Rade Bogdanović is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a striker.
Club career
Early career
Born in Sarajevo, Bogdanović began his career in hometown club Željezničar. His debut for the club, playing at the time in the Yugoslav First League, came in 1987. The promising forward stayed there until 1992, which is when he left Sarajevo as the Bosnian War broke out. The 22-year-old fled to Belgrade along with several other Željezničar players such as Simo Krunić, Gordan Vidović, Suvad Katana, Siniša Nikolić, and Srećko Ilić. Once there, they were accommodated by FK Partizan's technical director Nenad Bjeković and general secretary Žarko Zečević who took care of their basic living needs and allowed them to train at the club facilities in order to maintain fitness while looking for new clubs even though they weren't on Partizan's roster.
Japan and South Korea
Soon afterwards Bogdanović made a jump to the Far East, signing with South KoreanPOSCO Atoms from Pohang in July 1992. Playing in the modest league consisting of only six teams, he quickly established himself as one of its best players. After spending four and a half seasons at the club Bogdanović signed in October 1996 with Japanese JEF United Ichihara. Two months later he got a dream offer from Louis van Gaal's Ajax and, seeing it as a chance to finally come back to Europe, he signed with them in late December 1996 without making them aware that he was under contract with JEF. This created problems, so the UEFA arbitration committee got involved. He signed a preliminary agreement with Ajax and went on trial in January 1997. Bogdanović was hoping to come to some sort of compensation agreement with JEF that would allow him to go to Ajax, but in the end he was forced to stay in Japan where he spent five months, playing the first part of the 1997 J1 League season.
During summer 1997, Bogdanović's wish of returning to Europe finally came true as compatriot Radomir Antić signed him to a contract with Spanish club Atlético Madrid. He made his debut for the club at home versus Real Valladolid on 6 September 1997, scoring two first half goals as los Colchoneros routed the visitors 5–0 by the end. The dream start prompted Atlético's impulsive president Jesús Gil to buy him a brand new BMW 316i as a reward. However, the presence of Christian Vieri and Kiko meant few starting opportunities for Bogdanović though he still managed four more league goals by January 1998. During the winter transfer window he got loaned out to Dutch NAC Breda.
After playing out the 1997–98 season in Eredivisie, Atlético sold Bogdanović to Werder Bremen for a fee of around €1,350,000. In December 2000, he was banned from playing for six months after having been ruled to have spit Hansa Rostock's goalkeeper Martin Pieckenhagen in the face during Werder's 2–5 defeat. He stayed at the German club for four years, winning the 1998–99 DFB-Pokal and the 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup. In the cup final against Bayern Munich, Bogdanović came on as a substitute and then scored one of the penalties in the shootout as Bremen emerged victorious.
Bogdanović tried his hand at and football administration with a few low-profile stints, most notably at Rad and BASK. Since early 2011 he owns and runs a football recreation facility called Posco Arena in Belgrade's neighbourhood of Careva Ćuprija. In April 2011, Bogdanović caused controversy in an interview for Belgrade daily newspaper Sport with a claim that Atletico's last match of the 1997–98 La Liga season on 15 May 1998 away at Racing Santander was fixed by Atletico president Jesus Gil because Atletico needed three points to ensure the UEFA Cup spot for the following season. Bogdanović said: "Gil walked into the dressing room before the match and said that each player has to set aside DM25,000 out of the DM150,000 bonus in order for the win to be bought". The match ended 0–1 for the Madrid visitors. In November 2019, Bogdanović received criticism for a racist remark he made while working as a pundit. Commenting on poor defending by Borussia Dortmund in a Champions League match against FC Barcelona, he claimed the reason for the fall in form of the team was due to manager Lucien Favre's decision to "play with four blacks in defence".
Personal life
Bogdanović and his wife Aleksandra have three children, the oldest daughter is Kristina, the second is called Marija and the third is Sofija. Bogdanović and his family reside in Belgrade though they also spend time in Mallorca where he owns an apartment. Bogdanović's nephews Vladimir Jovančić and Darko Jovančić are also football players.
