Samir Handanović (born 14 July 1984) is a Slovenian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
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 a starter and more than 200 appearances, Handanović joined Inter Milan in July 2012. 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 Slovenia under-21 team, Handanović made his senior international debut for Slovenia in 2004. He went on to earn 81 caps for his country 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. He broke the record the following season on 17 October 2020.
Club career Early career Handanović started his career at local side Slovan. He later joined Domžale, where he made his Slovenian PrvaLiga debut in the 2003–04 season. During the same season, he was also loaned to the Slovenian Second League side Zagorje.
Udinese 2004–2006: First years as backup and loans In the summer of 2004, at the age of 20, he was signed by Serie A side Udinese. However, his first spell with the Friuliani was short-lived as he was unable to cement his place in the starting line-up. His debut occurred on 20 November 2004 in a Coppa Italia match against Lecce, where he was sent-off in 91st minute for conceding a penalty after a foul on Mirko Vučinić; since Udinese had used all three substitutions, striker David Di Michele entered in goal in his place. Vučinić, however, failed to score from the penalty spot and Udinese won 5–4. He made his Serie A debut on 15 May 2005 in a 1–1 home draw against Sampdoria.
Handanović was on loan to Treviso in the summer of 2005, but in January 2006, he was exchanged with Matteo Sereni to Lazio. With Treviso, he received his first ever red card during the match against his next club, Lazio, on 18 September 2005 in an eventual 3–1 away loss. During his time with the Biancoceleste, Handanović played three matches and conceded six goals.
On 14 May 2006, in the last day of 2005–06 season, Handanović, with the number 24, played his first and last match for Lazio, keeping a clean sheet against Parma in a 1–0 home win.
2006–2007: Loan to Rimini In July 2006, Handanović was loaned to Rimini, with a pre-set price of €1.2 million. Thanks also to his saves, Rimini remained undefeated in both championship games played against Juventus. The club finished fifth in Serie B and conceded the fourth-fewest goals in the league. Handanović was considered the second best goalkeeper of that Serie B season, after Gianluigi Buffon. In June 2007, despite Rimini excising the option, Udinese also excised the option by paying Rimini €250,000 in net.
2007–2010: Return to Udinese and established first choice Handanović returned to Udinese in the summer of 2007 after Udinese excised the counter-option to reject the buying, where he replaced Morgan De Sanctis and signed a new and improved contract lasting until 30 June 2012.
Despite the arrival of the Venezuelan goalie Rafael Romo, Handanović retained his spot as the number one goalkeeper. He started his fourth season as a Udinese player by featuring full-90 minutes in team's opening league match of the season, a 2–2 home draw against Parma. He kept his goal intact for the first time this season on 19 September in matchday four against Napoli, which ended in a goalless draw.
During the 2009–10 campaign, Handanović was the most used player on the field, collecting a total of 40 appearances, including 37 in the league. In Serie A, he made a total of 130 saves as Udinese ended the season in 15th place.
2010–2012: Most saved penalties in one season and departure Before the start of the season, Handanović changed the squad number from 22 to 1. The squad started the 2010–11 season with four losses in its first four Serie A weeks, leaving Udinese in last place. Handanović kept his first clean sheet of the season on 26 September 2010 during a goalless draw against Sampdoria, helping the team to collect its first point of the season.
During a match against Lazio in May 2011, he saved a penalty from Mauro Zárate, his sixth saved penalty during the 2010–11 season that equalled the all-time league record set in the 1948–49 season for most penalties saved during the course of a single season. Due to his performances, he was named to the Serie A Team of the Year for 2010–11.
On 16 August 2011, he played his first ever UEFA Champions League match against Arsenal, in the first leg of the play-off round, being beaten by a Theo Walcott 4th-minute goal in a 1–0 away loss at Emirates Stadium. In the returning leg at Stadio Friuli after one week, Udinese was leading after 50 minutes, but Arsenal come back to beat Handanović twice in a span of 14 minutes with Bianconeri Friuliani being eliminated with the aggregate 3–1.
Handanović kept a clean sheet in team's opening league match against Lecce, helping the team to a 2–0 away win. Udinese and Handanović were unbeaten in their first seven Serie A games, and only conceded one goal in that period, which was the best defensive record in top European leagues at the time.
