Brana Ilić (; born 16 February 1985) is a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

n professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Sloven Ruma.

Club career

Zemun and Rad

Ilić made his first senior appearances with

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; hu, Zimony) is a municipality in the city of Belgrade. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown Belgrade. The developme ...

in the

2003–04 First League of Serbia and Montenegro The 2003–04 First League of Serbia and Montenegro was the second and first full season of the Serbia and Montenegro's top-level football league since its establishment. It was contested by 16 teams, and Red Star Belgrade won the championship. T ...

. He quickly established himself as a first-team regular, scoring four goals in 23 games. During his time at Zemun, Ilić amassed a total of 93 league appearances and scored 14 goals. In the 2007 winter transfer window, Ilić moved to

Serbian First League The Serbian First League ( sr, Прва лига Србије / Prva liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet First League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Прва лига / Mozzart Bet Prva liga) for sponsorship reasons, is the name for the second ...

club

Rad RAD or Rad may refer to: People * Robert Anthony Rad Dougall (born 1951), South African former racing driver * Rad Hourani, Canadian fashion designer and artist * Nickname of Leonardus Rad Kortenhorst (1886–1963), Dutch politician * Radley R ...

, spending there the next two years. He helped them win promotion to the

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Partizan and Vojvodina

On 9 January 2009, it was announced that Ilić signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

. He made his competitive debut for the club on 14 March, coming on as a late second-half substitute for

Lamine Diarra Lamine Diarra (born 20 December 1983) is a Senegalese former footballer who played as a striker. He was capped once for Senegal at full level. Nicknamed ''Black Mamba'' and ''Mamba Di'', due to his speed and clinical finishing, Diarra is best r ...

in a 2–0 home league victory over Čukarički. Four days later, in his second appearance for Partizan, Ilić scored his first goal for the club, giving his team a 1–0 away win against

Jagodina ) , image_shield = Jagodina-grb.png , image_flag = FLAG Jagodina.png , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = File:Municipalities of Serbia Jagodina.png , map_caption = Location of Jagodina w ...

. On 1 July 2010, it was announced that Ilić signed a one plus one-year contract with

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

. He made 44 appearances across all competitions and scored 15 goals for the club, before leaving

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

in the 2012 winter transfer window.

Kazakhstan, Greece and Hungary

In March 2012, Ilić moved abroad to Kazakhstan and signed with

Aktobe Aktobe ( kz, Ақтөбе, Aqtöbe; russian: Актобе, Aktobe) is a city on the Ilek River in Kazakhstan. It is the administrative center of Aktobe Region. In 2020, it had a population of 500,757 people. Aktobe is located in the west of K ...

. He made 10 appearances and scored three goals in the first half of the

2012 Kazakhstan Premier League The 2012 Kazakhstan Premier League was the 21st season of the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest football league competition in Kazakhstan. The season was scheduled to start on 9 March 2012 and to conclude on 27 October 2012 Shakhter Karag ...

, before leaving the club during the summer transfer window. In the summer of 2012, Ilić joined

Superleague Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

side

PAS Giannina PAS Giannina Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 1966), or with its full name Panepirotikos Athlitikos Syllogos Giannina ( el, Πανηπειρωτικός Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Γιάννινα, ''Panepirotic Athleti ...

. He made his first appearance for the club on 25 August, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 home

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

draw with

Platanias Platanias (Greek: Πλατανιάς) is a village and municipality on the Greek island of Crete. It is located about west from the city of Chania and east of Kissamos, on Chania Bay. The seat of the municipality is the village Gerani. Platania ...

. On 7 October, Ilić scored his first goal for PAS Giannina in a 1–2 home loss to

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

. He finished his debut season as the club's top scorer with 11 goals (10 in the league). During his four-year tenure at PAS Giannina, Ilić amassed 138 competitive appearances and scored 28 goals for the club. On 2 August 2016, Ilić signed with

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

club

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki
...

on a two-year contract plus one-year extension. He netted his first goals for the side on 18 December, scoring a brace in a 3–2 win over

Trikala Trikala ( el, Τρίκαλα; rup, Trikolj) is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios. According to the Greek National Stati ...

. Eventually, Ilić left Aris Thessaloniki after just one season. After five years in Greece, Ilić moved to Hungary and joined

Nemzeti Bajnokság II NB II, currently known as the Merkantil Bank Liga for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of Hungarian football. At the end of the 2004–05 season, the tournament format was changed from one division of 14 teams to two divisions: ''Keleti ...

club

Kisvárda Kisvárda (; german: Kleinwardein, yi, קליינווארדיין, Kleynvardeyn) is a town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary near the border of Slovakia and Ukraine. It is the 3rd largest town ...

in July 2017. He helped them gain promotion to the

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

in his debut season, contributing with 10 goals in 35 appearances.

International career

On 18 March 2011, Ilić received his first call-up to the Serbia national team for their UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, but remained unused in both matches. He eventually made his debut in a friendly match against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

on 3 June 2011.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

;Partizan *

: 2008–09, 2009–10 *

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије, Kup Srbije) is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. From 2006 to 2010, the competition was known as the Lav Cup ...

: 2008–09 ;Individual *Top Assist

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

Runner-Up: 2014–15 (10 Goals with

)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ilic, Brana Association football forwards Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Hungary Expatriate footballers in Kazakhstan FC Aktobe players First League of Serbia and Montenegro players FK Inđija players FK Partizan players FK Rad players FK Vojvodina players FK Železničar Pančevo players FK Zemun players Football League (Greece) players Kazakhstan Premier League players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Nemzeti Bajnokság II players PAS Giannina F.C. players Serbia and Montenegro footballers Serbia international footballers Serbian expatriate footballers Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Serbian First League players Serbian footballers Serbian SuperLiga players Super League Greece players 1985 births Living people