Samir Handanovic

Club

_Free Agent Soccer

Position

Goalkeeper

Nationality

Slovenia

Date of birth

1984-07-14

Birthplace

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Height

193 cm

Weight

86 kg

Shirt number

1

Signing / transfer fee

Signed

Samir Handanović (born 14 July 1984) is a Slovenian professional footballer who serves as captain and plays as a goalkeeper for Serie A club Inter Milan.

Before moving to Italy, Handanović played in his home country of Slovenia. In 2004, he was acquired by Udinese, but spent the next few years on loan, playing for teams such as Treviso, Lazio and Rimini. Handanović returned to Udinese ahead of the 2007–08 season, where he played as a starter for the next five years. In the next season, he also played European football for the first time, making his debut in UEFA Cup. After five years as starter and more than 200 appearances, Handanović joined Inter Milan in July 2012 for around €19.4m. In February 2019, he was named club captain, while in September, he made his 300th appearance for the club, and subsequently went on to reach the 2020 UEFA Europa League Final that season. He made his 500th Serie A appearance in February 2021, and won his first trophy that May by winning the title.

Having previously represented the Slovenian under-21 team, Handanović made his senior international debut for Slovenia in 2004. He went on to earn 81 caps for his country, the most by a goalkeeper, and played for them at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Nicknamed Batman, due to his acrobatic saves, he is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation, and is one of only four non-Italian keepers to be named Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year, winning the honour three times. A penalty saving specialist, during the 2010–11 Serie A season he saved a total of six penalty kicks, equalling an all-time league record set in the 1948–49 season. During the 2019–20 season, he equalled Gianluca Pagliuca's record of most penalties saved in Serie A with his 24th stop. The following season, he broke the record.

Handanović made his debut for Slovenia on 17 November 2004 in a friendly match against Slovakia, which ended in a goalless draw. Handanović was a regular member of the team during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, being used mostly as a back-up for the veteran Borut Mavrič. However, in the second part of the qualifiers, he managed to play four matches, first being the 1–1 home draw against Belarus on 30 March 2005, failing to keep a clean-sheet, as Slovenia finished the Group 5 in fourth position with twelve points, failing to secure a spot in the final tournament. Lost 2 goals in the lost final of Cyprus International Football Tournaments 2006 from Romania.

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