Zoran Urumov

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Zoran Urumov bigraphy, stories - Serbian footballer

Zoran Urumov : biography

30 August 1977 –

Zoran Urumov (Serbian Cyrillic: Зоран Урумов ;born 30 August 1977 in Belgrade, Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian footballer. The left-footed defender began his career on the books of Red Star Belgrade and earned international honours with the Serbian and Montenegrin U-21 side.

In 1999 he joined K-League side Busan I’cons, and immediately made a name for himself as one of the best players in the league. Urumov made 105 appearances in total for Busan between 1999 and 2003, scoring 17 goals for the club which was struggling to return to the top of Korean football. Urumov scored two goals for Busan in a 4–1 friendly win over Dutch powerhouse Feyenoord in June 2003, but just one month later Busan manager Ian Porterfield made the decision to sell the player to Suwon Samsung Bluewings for $350,000.

Urumov slotted in well to Kim Ho’s young Suwon side for the latter half of the 2003, but when Kim was replaced as manager by Cha Bum-Kun for the 2004 season, Urumov lost his place in the starting line-up and took on the role of perennial substitute, often deployed in the final twenty minutes of a match to make full use of his pace. He made headlines around the sports world on 29 July 2004 by scoring a stunning 35-yard free kick in Suwon’s 1–0 friendly win over Spanish giants Barcelona after coming on as a second half substitute.

In December 2004 Urumov lifted the K-League championship trophy, scoring the final Suwon goal in the penalty shootout at the end of their playoff final match against Pohang Steelers in what turned out to be his last match for the club. After unsuccessful attempts to secure contracts in the J-League and the Chinese Super League, as well as an unsuccessful trial with Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv, Urumov was eventually transferred to newly-promoted Serbo-Montenegrin Football League side Rad in July 2005.

A financial dispute with the club in September 2005 led to Urumov and six team-mates refusing to train until wages were paid, which resulted in all seven players being suspended by the club. Urumov returned to action shortly after the issue was resolved and continued to play for Rad in the 2005/06 season.

In the summer of 2006, he moved to Greek side Thrasyvoulos, but was released in January 2007 and joined Serbian top division side Banat Zrenjanin on a free transfer. Urumov spent the early months of 2008 on loan at FK Sindjelic Belgrade but returned to Banat for the run-in to their 2007/08 season.

Following Banat’s relegation to the Serbian second division, Urumov moved to Montenegrin First Division side Rudar Pljevlja in June 2008 but was released when his contract expired in June 2009.

Club career

  • 1995–1999 Red Star Belgrade
  • 1997–1998 Milicionar Belgrade – on loan
  • 1999–2003 Busan I’cons
  • 2003–2004 Suwon Samsung Bluewings
  • 2005–2006 Rad Belgrade
  • 2006 Thrasyvoulos
  • 2007–2008 Banat Zrenjanin
  • 2008 Sinđelić Beograd – on loan
  • 2008–2009 Rudar Pljevlja
  • 2009–2010 Banat Zrenjanin