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Ivica Dragutinović (Serbian Cyrillic: Ивица Драгутиновић; born 13 November 1975 in Prijepolje), sometimes just known as Drago, is a Serbian footballer who currently plays for Spanish side Sevilla FC.

Mainly a central defender, he can also operate as a defensive left back.

Club career

Dragutinović began his professional career at first division's FK Borac Čačak, heading to Belgium in 1996, and spending the following eight years there, with K.A.A. Gent and Standard Liège.

Since his arrival in Liège, he was an overwhelming success, having played over 200 official matches for the club. He still started 2005–06 with Standard but, on the last day of the August transfer window, signed with Sevilla FC for, as an immediate replacement for Real Madrid-bound Sergio Ramos.^[1]

Never an undisputed starter with the Andalusians, Dragutinović saw regular playing time during his first three seasons, appearing in the middle or the left flank of the back four, and netting once in every campaign, as the club won, amongst other trophies, back-to-back UEFA Cups. He already held a Belgian passport, thus not being included in the three non-EU player quota of La Liga.

On August 2, 2007, Spanish sports paper Diario Marca claimed that Dragutinović had agreed to join Newcastle United in the English Premier League. However, on November 5, he put pen to paper on a new four-year deal.^[2]

Still in August 2007, on the 25th, Dragutinović was first to rush to the aid of collapsed teammate Antonio Puerta during the match against Getafe CF, due to a heart attack, arguably prolonging his life by keeping him from swallowing his tongue. Puerta eventually died in the hospital, three days later.

On November 24, 2009, Dragutinović scored an own goal during Sevilla's 0–1 loss against FC Unirea Urziceni, for the UEFA Champions League; it was his second at Stadionul Steaua, as he had already had the dubious honour in a match against ground owners FC Steaua Bucureşti, in the UEFA Cup.^[3]

International career

Dragutinović made his debut for the Serbian national team, then called Yugoslavia, on 13 December 2000 in a friendly with Greece that ended 1-1. During the country's successful 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, he^[4] alongside Goran Gavrančić, Nemanja Vidić and Mladen Krstajić formed the "Famous Four" defence that only conceded a goal (from Spain striker Raúl) during qualifying. During the final stages, he only appeared once, in the group stage 0–1 loss against Holland, as the nation conceded 10 and lost all matches.

On September 12, 2007, in the dying minutes of an Euro 2008 qualifier in Portugal, Dragutinović was involved in an altercation with opposing manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, whom eventually punched the defender;^[5][6] they were handed four and two-match bans, respectively.^[7] Serbia finished third in its group and failed to qualify.

Dragutinović was again called-up for the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign. He played in 6 out of the 10 matches and helped the newly-reformed Serbian team to their first World Cup.

Honours

Sevilla

• UEFA Cup: 2005–06, 2006–07
• UEFA Super Cup: 2006
• Spanish Cup: 2006–07
• Spanish Supercup: 2007

References

External links

• National team data (Serbian)
• BDFutbol profile
• NationalFootballTeams data

Serbia and Montenegro squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Jevrić • 2 Ergić • 3 Dragutinović • 4 Duljaj • 5 Vidić • 6 Gavrančić • 7 Koroman • 8 Kežman • 9 Milošević • 10 Stanković • 11 P. Đorđević • 12 Kovačević • 13 Basta • 14 N. Đorđević • 15 Dudić • 16 D. Petković • 17 Nađ • 18 Vukić • 19 Žigić • 20 Krstajić • 21 Ljuboja • 22 Ilić • 23 Stojković • Coach: I. Petković