price by making sure they get playing time in the U-21 national team.^[11]

References

External links

• Aleksandar Kolarov career stats at Soccerbase
• Aleksandar Kolarov at reprezentacija.rs

Serbia squads v t e Serbia squad – 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Runners-up 1 Kahriman 2 Ivanović (c) 3 Rukavina 4 Rnić 5 Kačar 6 Kolarov 7 Smiljanić 8 Janković 9 Rakić 10 Milovanović 11 D. Tošić 12 Stefanović 13 Drinčić 14 Babović 15 Pavlović 16 Ivelja 17 Krasić 18 Mrđa 19 Basta 20 Rajković 21 Z. Tošić 22 Petković 23 Kesić Coach: Đukić v t e Serbia squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup 1 Stojković 2 Rukavina 3 Kolarov 4 Kačar 5 Vidić 6 Ivanović 7 Tošić 8 Lazović 9 Pantelić 10 Stanković (c) 11 Milijaš 12 Isailović 13 Luković 14 Jovanović 15 Žigić 16 Obradović 17 Krasić 18 Ninković 19 Petrović 20 Subotić 21 Mrđa 22 Kuzmanović 23 Đuričić Coach: Antić