Dejan Iliev ( mk, Дејан Илиев; born 25 February 1995) is a Macedonian 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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

AS Trenčín AS Trenčín () is a Slovakia, Slovak sports club in the town of Trenčín, most known for its association football, football department. The first team currently plays in the Slovak Super Liga, Fortuna Liga after winning the 2010–11 Slovak Fi ...

Career

Early life

Iliev was born in

Strumica Strumica ( mk, Струмица, ) is the largest city2002 census results
in English and Macedon ...

, Macedonia and first played youth club football for his hometown club of

FK Belasica FK Belasica ( mk, ФК Беласица) is a football club based in the city of Strumica, North Macedonia. They are currently competing in the Macedonian Second League. History The club was founded on 22 April 1922 at the cafe of Tašo Todorov ...

. He was spotted by

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

scouts and signed to join their academy in London in 2012.

Arsenal

Iliev joined the Arsenal Academy immediately upon signing the youth contract. He signed a three-year contract extension from March 2015 until June 2018, when he signed another extension. Iliev appeared three times in the Arsenal squad as an unused substitute: against

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

in the Carabao Cup in October 2017; and twice in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

: against Qarabağ and against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in the final as the third goalkeeper. Iliev's contract with the club was terminated in January 2022 by mutual consent.

Loan to Sereď

In July 2019, he moved to

ŠKF Sereď ŠKF Sereď () is a Slovak football team, based in the town of Sereď, that plays in the Slovak Super Liga. It was founded as Sereďský športový klub in 1914. The club won the Slovak 2. Liga in 2017–18, thereby gaining promotion to Slovakia ...

for a one-year loan, and on the 22nd of the same month he made his debut for his new club in the 2–0 loss to

Spartak Trnava FC Spartak Trnava () is a Slovak professional football club based in Trnava. Historically, it is one of the most successful clubs in the country, having won the Czechoslovak First League five times and the Czechoslovak Cup on four occasions, and ...

Loan to Jagiellonia Białystok

After an early end to his loan with ŠKF Sereď, Iliev opted to join Polish

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

club

Jagiellonia Białystok Jagiellonia Białystok () is a Polish football club based in Białystok that plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of Polish football. The club was founded in 1920 by soldiers in the Reserve Battalion in Białystok. Jagiellonia play their home g ...

for the remainder of the 2019–20 season. He made four appearances after suffering an injury.

Loan to Shrewsbury Town

On 8 October 2020, Iliev joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

on a short-term loan deal. On 28 January 2021, he returned to Arsenal.

Second loan to Sereď

On 26 July 2021, Arsenal announced that Iliev had returned to ŠKF Sereď on a season-long loan deal.

AS Trenčín

On 7 February 2022, Iliev signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with

Fortuna Liga The Slovak Super Liga is the top level football league in Slovakia, currently known as the Fortuna Liga due to a sponsorship arrangement. It was formed in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The record for most titles is eleven, ...

club

. He made his debut in goal on 30 April in a 5–2 victory against Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš.

International career

Iliev has appeared for Macedonia's under-19 and under-21 teams a total of ten times. He has been called up to the

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

squad and made the bench ten times.

Career statistics

Honours

Arsenal *

runner-up: 2018–19

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iliev, Dejan 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Strumica Macedonian footballers North Macedonia youth international footballers North Macedonia under-21 international footballers Association football goalkeepers Arsenal F.C. players ŠKF Sereď players AS Trenčín players Jagiellonia Białystok players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Slovak Super Liga players Ekstraklasa players Macedonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Poland Expatriate footballers in Slovakia Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in England Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia North Macedonia international footballers