Aleksandar Dragović

Austrian association football player

Aleksandar Dragović (born March 6, 1991 in Vienna) is an Austrian football player. He plays as central defender for the Austrian Football Bundesliga club FK Austria Wien.

Aleksandar Dragović
Personal information
Date of birth (1991-03-06) 6 March 1991 (age 33)
Place of birth Vienna, Austria
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) defender
Club information
Current team
FK Austria Wien
Youth career
1997-2007 FK Austria Wien
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008-2011 FK Austria Wien 67 (1)
2008 Austria Wien II 8 (2)
2011-2013 FC Basel 77 (4)
2013-2016 Dynamo Kyiv 66 (0)
2016-2021 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 71 (3)
2017-2018 Leicester City (loan) 11 (0)
2021-2024 Red Star Belgrade 95 (7)
2024- FK Austria Wien 9 (0)
National team
Austria U16 1 (0)
2007-2008 Austria U17 11 (29)
2008-2009 Austria U19 6 (2)
2009-2022 Austria 100 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

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Dragović began his career in the youth department of FK Austria Wien. 2008 and he moved to Austria Wien II. Later the same year he came into the first team. He also won the Austrian Cup in 2009.

In February 2011, Dragović moved to FC Basel.[1]At the end of the 2012/13 season, Dragović became Swiss champions for the third time with FC Basel. Basel reached the cup final. In the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League, Dragović reached the semi-finals with FC Basel.[2]

2013 Dragović signed a five-year contract with Dynamo Kyiv. In his first season he won the 2013/14 Ukrainian Cup with Dynamo Kyiv. The following season he played with the club in the group stage of the Champions League, became Ukrainian champions and cup winners. In the 2015/16 season he reached the round of 16 of the Champions League and repeated the championship win. In July 2016, he won the 2016 Ukrainian Supercup against Shakhtar Donetsk.

2016 he moved to the German Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen. For the 2017/18 season, Dragović was loaned to the English first division club Leicester City.[3]

After a total of 71 Bundesliga appearances for Leverkusen he moved to Serbia to FK Red Star Belgrade for the 2021/22 season. He left Belgrade after the 2023/24 season. Dragović then returned to Austria Wien.[4]

International

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Dragović played in the Austrian U-16 , U-17 and U-19 team. In his first season as a regular player for Austria Vienna, he was called up to the senior national team squad for the 2010 World Cup qualifying match against Romania. He was nominated again for the qualifying game against Serbia on June 6, 2009 under Dietmar Constantini. He made his team debut in this game. He scored his first goal for the national team from a penalty on November 18, 2014 in the 1-2 home defeat against Brazil.

He was included in Austria's squad for the 2016 European Championships in France. In the first game against Hungary (0-2) he was in the starting line-up . He was sent off with a yellow-red card in the 66th minute after repeated foul play. After a one-game suspension, he was brought back into the starting line-up in the third game. Austria lost this and was eliminated from the tournament. In May 2021, he was named to Austria's provisional squad for the 2021 European Championship and made it into the final squad.[5]He made it to the round of 16. During the tournament he was used in all four of Austria's games.

On March 29, 2022, Dragovic played his 100th international match for the Austrian national team against Scotland.[6]

References

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