Ilan Araújo Dall'Igna (born 18 September 1980), commonly known as Ilan, is a Brazilian former 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 played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. He also holds an Italian passport.

Club career

Paraná Clube

Born in

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in ...

, Ilan was initially scouted and signed by Paraná Clube, and subsequently made his full-professional debut in a

Campeonato Paranaense Campeonato Paranaense, which has been contested since 1915, is the top-flight football league of the state of Paraná, Brazil. Format The format has changed in 2014. 12 teams are together in a single group. They play against each other once, ...

game in the 1999 season. He remained at the club during the 2000 season, and was instrumental in helping the team to place fifth in the Copa João Havelange — which put Paraná back amongst the elites of Brazilian football.

São Paulo

In 2001, Ilan moved to

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, where he was part of the squad who won the Torneio Rio-São Paulo. However, he found himself restricted to very few appearances at São Paulo and was transferred to

Atlético Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (commonly known as Athletico and formerly known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded on March 26, 1924. The team ...

Atlético Paranaense

Although Ilan was mainly used as a substitute, his impact was pivotal during the final of the Brazilian Championship, in which he started the match in place of fellow striker Kléber Boas. In the first leg of the final against São Caetano he scored

's first goal in their 4–2 victory. His contribution was a key part of

winning their first Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. In 2002, he suffered a serious injury which left him on the sidelines for the remainder of the season. He returned to full fitness ready for the 2003 season and quickly made up for his absence by becoming a regular goalscorer for the club. In 2004, he continued to score many goals for Atlético, even though he was often playing as a lone striker. Due to the arrival of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

and the increasing interest from Sochaux, he was sold in the summer for worth 3 million.

Sochaux

Ilan adapted well to the French league and scored 13 goals for Sochaux in his debut season in which he became a key player and a fan favourite. On 21 August 2004, he made his debut for the club in a 2–1 loss against Auxerre. On 16 October 2004, Ilan scored his first goal before scoring a hat-trick in a 3–0 win over

Stade Rennais Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional football club based in Rennes, Brittany. They compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football, and pl ...

. He followed up with goals in the next three matches against

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

. Following a long wait he returned to scoring form with a brace in a 2–2 draw against

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

on 19 December 2004. On 16 March 2005, he scored another brace in a 2–1 win over

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

. He continued a further three goals against Bastia, Toulouse and Caen. In the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

campaign, Ilan scored one goal in the first leg and scored a brace in the second leg as Sochaux clearly beat Norwegian side Stabæk by a 9–0 aggregate score in the first round. In the first game of the group stage, he scored a brace in a 2–0 win over

Dinamo Tbilisi Dinamo Tbilisi is a sports club from Tbilisi, Georgia. It was founded in 1925. Among its highest honors, is the European trophy earned by its football team which won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1981, beating FC Carl Zeiss Jena of East Germany 2–1 i ...

. Ilan continued to impress during the 2005–06 season, netting another ten goals in the league. He scored his first two goals of the season in a 2–1 win over

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

and throughout the season, he scored against

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

, Monaco (twice in two matches of the season), Lens, Saint-Étienne (his future club), Nancy and Stade Rennais. His performances for Sochaux had not gone unnoticed and in the summer of 2006 he was bought by

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the t ...

for a transfer fee of €6 million.

Saint-Étienne

Ilan initially flourished at his new club, and forged a formidable partnership with French striker

Bafétimbi Gomis Bafétimbi Gomis (; born 6 August 1985) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Süper Lig club Galatasaray. Gomis played youth football with Saint-Étienne before making his professional debut for the club in 2004, als ...

and Czech striker Marek Heinz. In the second half in the 2006–07 season, he scored an overhead kick in a 2–0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain which later earned him the

Trophées UNFP du football The Trophées UNFP du football are a number of awards given annually by the National Union of Professional Football Players to players playing in France's Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, as well as to managers and referees, the most prestigious one being t ...

Goal of the Year award. In his first season, he scored nine goals in Ligue 1 while the club did not meet the fans' expectations reaching only 11th place in the league. He scored against Nancy (twice in two matches of the season along with Lens and PSG), Auxerre and a brace each against

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

and

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

. Also in a match against Lens, Ilan scored an own goal. In his second season, Ilan scored only six goals in 31 matches. He netted against

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, twice against Caen, Sochaux and Auxerre. In the 2008–09 season, he was Saint-Étienne's top scorer in the

where the club played after 27 years of absence from international football. He scored the winning goal in their second-leg win against

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

which put them through to the final 16 to face eventual runners up Werder Bremen. In the league, he reached 9 goals. In his fourth and last season, Ilan only played 12 times scoring twice after falling out of favour within the Saint-Étienne ranks. In January 2010 Ilan and the club mutually agreed to cancel his contract, which was due to end the following summer, leaving him free to find a new club.

