Mile Svilar ( sr-cyr, Миле Свилар; born 27 August 1999) is a Serbian 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 plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

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 ...

club

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

and the Serbia national team.

Club career

Early career and Anderlecht

Svilar is a product of the Belgian youth teams of KFCO Wilrijk and

Beerschot A.C. Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club (), simply known as Beerschot AC, was a Belgian football club based in southern Antwerp. Beerschot played in the Belgian Pro League from 1999–2000 (as Germinal Beerschot) until 2012–13, when they were ...

, while in 2010 he joined the Belgian giant

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

in which during the 2016–17 season, he became part of the first team as the third choice goalkeeper, but he did not appear in any game.

Benfica

Svilar signed a five-year contract with Portuguese champions Benfica on 28 August 2017. On 14 October, he made his debut with the club in a 1–0 victory over

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

, becoming the youngest goalkeeper to ever play for Benfica. In international competition, he broke

Iker Casillas Iker Casillas Fernández (; born 20 May 1981) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and currently works as a football commentator. Popularly dubbed "''San Iker''" ("Saint Iker") for his ability to produce spectac ...

's record as the youngest goalkeeper to ever play in the Champions League on 18 October 2017, in a 1–0 home defeat to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, aged 18 years and 52 days. In the return leg against the English side, aged 18 years and 65 days, he became the youngest goalkeeper ever to save a penalty in a Champions League match. In the same match, which ended in a 2–0 away defeat, he also became the youngest player ever to score an own goal in the competition.

Roma

On 1 July 2022, Svilar signed a contract with

club

until 30 June 2027.

International career

Youth

Svilar was a member of Belgium U-16, Belgium U-17, Belgium U-18 national teams and was also a member of Belgium U-19. He was the first choice goalkeeper for the Belgium U-17 team at the 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship in Azerbaijan.

Senior

Born in Belgium to Serbian parents, Svilar is eligible to represent

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. On 4 November 2017, he announced that he would play his first game for the Serbia national team in March 2018, as he accepted the call from the

Football Association of Serbia The Football Association of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски савез Србије, ФСС / ) is the governing body of football in Serbia, based in Belgrade. It organizes Serbian football leagues, namely the Serbian Superliga, the Serbia n ...

. He debuted with Serbia in a friendly 4–0 win over

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

on 1 September 2021.

Personal life

Svilar has a

Serbian passport Serbian passports are issued to Serbian citizens at any age, and it is the primary document of international travel issued by Serbia. Passports are issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Serbia), Ministry of Internal Affairs or, if the cit ...

. His father,

Ratko Ratko (Cyrillic script: Ратко) is a male given name of Slavic origin. It is a diminutive form of the names Ratibor and Ratimir. Notable people *Ratko Čolić (1918–1999), Serbian footballer *Ratko Dautovski, Macedonian percussionist, i ...

, is a former Serbian

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Anderlecht *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champion ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Benfica *

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

: 2018–19

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Svilar, Mile 1999 births Living people Footballers from Antwerp Association football goalkeepers Serbian footballers Serbia international footballers Belgian footballers Belgium youth international footballers Belgium under-21 international footballers Belgian people of Serbian descent Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.L. Benfica footballers S.L. Benfica B players A.S. Roma players Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Belgian expatriate footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Portugal Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Italy