Saša Papac

Saša Papac (born 7 February 1980) is a Bosnian former professional footballer, who played as a left-back. Having started his career in his native country of Bosnia and Herzegovina for Široki Brijeg, he went to play in Austria for Kärnten and Austria Wien, and in Scotland for Rangers. He spent the early part of his career as a central defender but during his six-year stint at Rangers developed into a left-back. He was capped 39 times for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.

Saša Papac
Personal information
Date of birth (1980-02-07) 7 February 1980
Place of birth Mostar, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina,
SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Left-back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2001 Široki Brijeg 14 (1)
2001–2004 Kärnten 95 (3)
2004–2006 Austria Wien 58 (2)
2006–2012 Rangers 161 (6)
Total 328 (12)
International career
2001–2012 Bosnia and Herzegovina 39 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Early career

Papac started his career with NK Široki Brijeg in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2000. He made fourteen appearances, scoring once for the club.

He then moved to Austria with FC Kärnten a year later. Papac spent three years with Kärnten, making 100 appearances and scoring on three occasions. When Kärnten were relegated from the Austrian Bundesliga in 2004 he joined Austria Wien. Whilst in Vienna he would make 76 appearances (with three goals) and win the league in 2006. He was also part of the side which won successive Austrian Cups in 2005 and 2006.

Rangers

He signed for Rangers on 31 August 2006 for a fee of £450,000.[1] He became Rangers' third signing from Austria Vienna in the 2006 summer transfer window, after Libor Sionko and Filip Šebo. Papac made his debut for Rangers on 17 September 2006, coming on as a half time substitute for Steven Smith in a Scottish Premier League game against Hibernian. The side went on to lose the match 2–1.[2]

With the arrival of Walter Smith in January 2007, Papac lost his place in the first team. He struggled to get into the side, making only one appearance in over two months, but returned towards the end of the season on the left side of defence. He was linked with a move to French club Saint-Etienne in the summer but rejected it in order to claim a first-team spot.[3]

In the 2007–08 season Papac was a regular at left-back and played in the Scottish Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup finals. Papac netted his first goal for Rangers on his 83rd appearance for the club, during a league match against Dundee United on 4 November 2008.[4] He signed a two-year contract extension in November 2008 that would keep him at the club until the summer of 2011. In season 2008–09, Papac made 39 appearances and won both the League and Scottish Cup. Papac made 46 appearances the following season and won the League for the second consecutive time along with the League Cup.

During an Old Firm defeat to Celtic on 2 March 2011, Papac was knocked out after being hit in the face by a strike from Mark Wilson.[5] Papac signed a new one-year contract extension with Rangers just two days after helping the club to a third consecutive championship.[6]

On 4 May 2012, Papac revealed that he would be leaving Rangers at the end of the current footballing season.[7]

Retirement

On 28 August 2012, Papac announced his retirement from professional football for health reasons, after failing to recover properly from a groin injury.[8]

International career
Bosnia and Herzegovina squad during UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying.

Papac made his debut on 12 January 2001, against Bangladesh at the Sahara Millennium Cup but quit in March 2007, citing problems with the staff at the Bosnian FA.[9][10] He played his last match versus Greece before quitting the national team in October 2006.[11] In January 2008, he decided to return to the international set-up under new boss Meho Kodro. Shortly after Kodro's dismissal, he was called up by new coach Miroslav Blažević but refused to come and retired from international football claiming it was to give space to new young players. However, in 2010 it emerged that Papac could make a return to the national team.[12] In June 2011, Glasgow newspaper The Herald reported Papac was returning to international football.

On 1 July 2011, Papac confirmed that he will return to play for the national team.[13][14] His final international was a February 2012 friendly match against Brazil.[15]

In 2015, he was hired as a scout for the Bosnian national team.

Managerial career

On 15 November 2017, Papac was announced as new director of football of Željezničar Sarajevo.[16] He did not want to extend his contract and announced on 27 May 2018 that when his contract expires on 1 June 2018, he will leave the position which he did. He thanked the club on the opportunity and wished it good luck in its future.[17]

Career statistics

Club
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[18]
Club Season League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Rangers 2006–07 210000000210
2007–08 2201000180410
2008–09 291201020341
2009–10 342403060472
2010–11 343302070463
2011–12 210201020260
Total 1616120703502156

Honours

Player
Austria Vienna
Rangers

References
  1. "Rangers complete signing of Papac". BBC Sport. 31 August 2006.
  2. "Hibernian 2–1 Rangers". BBC Sport. 17 September 2006.
  3. "Papac staying at Ibrox". Sky Sports. 22 July 2007.
  4. "Rangers 3–3 Dundee United". BBC Sport. 4 November 2008.
  5. Hendry, Mark (23 June 2020). "Richard Foster recalls Celtic vs Rangers shame game, Bougherra 'clamping' referee and Mark Wilson 'nearly killing Papac'". Glasgow Times. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  6. "New deal for Papac". SPFL. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  7. Dailyrecord.co.uk (4 May 2012). "Sasa Papac confirms he will leave Rangers at the end of the season". Daily Record. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  8. "Sasa Papac retires from football". soccernews.com. 28 August 2012.
  9. "Rangers star Papac quits Bosnia". BBC Sport website. 22 March 2007.
  10. "Sasa Papac at war with Bosnia". Times. 5 October 2008.
  11. "Papac: Odazvat ću se Sušiću, ne osjećam pritisak". Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  12. http://www.goal.com/en/news/755/europe/2010/01/06/1729087/%5B%5D
  13. "Saša Papac potvrdio povratak u reprezentaciju BiH". sport.ljiljan.ba. Archived from the original on 23 August 2011.
  14. "Saša Papac pričao sa Sušićem: Vraćam se protiv Grka". Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  15. "Player Database". eu-football.info. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  16. "Saša Papac sportski direktor FK Željezničar".
  17. "Saša Papac više nije sportski direktor FK Željezničar".
  18. Saša Papac at Soccerbase
  19. "Zenit St Petersburg 2–0 Rangers". BBC Sport. 14 May 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
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