West Ham United

On 1 February 2010, West Ham United confirmed the signing of Brazilian forward Ilan on a six-month contract. He was available on a free transfer after leaving French club AS Saint-Étienne in January. He made his debut for West Ham on 6 February in a 2–1 away defeat to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

. Having replaced

Mark Noble Mark James Noble (born 8 May 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder and is well remembered for his time at English club West Ham United, spending eighteen years with the club. Apart from two sh ...

in the 77th minute, he scored three minutes later. In March 2010 the press speculated that Ilan had openly criticised manager Gianfranco Zola; a claim later refuted by the player and the club. After nine games without scoring for West Ham United, Ilan scored his second goal in the 87th minute against Everton to make it 2–2 on 4 April 2010. The following week, he scored the only goal in the game in a 1–0 win over

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. After the impressive performances against Everton and Sunderland, he hoped to win a long-term deal at Upton Park. 14 days later, he scored the opener after 31 minutes in a 3–2 win over

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

on 24 April 2010. On 2 June 2010 West Ham announced that they would be releasing Ilan (along with Mido) as they were surplus to requirements.

Internacional

After being released by West Ham United, Ilan had been linked to the Hammers league rivals

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

and Scottish runners-up

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

as well as clubs in Turkey and Greece. On 24 August 2010,

Sport Club Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional Association football, football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Série A, the first divisio ...

announced that Ilan would be undergoing a medical and physical exams before signing a 1.5-year contract. His move to Internacional ended his six-year stay in Europe. On 22 September 2010, Ilan made his debut for Internacional in a 1–0 loss against

. After making just four appearances for the club, he was released at the end of the Série A campaign. Before his release, he would have participated in the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

but had to do surgery because of an injury.

Ajaccio

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

after his release from Internacional, Ilan returned to the Ligue 1 on 28 July 2011 signing for league newcomers

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French: ; it, Aiaccio or ; co, Aiacciu , locally: ; la, Adiacium) is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud, and head office of the ''Collectivité territoriale de Corse'' (capital city of Corsica). ...

on a one-year deal with an option for a further season. On 6 August 2011, he made his debut for Ajaccio in a 2–0 loss against

and scored his first goal on 27 August 2011 in a 4–1 loss against Auxerre. He added another goal the following week against

in a 3–1 win. On 25 September 2011, he suffered an injury during a match against

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

in a 1–1 draw stating he was "suffering from slight pain" but added that the injury was "nothing too serious". The injury caused him to miss three games before he made his return in a 3–0 loss against

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

on 22 October 2011. Later on the season, Ilan would later score against

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

(3–2 loss on 3 December 2011), Lorient (1–1 draw on 24 March 2012) and

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

(3–1 loss on 29 April 2012). The club ended the season in 16th place, staying in Ligue 1 for another season, with Ilan becoming the top-scorer for the club with six goals.

Bastia

On 12 July 2012, Ilan signed for Ajaccio's

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

rivals Bastia, who had been newly promoted to Ligue 1.

International career

Ilan made his international debut for

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

on 19 June 2003 against

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

in the

2003 Confederations Cup The 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup football tournament was the sixth FIFA Confederations Cup, held in France in June 2003. France retained the title they had won in 2001, but the tournament was overshadowed by the death of Cameroon player Marc-Vi ...

. Two further appearances followed in the same competition. He earned a call-up from Carlos Alberto Parreira to the Brazilian National Team in 2003 but did not make Parreira's final squad of 22 for the 2004 Copa América 2004.

Personal life

Ilan was born in Brazil but holds an Italian passport because of his father Italian descent and his mother is Brazilian with Spanish ancestry. Ilan is the son of William Dall'Igna, former professional football player and former coach of Paraná Clube. His father was responsible for introducing Ilan to football and was also his agent.Ilan
on www.furacao.com

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ilan Araujo Dalligna 1980 births Footballers from Curitiba Living people Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Brazil international footballers Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in England Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France Association football forwards 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players Paraná Clube players São Paulo FC players Club Athletico Paranaense players Sport Club Internacional players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players AS Saint-Étienne players West Ham United F.C. players AC Ajaccio players SC Bastia players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Ligue 1 players Premier League players