Toni Savevski (; born 14 June 1963) is a Macedonian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Savevski is widely regarded as one of the best foreign players to have played in the Greek football league. After retiring from as a footballer in 2001 he became manager and managed several clubs in Cyprus, most notably Omonia.

Club career

Savevski started his career in Pelister and in 1980 he moved to

Vardar The Vardar (; , , ) or Axios (, ) is the longest river in North Macedonia and a major river in Greece, where it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of ...

. In 1987 he won the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

, but since a point deduction punishment of Partizan was overturned, the title eventually was awarded to the latter. In November 1988 he signed for AEK Athens at the request of their manager,

Dušan Bajević Dušan "Duško" Bajević ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Бајевић, ; , ''Doúsan Báyevits''; born 10 December 1948) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Bosnian football manager ...

. Savevski quickly developed into one of the team's consistent players and at the end of the season he won the league. He alongside Stelios Manolas became the permanent leaders of the great AEK of the 90s. He combined very well and assisted all the great strikers that played in the club during his era, such as

Batista Batista is a Spanish language, Spanish or Portuguese language, Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include: * Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player João Batista da Silva * Dave Bautista, Batista (wrestler) (Dave ...

, Dimitriadis, Alexandris,

Kostis Kostis () is a hypocorism of the Greek name Konstantinos (Constantine (name), Constantine). Notable people with the name include: Given name *Kostis Adosidis Pasha (1818–1895), Prince of Samos *Kostis Chatzidakis (born 1965), Greek politician * ...

and Nikolaidis. He also scored some very important goals, the most important of all being this against Rangers in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

qualifiers in the summer of 1994. He served AEK for 13 years winning the four championships, three Greek Cups, two Greek Super Cups and the Greek League Cup. He is the third foreigner in appearances in the history of the league, behind

Krzysztof Warzycha Krzysztof Ireneusz Warzycha (, ; born 17 November 1964) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a forward for Ruch Chorzów and for Greek club Panathinaikos. At international level, he played for the Poland national team, sc ...

and Predrag Đorđević. Savevski urgently stopped football in the yellow-black jersey in January 2001 and within a few days he became the manager of the team, as a "duo" with Eugène Gerards, a position in which he remained until the end of the season.

International career

Savevski made his senior debut for

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

on August 1988 at friendly match against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

away from home. He earned a total of 2 caps without scoring a goal. On October 1994 he made his debut for

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

in a European Championship qualification match against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He earned another 8 caps and his final international was a September 2000

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

match against

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Managerial career

In January 2001, after the then coach AEK Athens, Giannis Pathiakakis resigned, Savevski retired as a footballer overnight, in order to take the position of coach on the yellow-black bench, with Eugène Gerards as technical advisor. In the summer of 2001, the administrative instability of the club resulted in the Savevski and Gerards leaving. In the season 2001–02 he was the coach for

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship tit ...

. In 2002 he coached Omonia, where in 2003 he won the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

and the

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is ...

, before leaving in 2004. In the summer of the same year, he assumed the position of technical director of the AEK Athens academies. During his tenure, the infrastructure departments of the club were organized and developed. Players such as

Sokratis Papastathopoulos Sokratis Papastathopoulos (; born 9 June 1988), also known mononymously as Sokratis, is a Greek former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre-back. Club career AEK Athens Papastathopoulos joined AEK Athens from Apo ...

, Kostas Manolas, Viktor Klonaridis, Panagiotis Tachtsidis and Vasilios Pliatsikas were the results of his work. In the summer of 2010, Savevski was promoted to the position of head scouting of the team. By September 2012, he returned to Omonia as head coach until December 2013.

Honours

Player

AEK Athens *

Alpha Ethniki The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

: 1988–89, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 1995–96, 1996–97, 1999–2000 * Greek Super Cup:

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

* Greek League Cup: 1990

Coach

Omonia *

: 2002–03 *

: 2003

Personal life

Savevski had humble upbringings and grew up in Bitola. He later moved to

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Greece after his first son, Victor was born. His second son was born in Athens.

References

External links

*
Profile at MacedonianFootball.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Savevski, Toni 1963 births Living people Footballers from Bitola Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Yugoslavia Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Macedonian men's footballers North Macedonia men's international footballers Dual internationalists (men's football) FK Pelister players FK Vardar players AEK Athens F.C. players Yugoslav First League players Super League Greece players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Macedonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Greece Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Macedonian football managers AEK Athens F.C. managers Apollon Limassol FC managers AC Omonia managers Macedonian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Greece Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus AEK Athens F.C. non-playing staff