Aleksandar Dragovic learned how to make right decisions being a kid.
Choice in favor of football
Football entered the life of the small boy, born in the family of Serbian immigrants who moved to Vienna, when he was 6. He started attending FK Austria football academy. Several years later he was enlisted to the amateur team of this club. At that moment he had to choose between school and football. He chose the second variant and thus Austrian football got a very promising player.
On May 6 2008 (being 17) Dragovic was on Austria-2 players’ list for the first time. Still in 2007/08 season he also made two appearances for the main squad.
Vain expectations…
Aleksandar Dragovic made his debut in Austrian Football Bundesliga on May 13 2008 as FK Austria faced Kapfenberger SV (2:2). He made a substitute appearance 15 minutes before the time. In general he made 17 appearances (1202 minutes) that season.
That year he was finally reclassified into center back, besides FK Austria won the Austrian Cup.
On July 6 2009 Dragovic made his debut for Austria national team against Serbia (0:1) within the FIFA 2010 World Cup qualification. This time Aleksandar didn’t have to make a choice as he was never called-up to the national team of the country he always dreamed to play for…
Sudden decision
In 2009/10 season Dragovic was already FC Austria first team regular. Never the less following season he made a sudden decision and moved from Vienna to humble Swiss city of Basel.
Later it turned out that the intuition hadn’t let Aleksandar down! Dragovic made 17 appearances for Basel 1893 in the second half of 2010/11 and made strong contribution into his new team’s Premiership.
Next season was a real success for young Austrian defender. Basel won Swiss Super League and Swiss Cup. Besides Thorsten Fink’s men outplayed Manchester United within the UEFA Champions League group stage. After that Swiss side faced Bayern Munich. Basel won the first leg 1:0, but suffered hammering away – 7:1…Fink’s resignation followed this defeat. Heiko Vogel became Basel new head coach and it seemed that troublesome times were waiting for the team…
Another right choice
As Basel won only 4 out of 11 Swiss Super League games early 2012/13 season, Vogel left the team and Murat Yakin became the head coach. After that Dragovic made 55 appearances for Swiss side in different competitions, including Europa League semi-finals.
Talented defender was spotted by different European teams. In December of 2012 Dragovic became the best layer of Swiss Super League.
Inter Milan were close to signing Dragovic until FC Dynamo Kyiv entered the struggle. “Dynamo had a concrete proposal and they really wanted to sign me. When I came to Kyiv I realized that the White-Blues are a great club. They have much better infrastructure than Basel. So I don’t regret moving here. I hope I’ll make myself useful for Dynamo”.
According to Aleksandar’s opinion only best players must take the field in every match: “There is a great competing in Dynamo. Still, no matter who will play, Dynamo must win the Ukrainian Premier League”.
Let’s wish Austrian player of Serbian origin luck. It was a right decision to join the White-Blues!
Oleh Zadernovskyi
