Career
Saša Bjelanović started his career at Zadar. At the age of 20, he had already made 76 appearances for his native club In summer 1999, he was signed by Croatian giant Dinamo Zagreb.
However, he made only one appearance before being transferred to NK Istra from Pula and then NK Varteks.
On 31 May 2002, Como, at that time in Serie A, brought Bjelanović to Italy. He played 15 Serie A games for Como, and left on loan to Chievo.
As Como was relegated in summer 2003, on 16 July 2003, Bjelanović was loaned to Perugia. But on 30 August 2003, he was sold to Genoa C.F.C. of Serie B on a co-ownership deal for €1 million.
Genoa was owned by former Como owner Enrico Preziosi.
Bjelanović played 41 out of possible 46 games for Genoa, and as Como was relegated again, this time to Serie C1, Genoa bought all the registration rights at the end of the season for another €150,000. As a result, Bjelanović was sold to Ascoli, the team which was promoted in Genoa"s place, on a co-ownership deal. Bjelanović scored four goals in 31 Serie A appearances for Ascoli in the 2005-2006 season.
He then went on to score seven goals in the 2006-2007 season and became the top scorer for Ascoli for the season.
This is due to players leaving the club and Ascoli relegated to Serie B after finishing at 19th. Bjelanović signed for his 6th Italian club, Torino F.C., along with Paolo Zanetti, on 21 June 2007, on a co-ownership deal.
In June 2008 Torino full contracted with Bjelanović. In August 2008, Bjelanović was transferred to Vicenza.
On 1 July 2009 he joined Vicenza definitely in 3-year contract for €700,000 as part of Nicolás Gorobsov"s deal (for €800,000).
In June 2010 he was transferred to Liga I champions for €250,000. He played only six months in Romania, in January 2011 being sold back in Italy, to Serie B club for €385,000. On 3 September 2012 the last day of Romanian transfer window, he returned to Cluj for undisclosed fee.
He then joined Lega Pro club Messina for the 2014-2015 season, but left the club in December 2014 by mutual consent, successively signing for Pordenone, another Lega Pro club, five days later.
He made his debut for the Croatian senior national team on 9 February 2005, coming on as a second-half substitute in a friendly match against Israel, which ended in a 3–3 draw. In late March 2005, he was also part of the Croatian squad that played Iceland and Malta in the 2006 World Cup qualifying, but remained an unused substitute in both matches.