Nemanja Vidić

Nemanja Vidić
Personal information
Full name	Nemanja Vidić
Date of birth	October 21 1981 (1981-10-21) (age 26)
Place of birth	Titovo Užice, Serbia
Height	1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current club	Manchester United
Number	15
Youth clubs
1989–1993 1994–1996 1996–2000	Jedinstvo Užice Sloboda Užice Red Star Belgrade
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2000–2004 2000–2001 2004–2005 2006–	Red Star Belgrade → Spartak Subotica (loan) Spartak Moscow Manchester United	66 (12) 27 0(6) 39 0(4) 55 0(4)
National team2
2002–	Serbia	27 0(2)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:45, 1 January 2007 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 12 September 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Nemanja Vidić (Serbian: Немања Видић) (born October 21, 1981 in Titovo Užice, Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian footballer. He plays for the English club Manchester United in the Premier League and at the international level for the Serbian national football team.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Early years 1.2 Red Star 1.3 Manchester United 2 International career 3 Personal 4 Honours 4.1 Team 4.2 Individual 5 References 6 External links

Club career

Early years

Nemanja Vidić was born to Dragoljub, a retired copper factory worker, and Zora, a bank clerk. Vidić took up football at 7 years of age, alongside his older brother Dušan, with local side Jedinstvo Užice. He progressed quickly, and moved to Sloboda Užice at the age of 12.^[1][2]

Red Star

Two and a half years later, before his 15th birthday, Red Star Belgrade signed Vidić to their youth system. He started his senior career on a season-long loan deal at Spartak Subotica in 2000. He moved back to Red Star Belgrade after the loan deal ended, playing regularly in the top-flight Yugoslav League. He won the 2001/02 Yugoslav Cup with Red Star.^[3][4] Vidić quickly gained the captain's armband, and during his three years as captain, he scored 12 goals in 67 matches, and ended his Red Star Belgrade career on a high note by leading the club to a domestic double. He won the 2004 Serbia and Montenegro League and Serbia and Montenegro Cup trophies with Red Star Belgrade, and in July 2004, he joined Russian Premier League side Spartak Moscow.^[1][5] The details of the transfer were not revealed although it was reported that Vidić became the most expensive defender in the history of the Russian Premiere League.^[6]

Manchester United

After playing one season at Spartak Moscow, Vidić signed for Manchester United for a reported fee of around £7 million on January 5, 2006;^[7][8] two and a half years after Manchester United's reported interest in him.^[9] He was assigned the number 15 shirt and made his debut for Manchester United as a substitute for Ruud van Nistelrooy in the dying minutes of Manchester United's 2-1 win in the Carling Cup semi-final second leg against Blackburn Rovers on January 25, 2006.^[10] During the 2006/2007 season, Vidić formed a partnership with Rio Ferdinand in the centre of defence and became an established first team player.^[5] Vidić scored his first ever goal for Manchester United on October 14, 2006 against Wigan Athletic - United went on to win 3-1.^[11] He scored his second goal in a 3-0 win over Portsmouth FC on November 4, his first goal at Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium.^[12] He scored his first Champions League goal for Manchester United against S.L. Benfica on December 6 in the group stages; a match which Manchester United won 3-1.^[13] Vidić broke his collar bone during Manchester United's game with Blackburn Rovers on 31 March 2007, and was unavailable for almost a month.^[14] Vidic was rushed back from injury to face AC Milan at the San Siro on May 2 in a match that United eventually lost 3-0, knocking them out of the Champions League, 5-3 on aggregate.^[15] Despite this, Vidic put in a solid performance just three days later as United took on Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium. United won 1-0 and the Premier League title was secured a day later when Chelsea drew in their match against Arsenal at the Emirates.^[16] He is now recognised as one of the best defenders in the FA Premiership and in Europe. Nicknamed Vida^[17][18] by his Manchester United teammates, he is highly regarded for his physical presence, heading ability in both defence and at attacking set pieces, and bravery.^{[17][19][20][21][22][23]} Because of this, he enjoys a cult status among United faithful^{[19][24][25][26]} and is often compared to former Manchester United defender Steve Bruce for having similar characteristics.^[17][27] Vidic won Serbia's Overseas Player of the Year award for 2005, playing for Spartak Moscow, a poll of the captains of the 16 clubs in the Serbian Superliga that is organized every year by daily newspaper Večernje novosti.^[28] He was named in the 2006/07 PFA Premiership Team of the Season alongside seven of his fellow Manchester United teammates.^[29] He was shortlisted on 31 August, 2007 for UEFA European Club Defender of the Year^[30] and was again shortlisted on 25 September, 2007 for FIFPro World XI player award.^[31] On November 8 2007, Vidic signed a two-year contract extension, keeping him at Manchester United until 2012.^[32]

International career

A Yugoslavian youth international, he made his senior debut on October 12, 2002 against Italy in UEFA Euro 2004 qualification.^[1][33] Vidić was part of the Serbian and Montenegrin national team's "Famous Four" defence,^[8] alongside Mladen Krstajić, Ivica Dragutinović and Goran Gavrančić. The "Famous Four" defence conceded just one goal during the ten 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification matches, the best defensive record of any of the qualifying teams. Vidić played a major part in the last qualification game, against Bosnia-Herzegovina. Serbia and Montenegro won 1-0 and secured qualification, despite Vidić picking up a red card five minutes before the end.^[1] Vidić missed out on Serbia and Montenegro's opening group stage match against Holland through suspension from his red card in last qualifying game,^[34] and on June 12, 2006 he injured his left knee ligaments during training and he did not play any games at the 2006 World Cup.^[35] After the 2006 World Cup, Vidić went on to represent the national team, now independent as the Serbia national football team.

Personal

On July 15, 2006, Vidić married his girlfriend Ana Ivanović, an Economics student at the University of Belgrade. Ana should not be confused with the Serbian tennis star of the same name. Together they live in Salford and have a son, Luka.^[36][37]

Honours

Team

Red Star Belgrade

• 2002 Yugoslav Cup
• 2004 Serbian SuperLiga
• 2004 Serbia and Montenegro Cup

Manchester United

• 2006 Carling Cup
• 2007 Barclays Premiership
• 2007 FA Community Shield

Individual

• 2005 Serbia's Overseas Player of the Year, with FC Spartak Moscow
• 2007 PFA Team of the Year, with Manchester United

References

External links

• Official website of Nemanja Vidić
• players profile and stats
• Manchester United profile
• UEFA profile
• Nemanja Vidić profile at reprezentacija.co.yu (English) (Serbian)
• Nemanja Vidic career stats at Soccerbase

•  • e 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

•  • e Manchester United F.C. – current squad
1 van der Sar • 2 Neville • 3 Evra • 4 Hargreaves • 5 Ferdinand • 6 Brown • 7 Ronaldo • 8 Anderson • 9 Saha • 10 Rooney • 11 Giggs • 12 Foster • 13 Park • 15 Vidić • 16 Carrick • 17 Nani • 18 Scholes • 19 Piqué • 21 Dong • 22 O'Shea • 24 Fletcher • 25 Simpson • 27 Silvestre • 29 Kuszczak • 32 Tévez • 33 Eagles • 38 Heaton • 43 Hewson • 45 Brandy • 46 Eckersley • Manager: Ferguson

Persondata
NAME	Vidić, Nemanja
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Vidić, Nemanja
SHORT DESCRIPTION	footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	1981-10-21
PLACE OF BIRTH	Titovo Užice, SFR Yugoslavia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH