Mirko Vučinić (, ; born 1 October 1983) is a Montenegrin football manager and former player, who is the manager of the Montenegro national team. Quick, versatile, and physically strong, Vučinić was known for his creativity, technique, and intelligence as a footballer, as well as his powerful striking ability from distance.
Having caught the attention of Pantaleo Corvino, the sporting director of the Italian club Lecce, he transferred there in the summer of 2000. He played for Lecce as they moved between Serie A and B. His highest-scoring season was 2004–05, with 19 goals in 28 games in Serie A. In 2006, he joined Roma, where he won the Coppa Italia twice; he later moved on to Juventus in 2011, where he won three consecutive Serie A titles. In July 2014, he moved to Al Jazira on an undisclosed fee.
On the international stage, Vučinić played for the Serbia and Montenegro under-21 team. Due to injury, he was unable to represent Serbia and Montenegro at the FIFA World Cup in 2006. Following the split of Serbia and Montenegro in May 2006, Vučinić chose to represent his native Montenegro.
Club career
Early career Vučinić started out at his hometown club Sutjeska Nikšić before being snapped up by Lecce in Italy during the summer of 2000 at age 16. The man who initiated the transfer was the club's sporting director at the time, Pantaleo Corvino, who has since developed a reputation for having a good eye when it comes to football talent coming out of Eastern Europe.
In his fourth season for the club, 21-year-old Vučinić scored 19 goals in 28 Serie A games, including a hat-trick versus Lazio on 1 May 2005. Following that successful season, his progress came to a halt with only nine goals recorded in 31 games as his career stalled due to injury.
Roma On 30 August 2006, Vučinić signed a one-year loan contract with Roma worth €3.25 million, with an option of buying 50% of his registration rights from Lecce at the season's conclusion for an additional €3.75 million. Vučinić signed a 1+4 year contract, which worth €1.07M, €1.6M, €1.8M in the first three seasons in gross annually, then increased to €2.1 million in the last two seasons.
2006–07 season During his first season in Rome, he did not feature much as he had operations on his left knee twice. Roma: altro stop per Vucinic, sarà operato al ginocchio sinistro Also, the presence of the European Golden Boot winner Francesco Totti as the lone forward of Roma's tactical formation under head coach Luciano Spalletti did not give Vučinić much playing time. Despite this, he succeeded in scoring three goals: his first goal for Roma in the 1–0 victory against Siena on 28 January 2007, Vucinic-gol, la Roma non perde la speranza his first goal in the UEFA Champions League during the quarter-finals match 2–1 victory against Manchester United on 4 April 2007.Roma defeat United's ten men He also scored another Serie A away goal against Catania in a game that saw Roma beat the Sicilians 2–0.
2007–08 season At the beginning of the 2007–08 season, Roma paid Lecce the pre-agreed price of €3.75 million to sign 50 percent of Vučinić's rights. He decided to wear the No. 9 jersey, previously owned by Vincenzo Montella in the last eight seasons, and also stated that he would like to do the same that Montella did at Roma. Vucinic pronto al decollo "Il mio modello è Montella"
As Francesco Totti was usually deployed as a lone striker, Vučinić began to play as left winger in Luciano Spalletti's 4-2-3-1. He scored his first goal of the season in the 2–1 victory against Sporting CP, in the Champions League group stage, allowing Roma to get the vital goal to earn them three points.
In the following game, away to Milan at the San Siro, with Francesco Totti injured, Vučinić started as a striker and scored a header, from a cross by his teammate Cicinho. It was the only goal of the game as Roma picked up a win over their rival. This proved decisive again, as in the game against city rivals Lazio, Roma won 3–2, with Vučinić leaving his mark with a left-foot equaliser and an assist for Simone Perrotta's goal. Another decisive goal of Vučinić was a header against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu, securing a 2–1 win for his side as well as qualification to the successive round.
2008–09 season In June 2008, Roma finally bought Vučinić outright by paying Lecce €12 million, meaning Roma had paid €19 million in total to Lecce.
On 4 November 2008, he scored two goals in Roma's UEFA Champions League group stage match against Chelsea, emerging as 3–1 winners. Roma made it to the round of 16, where they lost to Arsenal on penalties, with Vučinić missing the target in the shootout with a weak shot down the middle that was easily saved by goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.
2009–10 season On 1 June 2009, Roma announced Vučinić had signed a new four-year contract, under which the gross wage of the 2008–09 season would increase to €3.3 million as well as €4 million in 2009–10 season; €4.2 million in the 2010–11 season; €4.5 million in 2011–12 season and €4.7 million in 2012–13 season. The 2009–10 Serie A campaign started off poorly for Roma, forcing head coach Luciano Spalletti to resign after two opening losses. Arrival of new head coach Claudio Ranieri initially failed to change matters with the team continuing to slide down the standings. Vučinić was booed by Roma fans in early November 2009 against Bologna when he finally scored his first goal of the season. After winning that match, however, Roma went on a 24-match unbeaten run in the league, mounting a credible title challenge by the end of the season, in large part thanks to Vučinić's improved form and steady goalscoring efforts that included a hat-trick versus Udinese and a brace in the win against heated crosstown rivals Lazio.
2010–11 season The 2010–11 season began well for Vučinić, scoring the injury-time winner against defending league champions Inter Milan. As the season progressed, however, he experienced a loss of form and his goals output dipped dramatically. Later in the season he was linked with a move to Tottenham.
The team was also going through turmoil as it was way off pace for the title after challenging for the Scudetto the previous few seasons. Head coach Ranieri was sacked and replaced with Vincenzo Montella. Vučinić's form didn't improve much as his loss of confidence became very evident in April when he missed open net sitters in two consecutive home matches – first in Serie A versus Palermo with the score tied at 1–1 (Roma eventually lost 3–2), and then three days later in the Coppa Italia semi-final first leg versus Inter (Roma lost 1–0).
Juventus
2011–12 season On 30 July 2011, it was confirmed that Juventus had signed Vučinić for €15 million from Roma, with a 4-year deal worth a reported €3.5 million [in net] per year. He scored his first goal for the club on 21 August 2011 in the 2–1 defeat to AC Milan in the annual Trofeo Luigi Berlusconi curtain raiser to the Italian season.AC Milan 2–1 Juventus: Boateng & Seedorf belters earn victory for Serie A champions Goal.com. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
Vučinić scored a 32-metre goal in extra time to help Juventus to a 2–2 draw against Milan on 20 March 2012, helping his side to a 4–3 victory on aggregate and progression to the 2012 Coppa Italia final.
2012–13 season The second season of Vučinić started exceptionally well, proving to be a vital player at several occasions. His first Serie A goal came during his second appearance against Udinese on 2 September 2012, the end of the year came soon after and his goal tally stood at 4 goals on 14 appearances and 4 assists. On 9 January 2013 Vučinić scored in the 96th minute against AC Milan to bring Juventus to the semi-finals of Coppa Italia where they will face Lazio. The new year started very well for the Montenegrin, as he managed to score once again against Udinese.
Vučinić gained notoriety on 5 April 2013 when after scoring a penalty kick goal against Pescara, he celebrated by taking off his shorts and was publicly seen in his briefs.
2013–14 season On 1 May 2014, in injury time of Juventus' Europa League semi-final elimination against Benfica, Vučinić was sent off for a fight with opponent Lazar Marković despite neither being on the field of play at the time, Marković having been substituted and Vučinić still on the substitutes bench.
Al Jazira On 4 July 2014, Vučinić joined UAE Pro League side Al Jazira for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of €6 million. He enjoyed a first season of individual success, scoring 27 goals in 24 matches and finishing as top scorer of the league, but was troubled by injuries in the seasons following, amassing an additional nine appearances until his departure from the club in July 2017.
International career Serbia and Montenegro Vučinić received his first call-up to the Serbia and Montenegro national team on 4 June 2005 for the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Belgium in Belgrade, which ended in a goalless draw, entering the game as a substitute for Nenad Jestrović in the 53rd minute. He made his second appearance four days later in a friendly match against Italy at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
Vučinić was also a member of the Serbia and Montenegro national under-21 team that qualified for the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in great fashion, defeating Croatia 5–2 on aggregate in a two-leg playoff. In the first leg on 12 November 2005, Vučinić scored a hat-trick and celebrated with the Serbian three-finger salute.
On 14 May 2006, Vučinić was called up by Dragan Okuka to the under-21 side for the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. A day later, he was also called up by Ilija Petković to play for the senior Serbia and Montenegro side at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. At the Under-21 Championship, Vučinić stretched his knee ligaments in the opening group stage match against Germany on 23 May 2006. As a result, he could not participate in the World Cup and was replaced in the squad by Dušan Petković on 30 May 2006.
His last appearance for Serbia and Montenegro was a friendly against Tunisia on 1 March 2006.
Montenegro After Montenegro became an independent country on 3 June 2006, and a new national team was to be established, Vučinić initially opted to play for the Serbia national football team, but eventually decided to play for his native country. In September 2006 in a press conference in Rome, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, he said "I am one hundred percent Montenegrin and happy that the union with Serbia has ended".
He scored the first goal of Montenegro's history when he netted a penalty kick in the team's first international match on 24 March 2007, a 2–1 friendly win against Hungary.Montenegro beats Hungary 2–1 in its first international friendly He has earned a total of 46 caps, scoring 17 goals. His final international was a June 2017 friendly against Iran.
In 2010, in a game against Switzerland, Vucinic gained notoriety after he scored the game's only goal when he took off his pants and ran around with the shorts on his head, showing off his underpants.
Style of play