Lazar Samardžić
Personal information
Full name Lazar Vujadin Samardžić[1]
Date of birth (2002-02-24) 24 February 2002
Place of birth Berlin, Germany
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Position(s) Attacking midfielder, left winger
Team information
Current team
 Udinese
Number 24
Youth career
FK Hercegovac
Blau-Weiß Spandau
Schwarz-Weiß Neukölln
0000–2009 Grün-Weiss Neukölln
2009–2020 Hertha BSC
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2019–2020 Hertha BSC II 5 (1)
2020 Hertha BSC 3 (0)
2020–2021 RB Leipzig 7 (0)
2021– Udinese 77 (9)
International career‡
2017–2018 Germany U16
2022–2023 Germany U21 5 (2)
2023– Serbia 5 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:47, 14 January 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15 November 2023

Lazar Vujadin Samardžić (Serbian Cyrillic: Лазар Вујадин Самарџић, pronounced [lâzaːr sǎmaːrdʒitɕ]; born 24 February 2002) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or left winger for Serie A club Udinese. Born in Germany, he plays for the Serbia national team.[2][3]

Club career

Hertha BSC

Youth

Samardžić played for BSV Grün-Weiss Neukölln 1950 e.V. from 2008 to 2009[4] and joined Hertha BSC from 9 October 2009.[3][5] Samardžić played for the U17 and U19 teams of Hertha BSC in the Under 17 and Under 19 Bundesliga, scoring 16 and 14 goals respectively.[6] Samardžić won the bronze award of the Fritz Walter Medal in the U17 group.[7][8]

First team

Samardžić was announced to have signed a professional contract, and first appeared as an unused substitute for the professional team in a 3–3 away draw against Fortuna Düsseldorf on 28 February 2020.[9][10]

Samardžić made his debut for Hertha BSC in the Bundesliga on 22 May 2020, coming on as a substitute for Per Ciljan Skjelbred in the 81st minute of the Berlin derby against Union Berlin, which finished as a 4–0 win.[11] Samardzic is considered one of Germany's most talented prospects and he had attracted serious interest from elite clubs around the world, such as Chelsea, Barcelona and Juventus.[12][13]

RB Leipzig

On 8 September 2020, Samardžić joined fellow Bundesliga side RB Leipzig on a five-year deal.[14] He made his RB Leipzig debut on 3 October, coming off the bench in a 4–0 win against FC Schalke 04.

Udinese

Ahead of the 2021–22 season, 19-year-old Samardžić moved to Italian Serie A club Udinese. He signed a five-year contract.[15]

International career

Samardžić played for Berlin at the Under-15 level and Germany at the Under-17 and Under-19 levels. He first appeared internationally and played two matches in the 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification against Belarus and Slovenia.[6][16][17] He then played in all three matches of the group stage of the tournament, scoring once, but the team failed to progress to the knockout stage. For the U-19 level, he played in the 2020 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification, scoring twice.[6]

Serbia national team

In February 2023, the Football Association of Serbia announced that Samardžić had accepted manager Dragan Stojković's invitation to switch his allegiance to Serbia on his 21st birthday.[18] He subsequently received his first official call-up to the Serbian senior national team the following month, being included in the list for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying matches against Lithuania and Montenegro.[19]

On 25 March 2023, Samardžić made his debut for Serbia in a 2–0 win over Lithuania in Belgrade.[20]

Personal life

Samardžić was born in Berlin, and he is a Serb from Bosnia and Herzegovina. His father hails from Živinice, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[21]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 14 January 2024[22]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup League cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Hertha BSC II 2019–20 Regionalliga 51————51
Hertha BSC 2019–20 Bundesliga 3000———30
RB Leipzig 2020–21 Bundesliga 7020—00—90
Udinese 2021–22 Serie A 22220———242
2022–23 Serie A 37520———395
2023–24 Serie A 18200———182
Total 77940———819
Career total 9210600000009810

    International

    As of match played 15 November 2023
    Appearances and goals by national team and year
    National teamYearAppsGoals
    Serbia 202350
    Total50

    Honours

    RB Leipzig

    Individual

    References

    1. ↑ Birlanga, Javier (15 June 2022). "El Barça acapara la lista del 'Golden Boy 2022' con cinco candidatos". Goal.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 June 2022.
    2. 1 2 Lazar Samardžić at WorldFootball.net
    3. 1 2 "Lazar Samardžić | Player profile". Bundesliga. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
    4. ↑ "U 17: Einst Amateurverein, mittlerweile Nationalspieler". DFB - Deutscher Fußball-Bund e.V. (in German). Retrieved 4 May 2020.
    5. ↑ "Hertha BSC - HerthaBSC.de". www.herthabsc.de (in German). Retrieved 6 May 2020.
    6. 1 2 3 "Germany - L. Samardžić - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway". us.soccerway.com. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
    7. ↑ Quinn, Phillip (13 August 2019). "Fritz Walter Medals awarded to Germany's top youth players". Bavarian Football Works. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
    8. ↑ "Gold Fritz Walter medals for Kühn, Bühl and Adeyemi". DFB - Deutscher Fußball-Bund e.V. (in German). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
    9. ↑ "A comeback on the Rhein - Teams - HerthaBSC.de". www.herthabsc.de (in German). Retrieved 8 May 2020.
    10. ↑ "Wird dieses Hertha-Talent der neue Max Kruse? – Meldung". tekk.tv. 24 April 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
    11. ↑ "Germany » Bundesliga 2019/2020 » 27. Round » Hertha BSC – 1. FC Union Berlin 4:0". WorldFootball.net. 22 May 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
    12. ↑ "Lazar Samardzic: Barcelona and Juventus chasing Germany's latest wonderkid | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
    13. ↑ "Bild: Chelsea among top clubs targeting Hertha Berlin prospect Lazar Samardžić". Retrieved 7 March 2021.
    14. ↑ "RB Leipzig sign Lazar Samardzic from Hertha Berlin". Bundesliga. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
    15. ↑ "Lazar Samardžić è bianconero < Squadra < News < Udinese". udinese.it (in Italian). 5 August 2021.
    16. ↑ UEFA.com. "Germany-Belarus | Under-17". UEFA.com. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
    17. ↑ UEFA.com. "Slovenia-Germany | Under-17". UEFA.com. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
    18. ↑ "МЛАДИ И ТАЛЕНТОВАНИ АС УДИНЕЗЕА ЛАЗАР САМАРЏИЋ ПРИХВАТИО ПОЗИВ СЕЛЕКТОРА ДРАГАНА СТОЈКОВИЋА". fss.rs (in Serbian). 24 February 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
    19. ↑ "СЕЛЕКТОР ДРАГАН СТОЈКОВИЋ САОПШТИО СПИСАК ИГРАЧА ЗА УВОДНЕ МЕЧЕВЕ КВАЛИФИКАЦИЈА ЗА ЕУРО 2024. ПРОТИВ ЛИТВАНИЈЕ И ЦРНЕ ГОРЕ". fss.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 19 March 2023.
    20. ↑ "Nemac koga je „majka Srbija pozvala": Ko je Lazar Samardžić, novi fudbaler Intera koji je „postao Srbin" zahvaljujući Piksiju". Danas (in Serbian). 8 July 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
    21. ↑ Škorić, E. (18 July 2020). "Uspostavljeni kontakti: Juventus dovodi 18-godišnje čudo čiji je otac rođen u selu kod Živinica". SportSport.ba (in Croatian).
    22. ↑ "L. Samardzic". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
    23. ↑ "Fritz-Walter-Medaille in Gold an Kühn, Bühl und Adeyemi" (in German). German Football Association. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.