Before the 1983–84 season, following his senior debut with OFK Titograd, he moved to Sarajevo's Željezničar where he became one of the more notable Yugoslav defenders under the guidance of Ivica Osim.
His last year at AEK was accompanied by stunning football, with the addition of Tsiartas and Ketsbaia in the midfield, with the club winning the Cup[3] and finishing second in the league.
Šabanadžović made his national team debut on 29 October 1986, as a starter in defensive line in the opening Euro 88 qualifier versus Turkey in Split.
[6] National team head coach Ivica Osim—himself only in his 4th match overall leading the squad and his first one doing it alone as he had previously shared the coaching duties with Ivan Toplak—knew the twenty-one-year-old Željezničar defender well from their time together at Grbavica from 1983 until 1986 and decided to include him in the team as a result of an injury incurred by defensive mainstay Faruk Hadžibegić thereby causing a bit of a surprise by having a debutante in the starting lineup of a competitive match.
For the group stage opener versus West Germany at San Siro, Šabanadžović stayed on the bench without a single minute of action.
Due to the heavy opening loss, Osim decided to reshuffle the defensive line for the next group match against Colombia in Bologna, benching Zoran Vulić and Mirsad Baljić while giving Šabanadžović and Vujadin Stanojković a start.
Five days later, he again got the start in the final group match versus minnows United Arab Emirates before getting subbed off towards the end for club teammate Robert Prosinečki as Yugoslavia managed an easy 4–1 win.
For the knockout stage versus Spain, Šabanadžović again got the start and repaid the coach's trust with a confident display as Yugoslavia progressed with a 2–1 extra-time win.
By now, Šabanadžović's stock in Osim's eyes was raised to the point that the coach gave him the unenviable task of guarding Diego Maradona in the quarter-final versus Argentina in Florence.
Though the matches only had humanitarian character, they were played with FIFA's approval and were widely seen as the first step in the eventual formation of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team.
[10] On 15 October 1987, only three months after transferring to Red Star Belgrade from FK Željezničar, Šabanadžović was injured severely during his first match back in Sarajevo against his old club.
Early into the league contest at Grbavica Stadium, while jostling for position to go up for a header, Željezničar's forward Zoran Slišković elbowed Šabanadžović's head, striking his temple forcefully.