Inter Milan Transfer On 4 July 2012, Gino Pozzo, son of Udinese owner Giampaolo Pozzo, confirmed that an agreement had been reached for Handanović to join Inter Milan, with Inter paying a reported €11 million plus Davide Faraoni for his services; the transfer was made official by Inter five days later. Handanović was brought in to replace the Brazilian goalkeeper Júlio César to take over as first-choice goalkeeper. He signed a contract worth a reported €2 million per season, plus bonuses.
2012–2015: Debut and team struggles
He made his club debut on 2 August 2012, in a 3–0 win over Hajduk Split in the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round, then conceded two goals in the 2–0 return-leg loss at home on 2 August, but Inter advanced on a 3–2 aggregate. On 17 August, Handanović suffered a meniscus injury that delayed the start of his Serie A campaign until 16 September, in a 2–0 road win over Torino. Handanović kept crosstown rivals AC Milan at bay in his first Derby della Madonnina appearance on 7 October, won 1–0 by Inter. He made his 200th Serie A appearance in Inter's 2–1 home win over Napoli. Inter were held to a 1–1 draw in the second derby encounter on 25 February 2013, but Handanović was noted for performing several saves against Milan striker Mario Balotelli.
In 2012, Handanović was included for the first time in the top ten IFFHS Goalkeepers of the World, ranking eighth. After the end of 2012–13 season, thanks to his solid performances, Handanović was selected in Serie A Team of the Year for the second time in his career, being the goalkeeper with most appearances. He played 48 matches throughout the season, including 35 in Serie A and ten in the Europa League. Inter's season ended in disappointment, however, after failing to finish high in the Serie A table and the Europa League, earning a ninth-placed league finish (the worst position since the 1993–94 season), and a quarter-final exit in Europe.
On 19 June 2013, Inter acquired Handanović outright and sold Faraoni to Udinese for undisclosed fees.
In June, it was reported that Spanish side Barcelona offered to sign Handanović for €23 million, which was rejected by Inter owner Massimo Moratti; Handanović's agent also confirmed that his client will not move to Barcelona after the Catalan club opted instead to retain their incumbent starting goalkeeper Víctor Valdés for another year.
On 18 August 2013, in Mazzarri's first match in charge, Handanović was in goal and kept his first clean sheet of the season in the Coppa Italia's third round match against Cittadella, where Inter progressed to the next round thanks to a 4–0 home win.
Handanović started the league season in strong fashion, keeping three clean sheets in the first four league matches. On 20 October, during the league encounter against Torino, he received his second-ever career red card for a foul on Alessio Cerci in the 5th minute; Inter however endured and drew 3–3. On 15 December, Handanović saved his first penalty as a Nerazzurri keeper in a 4–2 away loss against Napoli, saving a Goran Pandev penalty in the second half.
During the 2013–14 season, Inter returned to European competition after a year-long absence, finishing fifth in the league with 60 points. He played as a starter in Javier Zanetti's last competitive match at San Siro, in which Inter defeated Lazio 4–1 to secure a place in Europa League play-offs for the next season. Handanović managed 14 clean sheets in 36 appearances during the Serie A season, and conceded 32 goals.
Inter opened the 2014–15 Serie A season with a disappointing goalless draw against Torino, with Handanović stopping a penalty kick from Marcelo Larrondo. After saving his last five Serie A penalties faced, Handanović saved from Yevhen Konoplyanka of Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on 27 November 2014 in a game which Inter won to confirm top spot in their Europa League group with one game remaining. That was also his 100th appearance with Nerazzurri in all competitions.
Handanović played his 100th league match with Inter on 19 April 2015 in the Derby della Madonnina against Milan, keeping his goal intact as the match ended goalless. He ended his third season with Inter by playing 40 matches in all competitions, including 37 in Serie A, as Inter finished in eighth place, again failing to qualify for European competition. Handanović obtained 11 clean sheets in Serie A, the third-highest total in Serie A. Handanović also managed to have a shot-to-save ratio of better than 67 percent.
At the end of the season, it was reported that Handanović was the target of Premier League side Manchester United, but his agent turned down this opportunity by saying that his client will not move to the club.
2015–2017: Champions League pursuits Inter Milan commenced the 2015–16 season with a 1–0 home win against Atalanta, where Handanović kept his first clean sheet of the season. On 27 September 2015, in his 300th Serie A match, against Fiorentina, Handanović made perhaps his worst appearance by giving away a 3rd-minute penalty scored by Josip Iličić, later being beaten three times by Nikola Kalinić in an eventual 1–4 loss. The loss ended Inter's undefeated streak of the 2015–16 season. After the match, Handanović told the reporters that it was his fault for the way the match ended.