Ivica Iliev (, ; born 27 October 1979) is a Serbian 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

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Club career

After starting out as a youngster at

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, Iliev joined the youth system of

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

in January 1996. He made his first-team debut under manager

Ljubiša Tumbaković Ljubiša Tumbaković (, ; born 2 September 1952) is a Serbian professional football manager. He is the most successful coach in the history of Serbian powerhouse Partizan which he led to six national championship titles and three national cup wi ...

during the 1997–98 season, recording four league appearances in the process. In the following 1998–99 season, Iliev scored his first goals for Partizan, including a header in a 2–3 home loss to

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

in the return leg of the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

second round. He later started playing more regularly, scoring eight league goals in the 1999–2000 season. After the departure of Mateja Kežman that summer, Iliev formed a strike partnership with Andrija Delibašić. They became a formidable duo in the following period, as the team won back-to-back championships in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

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. In the

2003–04 UEFA Champions League The 2003–04 UEFA Champions League was the 12th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since its rebranding from the European Cup in 1992, and the 49th tournament overall. The competition was won by ...

third qualifying round, Iliev scored the only goal in a 1–0 return leg win against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

at St James' Park, resulting in a 1–1 draw on aggregate. Eventually, Partizan won the match 4–3 on penalties and reached the competition's group stage for the first time in the club's history. In July 2004, Iliev went abroad and joined Italian side

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

on a free transfer. He made 29 appearances and scored once in his debut season in

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

, as the club finished in a respectable seventh place. In January 2006, after receiving very little playing time, Iliev was loaned to

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1 ...

side

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, helping them earn promotion to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

via the playoffs. He subsequently returned to Messina, but failed to help the team avoid relegation from Serie A in the 2006–07 campaign, finishing bottom of the table. After three years in Italy, Iliev moved to Greece and signed with PAOK. He scored only one goal in the 2007–08 season, as the club failed to secure a spot in UEFA competitions. In August 2008, Iliev joined German side Energie Cottbus. He managed to score three

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

goals from 27 games in the 2008–09 season. They were eventually relegated from the top flight after losing in the playoffs. In August 2009, Iliev signed with Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv on a one-year deal. He quickly became an important part of the team, but suffered an injury in January 2010, causing him to miss the remainder of the 2009–10 season. On 21 July 2010, Iliev returned to his parent club

on a one-year deal. He scored one goal in the Champions League preliminary phase, helping the side reach the group stage after seven years. With 13 goals, Iliev was the league's joint top scorer, being named in the competition's Team of the Season, while also collecting the double. In June 2011, Iliev moved to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and signed a two-year contract with

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. It currently competes in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system. It ...

. He made a career-high 45 appearances and scored three goals across all competitions during his debut season. In the following 2012–13 campaign, Iliev netted four goals in 24 games, before being released by the Polish side.

International career

Iliev earned two caps for

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

, making his international debut as a substitute for Goran Trobok in a 0–1 friendly loss at

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

on 30 April 2003. He scored a goal in his second appearance, a 3–4 friendly loss against

on 16 November 2003.

Post-playing career

On 27 October 2015, on his 36th birthday, Iliev was appointed as

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

of Partizan. His most notable signings included Everton Luiz,

Leonardo Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate ...

Seydouba Soumah Seydouba Soumah (born 11 June 1991) is a Guinean professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Guinea national team. Club career Ajax Cape Town Born in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, Soumah began his football career playi ...

and Fousseni Diabaté. Iliev "resigned" from the position in March 2019 but he never ended up leaving the position and remained the sporting director until 27 July 2022 when he finally resigned.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

;Partizan * First League of FR Yugoslavia: 1998–99, 2001–02, 2002–03 * FR Yugoslavia Cup: 1997–98, 2000–01 * Serbian SuperLiga:

2010–11 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 ...

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије, Kup Srbije) is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. From 2006 to 2010, the competition was known as the Lav Cup ...

Individual

* Serbian SuperLiga Top Scorer:

Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season The Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season is an annual award given to a set of 11 footballers in the top tier of Serbian football, the SuperLiga, who are seen to be the best 11 players of the calendar season. Winners 2008–09 Source 2009–10 ...

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iliev, Ivica A.C.R. Messina players Association football forwards Association football wingers Bundesliga players Ekstraklasa players Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Israel Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Poland FC Energie Cottbus players First League of Serbia and Montenegro players FK Partizan non-playing staff FK Partizan players Genoa C.F.C. players Israeli Premier League players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players PAOK FC players Serbia and Montenegro expatriate footballers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Italy Serbia and Montenegro international footballers Serbia and Montenegro under-21 international footballers Serbia and Montenegro footballers Serbian expatriate footballers Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Serbian footballers Serbian people of Macedonian descent Serbian SuperLiga players Serie A players Footballers from Belgrade Super League Greece players Wisła Kraków players 1979 births Living people