Sejad Halilović (born 16 March 1969) is a Bosnian 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 for several clubs throughout Europe, including Dinamo Zagreb, Real Valladolid and

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל באר שבע, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli football club from the city of Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The cl ...

. In addition, he played one game for the Croatia national team before Bosnia and Herzegovina gained independence and represented Bosnia and Herzegovina after they gained independence.

Playing career

Club

Halilović began his professional career in the Croatian team

Cibalia Hrvatski nogometni klub Cibalia, commonly known as Cibalia Vinkovci or simply Cibalia, is a Croatian football club from the town of Vinkovci in eastern Croatia. Cibalia currently play in the Prva NL, Croatia's second tier league. Their stadium ...

. During the two years played Halilović 46 games and scored 4 goals. In 1992, Halilović signed for Croatia Zagreb (now Dinamo Zagreb) for three seasons, during which he won the

Croatian First Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football (soccer), football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, i ...

and

Croatian Football Cup The Hrvatski nogometni kup ( eng, Croatian football cup), also colloquially known as Rabuzinovo sunce (), is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after th ...

. During those three seasons, Halilović played 59 games and scored 9 goals. During the summer of 1995, Halilović joined Real Valladolid, but after a season where he played 17 times and did not find the net, Halilović moved on to

. Halilović played a significant part in the team that won the

Israel State Cup The Israel State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involve ...

final after defeating

Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל מכבי תל אביב; ''Moadon Kaduregel Maccabi Tel Aviv'') is an Israeli football club from Tel Aviv and part of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Sport Club. Founded in 1906 in Jaffa as ...

1–0. During the summer of 1997, Halilović moved to the

Turkish Süper Lig Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

and played for three years for two different teams. In 2000, Halilović returned to the

for one season and signed for NK Osijek, but played only 8 games. In season 2001/2002 Halilović returned once again to Israel and played for

Hapoel Rishon LeZion F.C. Hapoel Rishon LeZion F.C. ( he, הפועל ראשון לציון) is an Israeli Association football, football club based in the city of Rishon LeZion, which currently plays in Liga Leumit, Israel's second football division. Home matches are ho ...

, where he helped the team stay in the Premier League. After playing for other teams in Croatia, Halilović retired from professional football in 2004 while at

NK Ljubljana Nogometni klub Ljubljana ( en, Ljubljana Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Ljubljana or simply Ljubljana, was a Slovenian football club based in the capital city of Ljubljana. The club was established in 1909 and dissolved in 2005. His ...

International

On 17 August 1994, Halilović played for Croatia against Israel at the

Ramat Gan Stadium Ramat Gan Stadium ( he, אצטדיון רמת גן, ''Itztadion Ramat Gan'') is a football stadium in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. It served as the national stadium of Israel until 2014. Overview Completed in 1951 and serving ...

. The game ended in victory for Croatia. He then switched allegiance and made his debut for Bosnia and Herzegovina in an October 1996

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

match in Bologna, ironically against his former representative team Croatia, and has earned a total of 15 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a January 2000 friendly match against Qatar.

Managerial career

Halilović, started in 2008 to train the youth department of Dinamo Zagreb but left in 2014 because of his son

Alen Halilović Alen Halilović (; born 18 June 1996) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Croatian SuperSport HNL club Rijeka. As the Prva HNL's youngest ever goalscorer (until May 2021) and the youngest ever debuta ...

signed for FC Barcelona.

Personal life

Halilović is an ethnic

Bosniak The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...

. During the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

in 1992 as a professional player, he moved to Vinkovci, then to Zagreb where he met his Croatian wife Vanessa. His son Alen is a professional footballer who has represented the Croatia national football team. His other two sons,

Dino Halilović Dino Halilović (born 8 February 1998) is a Croatian association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Slovenian club NK Tabor Sežana, Tabor Sežana. Club career Born in Zagreb, Halilović started his youth career with the academy ...

and Damir Halilović, are also professional players.

Honours

Club

;Croatia Zagreb * Croatian League:

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup * Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup *Croatian Minute Movie Cup ...

: 1993–94 ;Hapoel Be'er Sheva *

: 1996–97

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Halilovic, Sejad 1969 births Living people Sportspeople from Doboj Bosniaks of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosniaks of Croatia Croatian Muslims Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav men's footballers Croatian men's footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina men's international footballers Dual men's international footballers HNK Cibalia players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Real Valladolid players Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. players Kardemir Karabükspor footballers Altay S.K. footballers NK Osijek players Hapoel Rishon LeZion F.C. players HNK Rijeka players NK Ljubljana players ND Mura 05 players Yugoslav Second League players Croatian Football League players La Liga players Israeli Premier League players Süper Lig players Liga Leumit players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia