Ivan Ergić ( sr-Cyrl, Иван Ергић, ; born 21 January 1981) is a retired Serbian

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, rugb ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Born in modern-day

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

and raised in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, he began his career at

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 ...

and was briefly with

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

before moving to Switzerland's

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

in 2001, where he played 202 league matches. He left in 2009 for

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği (), commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Bursa. Formed in 1963, the club colours are green and white, with home kits usually featuring both colours in a striped pattern. In th ...

, where he spent two seasons, winning the Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

in the first. Ergić was a member of the Serbia and Montenegro squad at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

, and earned 11 international caps between 2006 and 2008.

Club career

Perth Glory

Ergić was born in the coastal town of

Šibenik Šibenik () is a historic city in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is a political, educational, transport, industrial and tourist center of Šibenik-Knin County, and is also the ...

SR Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), or SR Croatia, was a constituent republic and federated state of the Sociali ...

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 Yu ...

but was raised in the near-by village of Gaćelezi. He moved to

Carnarvon, Western Australia Carnarvon is a coastal town situated approximately north of Perth, in Western Australia. It lies at the mouth of the Gascoyne River on the Indian Ocean. The popular Shark Bay world heritage area lies to the south of the town and the Ningaloo ...

with his family in 1997. He later and trained at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of th ...

on a government-funded football scholarship. He started his football career with

in 1999 and helped the club finish runners-up during the 1999–2000 season, scoring a 'golden goal' in the semi-finals to send the club into their first ever NSL grand final.

Basel

In 2000, Ergić moved to

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

giants

, but went on loan to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

during the season. He later signed for FCB for CHF1.6 million. He was given the captaincy when

Pascal Zuberbühler Pascal Zuberbühler (born 8 January 1971) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played in the Swiss Super League for Grasshopper, Basel and Neuchâtel Xamax. He also had a season on loan to Bayer Leverkusen of ...

left in 2006, but in 2008 he resigned from being captain and handed it over to his teammate,

Franco Costanzo Franco Costanzo Geymonat (born 5 September 1980) is a former Argentine football goalkeeper who last played for Chilean club Universidad Católica of the Primera División. He has earned the reputation of being an eccentric goalkeeper by often ...

. He played his 150th first-team game for Basel on 10 May 2008 against

BSC Young Boys BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reach ...

at St. Jakob-Park. Basel won the game 2–0, which resulted in them becoming Champions. On 16 June 2009, he was released by

after newly hired manager

Thorsten Fink Thorsten Fink (born 29 October 1967) is a German football coach and a former footballer, currently works as manager of Riga FC. Career Fink began his career with Borussia Dortmund's reserve squad before moving to SG Wattenscheid 09, where he he ...

decided not to offer him a new contract. He spent nine years at the club and played over 200 matches.

Bursaspor

He then signed for

of the Turkish Süper Lig. In Ergić's first season with Bursaspor, the club won the

2009–10 Süper Lig The 2009–10 Süper Lig (known as the ''Turkcell Süper Lig'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 52nd season since its establishment. The season commenced on 7 August 2009 with Istanbul B.B. hosting defending champions Beşiktaş at Atatürk Oly ...

, the first time in Bursaspor's history of winning the league. He featured in five games of the

2010-11 UEFA Champions League 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

International career

Ergić represented the Australian under-20 national team 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 ...

in February 1999, scoring in a 3–2 loss. However, Ergić did not choose to play international football for

, and instead chose

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

. On 15 May 2006, he was named as a member of the squad to take part at the

in Germany. He made his international debut in Serbia & Montenegro's 1–1 draw with

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

at the

Red Star Stadium The Rajko Mitić Stadium ( sr, / , ), previously known as Red Star Stadium ( sr, / ), also known as Marakana ( sr-Cyrl, Маракана), is a multi-use stadium in Belgrade, Serbia which has been the home ground of Red Star Belgrade since ...

in Belgrade on 27 May 2006. He left the national team 2007, but he returned in 2008.

Outside football

Ergić self-identifies as a Yugoslav.

Depression

In June 2004, Ergić was treated for depression in the psychiatric university clinic in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (B ...

, and his further career as a football player was in question at the time. Nevertheless,

kept him as a player and eventually made him

club captain The team captain of an association football team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heav ...

. He is also close friends with Ljubo Miličević. He appeared on the Swiss late night show ''Aeschbacher'', stating that football players earn too much money and expressing sympathies for the ideas of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

. He also appeared on

RTS RTS may refer to: Medicine * Rape trauma syndrome, the psychological trauma experienced by a rape victim * Revised Trauma Score, a system to evaluate injuries secondary to violent trauma * Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, a condition characterized by ...

(Serbian public broadcaster) programme '' Ključ'' where he openly discussed his battle with depression as well as treatment he had undergone.

Journalism

Since December 2008, Ergić has been writing an irregular column for

n daily newspaper ''

Politika ''Politika'' ( sr-Cyrl, Политика; ''Politics'') is a Serbian daily newspaper, published in Belgrade. Founded in 1904 by Vladislav F. Ribnikar, it is the oldest daily newspaper still in circulation in the Balkans. Publishing and owners ...

.'' His contributions are about issues related to professional sports, written from an insider's viewpoint. He's touched on various topics such as: male chauvinism in sports, raw competitive spirit he considers to be unhealthy, corporate machinery behind institutionalized sports, and lack of public's understanding for professional athletes who do not subscribe to a

cliché A cliché ( or ) is an element of an artistic work, saying, or idea that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being weird or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was consi ...

lifestyle created by sports media, fans, club leadership, and leagues stakeholders and officials.

Honours

;Perth Glory *

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

: 1999–2000 ;Basel *

Schweizer Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference ...

: 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008 *

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 seaso ...

: 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008 *

Uhrencup The Uhrencup is a club football tournament, held annually in Grenchen and Biel in Switzerland. The Uhrencup is seen as a testament to the major influence that is exercised by the local industry on the cultural lives of the areas residents. The to ...

: 2003, 2006, 2008 ;Bursaspor *

Turkish Super League 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 an ...

: 2009–10

References

External links

Profile on Serbian national football team website

Profile at FC Basel

Profile at Swiss Football League Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ergic, Ivan 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Šibenik Serbs of Croatia Serbian footballers Serbia and Montenegro international footballers Serbia international footballers Serbian expatriate footballers Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Australian soccer players Australian expatriate soccer players 2006 FIFA World Cup players Juventus F.C. players FC Basel players Swiss Super League players Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Perth Glory FC players National Soccer League (Australia) players Bursaspor footballers Süper Lig players Expatriate footballers in Turkey Association football midfielders Yugoslav emigrants to Australia Yugoslav Wars refugees Australian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Serbia and Montenegro expatriate footballers Serbia and Montenegro footballers