Semir Štilić (born 8 October 1987) is a Bosnian 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 an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

for

Bosnian Premier League The m:tel Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( bs, m:tel Premijer liga Bosne i Hercegovine / м:тел Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), also known as Liga 12, is the top tier football league in Bosnia and He ...

club Željezničar. He also played for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

, Štilić began his playing career with hometown club Željezničar in 2005. After three seasons with Željezničar, he moved abroad for the first time in his career, signing a 4-year contract with Polish club

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation' ...

in June 2008. On 23 July 2012, Štilić joined

Karpaty Lviv Football Club Karpaty Lviv ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Lviv. History Early years (1963–68) The team of Karpaty was founded on 18 January, 1963. In 1961 Silmash Lviv won the championship of Lviv Oblast but lost its p ...

, He stayed in Ukraine for only one season, as he left for Turkish club

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matche ...

in August 2013. On 23 January 2014, Štilić went back to Poland and signed one-and-a-half-year deal 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 ...

APOEL

On 13 June 2015, Štilić signed a three-year contract with

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

club

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

. He made his APOEL debut on 21 July 2015, in his team's 1–1 away draw against

Vardar The Vardar (; mk, , , ) or Axios () is the longest river in North Macedonia and the second longest river in Greece, in which it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . Th ...

in the

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

. He scored his first goal for APOEL on 22 August 2015, in his team's 5–1 away victory over

Ermis Aradippou Ermis Aradippou () is a Cypriot professional football club based in Aradippou, a settlement on the outskirts of the city of Larnaca. The club was formed in 1958, and currently plays in the Cypriot Second Division. Ermis' greatest success came ...

in a league match. On 26 August 2015, Štilić scored from a long-range free kick against

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...

at the

GSP Stadium Gymnastic Club "The Pancyprians" Stadium (GSP Stadium) ( el, Στάδιο Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος "Τα Παγκύπρια") is a football stadium in Strovolos, Nicosia District, Cyprus. Although small by international standar ...

, in APOEL's 1–1 draw in the

play-off round The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

of the

2015–16 UEFA Champions League The 2015–16 UEFA Champions League was the 61st season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 24th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona were t ...

. On 19 September 2016, his contract with APOEL was mutually terminated.

Wisła Płock

On 4 September 2017, Štilić moved from

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

club

Wisła Płock Wisła Płock Spółka Akcyjna (''Wisła Płock S.A.''), commonly referred to as Wisła Płock (), is a Polish professional football club, based in Płock, Masovian Voivodeship, which plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national foot ...

. In May 2019, almost two years after signing with Wisła Płock, he decided to leave the club.

Return to Željezničar

On 2 August 2019, eleven years after leaving the club, Štilić returned to Željezničar, signing a three-year contract. His first match back at Željezničar was a 5–2 home league,

Sarajevo derby The Sarajevo derby ( Bosnian: ''Vječiti derbi, Sarajevski derbi'') is a match between rivals from Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital city FK Željezničar Sarajevo and FK Sarajevo, the two biggest and most popular clubs in the country, during which ...

win against

on 31 August 2019. Štilić scored his first goal since his return to Željezničar on 25 September 2019, in a 6–0 home league win against Zvijezda 09. He was named man of the match in Željezničar's 3–1 away league win against Sarajevo in the derby on 30 November 2019, scoring two goals and earning an assist. Štilić scored his first goal for the club in the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season on 7 August 2020 in a league win against Radnik Bijeljina. He scored his first goal of the 2021–22 season against

Posušje Posušje ( cyrl, Посушје, ) is a town and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in the West Herzegovina Canton, a federal unit of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Name The name Posušje is derived from ''suša'' ...

on 3 April 2022. On 15 June 2023, