| Aleksandar Šapić | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 June 1978 Belgrade, Serbia |
| Occupation | Water polo |
Aleksandar "Aca" Šapić (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Шапић - Аца), (born 1 June 1978 in Belgrade, Serbia) is a Serbian politician and a retired water polo player. Born in Belgrade to father Miloš from Kordun and mother Slavojka from Berane vicinity in Montenegro, Aleksandar and his younger brother Vladimir grew up in New Belgrade near Studentski Grad. At 1.91m and 105 kg, and a professional career that lasted from 1993 until 2009, he's considered by many to be one of the greatest water polo players of all time. Currently, he's the president of the Democratic Party's (DS) branch for the city of Belgrade.[1] As an instrumental part of Serbia-Montenegro national team Šapić won gold at the World Aquatic Championships in Montreal. At the last three Olympic Games, he won a bronze medal in Beijing 2008, he collected a silver medal in Athens 2004, along with a bronze from Sydney 2000.
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Šapić started playing water polo at the age of 8. After going through all the age groups at VK Crvena Zvezda, Šapić transferred to VK Partizan in December 1991 after his previous club's pool in New Belgrade was closed down. In his first year at Partizan he made his senior debut at only 13 years of age.
After year and a half in black-and-white part of Belgrade, he went back to Red Star for the 1992/93 season as an established national team player.
Next seven seasons Šapić spent in VK Bečej where he won six Yugoslav league titles and six Yugoslav Cups. He also led the team to the 1999/00 European Champions League title, scoring 5 goals in the final versus Zagreb's HAVK Mladost. He was also that year's Champions League best scorer with 39 goals on the season. [1]
After Bečej got dissolved due to financial difficulties, Šapić moved to Italian league in late summer 2001 and spent three seasons with Camogli.
In the summer of 2004 Šapić switched teams again, going this time to Savona. He led the club to the Italian league title in his first season.
In 2005/06 Šapić was already one of top five paid players in the sport when towards the end of the season Russian water polo club Shturm offered him $300,000 per season (huge sum of money in water polo terms), which would make him the single best paid player in the world. [2]
At the end of 2005/06 season, powerhouse Savona, featuring Šapić, Tamás Kásás, Bogdan Rath and Viktor Jelenić, made it to LEN Champions League Final Four in Dubrovnik but lost 8-9 in a tense semi-final to host VK Jug.
On 24 May 2006, he signed a contract with Russian club Shturm from the town of Chekhov. The terms were not disclosed but it is widely believed to be the highest in water polo history. [3]
As of the end of 2005/06, Šapić is the holder of another significant record. From 1995 on (11 straight seasons and counting), Šapić was always the league's top scorer in whichever team or league he was playing.
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's water polo | ||
| Competitor for Yugoslavia / Serbia and Montenegro / Serbia | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Bronze | 2000 Sydney | Team competition |
| Silver | 2004 Athens | Team competition |
| Bronze | 2008 Beijing | Team competition |
| World Championship | ||
| Bronze | 1998 Perth | Team competition |
| Silver | 2001 Fukuoka | Team competition |
| Bronze | 2003 Barcelona | Team competition |
| Gold | 2005 Montreal | Team competition |
| European Championship | ||
| Silver | 1997 Seville | |
| Gold | 2001 Budapest | Team competition |
| Gold | 2003 Kranj | Team competition |
| Gold | 2006 Belgrade | Team competition |
| Silver | 2008 Málaga | Team competition |
| FINA World League | ||
| Silver | 2004 Long Beach | Team competition |
| Gold | 2005 Belgrade | Team competition |
| Gold | 2006 Athens | Team competition |
| Gold | 2007 Berlin | Team competition |
| Gold | 2008 Genova | Team competition |
| FINA World Cup | ||
| Bronze | 2002 Belgrade | Team competition |
| Gold | 2006 Budapest | Team competition |
| Mediterranean Games | ||
| Gold | 1997 Bari | Team competition |
At the 2003 European Championships in Kranj, Slovenia, Šapić turned in another star performance, scoring Serbia-Montenegro's winning goal in the final versus Croatia. He also scored the most goals at the championships (24).
At the European Championships 2006 held in Belgrade, Serbia, Šapić won gold with Serbian national team. With 33 goals, Šapić was again the tournament's top scorer.
In 2008, Šapić was again the best scorer of the European Championships in Malaga, Spain, thus tying Manuel Estiarte's record of being the top scorer at three consecutive European Championships. [4]
On 15 October 2008, Šapić called a press conference along with fellow player Aleksandar Ćirić where both announced their retirement from the national team.[2]
In total Šapić played 385 official matches for the national team, and scored an absolute record 981 goals.[3]
In addition to his considerable playing and goal-scoring abilities Šapić is at times a fiery character:
At the 2003 World Championships, he and Dejan Savić were both banned by FINA for incidents following the semifinal clash with Italy. Šapić received a nine-month ban and Savić six months. He was the top scorer in the European Champions League in 2000 and 2003, and was the leading goal scorer in the 2000 Olympic Games with 18 goals.
In late April 2005, during LEN Cup final second leg match between Šapić's club at the time Savona and one of his former teams, VK Partizan, he got into an altrecation with the visiting fans. He reacted to their taunts and verbal abuse as he exited the pool after the match. [5]
VK Partizan
VK Crvena Zvezda
VK Bečej Naftagas
Rari Nantes Camogli
Rari Nantes Savona
Šturm 2002
In 2005, Šapić married Ivana Šljukić his girlfriend of few years, and the widow of slain mobster Sredoje Šljukić. In June 2009, their separation became public.[4]
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Roberto Calcaterra |
Most Valuable Player of Water Polo World Championship 2005 |
Succeeded by Guillermo Molina |
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