Eli Babalj (born 21 February 1992) is an Australian

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 striker. Alongside Robert Cornthwaite and

Sasa Ognenovski Sasa Ognenovski ( mk, Саша Огненовски, Saša Ognenovski; born 3 April 1979) is an Australian soccer player who played as a central defender, who represented the Australia national team on 22 occasions, and who last played for Sy ...

, Babalj, at 1.95 m is the joint third tallest player to have represented the

Australia national association football team The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's Association football, soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, wh ...

, behind

Zeljko Kalac Zeljko Kalac (born 16 December 1972) is an Australian former soccer goalkeeper, who is currently the manager of NK Urania Baška Voda, who play in the Croatian third division. Nicknamed "Spider" due to his tall, gangly figure, standing at 2.02& ...

(2.02 m) and

Harry Souttar Harry James Souttar (born 22 October 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Premier League club Leicester City and the Australia national team. Born in Scotland, Souttar began his senior career there with Dundee Unite ...

(1.98 m).

Club career

Born in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

, Babalj has spent the majority of his life in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and started off playing with

Perth SC Perth Soccer Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in West Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1987 as the result of a merger between three local sides, though its pre-merger history is regarded to be that of Perth ...

. In 2008, he was signed by

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

for their Youth League team. However, he was signed by the

AIS AIS may refer to: Medicine * Abbreviated Injury Scale, an anatomical-based coding system to classify and describe the severity of injuries * Acute ischemic stroke, the thromboembolic type of stroke * Androgen insensitivity syndrome, an intersex ...

for the 2009–10 season in which the AIS came last, however Babalj managed to find the net 9 times.

Melbourne Heart

On 26 December it was announced that

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

expansion club

Melbourne Heart Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the south–eastern Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne East, that plays in the A-League, the top level of Australian soccer, under licence from Australian Profession ...

had signed the then 17-year-old for their inaugural

A-League 2010–11 A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professionalism in association football, professional men's association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Austral ...

season. He made his debut for the club in a friendly against Geelong All Stars XI and also scored his first goal in that match. He also took part in the friendly against

Everton FC Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has compe ...

in which Heart lost 2–0. He made his debut for

in the opening round of the 2010–11 A-League season against

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Ma ...

AAMI Park The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons, is an outdoor sports stadium on the site of Edwin Flack Field in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the Melbourne central business district. When completed ...

. During May 2012 it was announced that Serbian side

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

was scouting him.

Red Star Belgrade

On 7 June 2012 it was announced he had signed with

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 ...

contender

. He made his debut on 31 August 2012, against

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

in the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League play-off round. He scored his first goal on his league debut against

FK Smederevo Fudbalski klub Smederevo 1924 ( sr-cyr, Фудбалски клуб Смедерево 1924), commonly known as Smederevo, is a Serbian professional football club based in Smederevo. During Yugoslavia the club mainly played in amateur ranks of co ...

on 29 September 2012.

Melbourne Heart

Eli Babalj made his return appearance to the A-League for the Melbourne Heart away to the Western Sydney Wanderers on Australia Day, 26 January 2013 as a 2nd half substitution.

AZ

On 19 April 2013, Dutch club

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and ho ...

completed the signing of Eli for a fee believed to be in the region of $200,000.

Loan to PEC Zwolle

On 2 February 2015, Babalj was sent on loan at

PEC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a total ...

for the rest of the season. Eli Babalj made his Eredivisie debut for PEC Zwolle at home to the Go Ahead Eagles on 15 February 2015 as a 70th-minute substitute for Maikel van der Werff.

Loan to Adelaide United

On 24 July 2015, Alkmaar confirmed that they would allow Babalj to go out on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

back to

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional Association Football, soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under North American professional sports league organization#Systems ar ...

for the 2015–16 A-League season. This would be Guillermo Amor's first signing for Adelaide as the new manager. Babalj made his debut for Adelaide United as a substitute in the 2015 FFA Cup in Darwin against Darwin Olympic. He also scored his first goal to help Adelaide to a 6–1 win. On 22 January 2016, Babalj ruptured his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

against

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat. Brisba ...

, ruling him out for the remainder of the A-League season.

Adelaide United

On 7 February 2017, after training with

since late January, Babalj joined Adelaide United once more until the end of the season.

Mladá Boleslav

On 7 August 2017, Babalj signed with Czech club

Mladá Boleslav Mladá Boleslav (; german: Jungbunzlau) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 42,000 inhabitants. Mladá Boleslav is the second most populated city in the region and a major centre of the Czech automotive ind ...

ATK

Babalj signed with

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

club ATK for the 2018–19 season. He made his first appearance on 28 November 2018 against

FC Goa Football Club Goa is an Indian professional football club based in Goa, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was established on 26 August 2014. Nicknamed as '' Gaurs'', the club plays their ho ...

, coming on as a substitute in the 68th minute. The match ended 0–0.

Newcastle Jets

On 12 October 2021, after stint's with

and

Chainat Hornbill Chainat Hornbill Football Club ( Thai สโมสรฟุตบอลชัยนาท ฮอร์นบิล) is a Thai professional association football club based in Chai Nat province. The club plays in Thai League 2. History Foundation ...

Babalj returned to Australia and signed with

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

for the

2021-22 A-League Men Increment or incremental may refer to: *Incrementalism, a theory (also used in politics as a synonym for gradualism) *Increment and decrement operators, the operators ++ and -- in computer programming *Incremental computing *Incremental backup, wh ...

season after a successful trial at the club.

International career

He has represented Australia at U-20 level during the 2010 AFC U-19 Championship qualification for the

2010 AFC U-19 Championship The 2010 AFC U-19 Championship was the 36th edition of the tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation. Qualification for the tournament started in October 2009 with the finals tournament being hosted in October 2010. The AFC reco ...

. He played in 4 qualification games, scoring 3 goals, against Singapore, and two against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

. Babalj also represented Australia at the

AFF U-19 Youth Championship The AFF U-19 Youth Championship is an annual international football competition contested by the national teams of the members of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and occasionally invited nations from the rest of Asia. The tournament was pre ...

. He scored against

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and the winning goal in the final of the

against

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. He made his debut for Australia's senior team on 14 November 2012 in a friendly 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 ...

. Babalj was selected in the Socceroo's squad for the East Asian Cup qualification round. He started his first game for Australia against Guam in a 9–0 win, scoring a double before being substituted.

International goals

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;

* A-League Premiers: 2015–16 * A-League Championship: 2015–16

Country

;

AFC U-19 Championship The AFC U-20 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, is a biennial international association football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

(runners-up) *

References

External links

Voetbal International profile
* 1992 births Living people Footballers from Sarajevo Australian soccer players Australia men's international soccer players Men's association football forwards Melbourne City FC players Red Star Belgrade footballers AZ Alkmaar players PEC Zwolle players Adelaide United FC players FK Mladá Boleslav players Brisbane Roar FC players A-League Men players Czech First League players Eredivisie players Indian Super League players ATK (football club) players Newcastle Jets FC players Expatriate footballers in Serbia Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in India Australian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Australian people of Serbian descent Bosnia and Herzegovina emigrants to Australia Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Yugoslav Wars refugees Soccer players from Perth, Western Australia Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic Australian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Australian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Australian expatriate sportspeople in India Australian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Australian expatriate soccer players