 He played football professionally for his hometown club Red Star Belgrade and FK Napredak Kruševac in Serbia, Bonnyrigg White Eagles Football Club (under the name of Sasha Jankovic) in Australia, AS Cherbourg Football and Pau FC in France, and Kansas City Wizards in the United States, before ending his playing career aged 28, due to a knee injury.While playing at Pau FC, Janković met his compatriot, coach Slavoljub Muslin who would turn out to be an important figure for his eventual venture into coaching.Following the injury that forced him to end his playing career, Janković came into the Red Star organization (club coached by Muslin at the time) in an adviser-scout role during the early 2000.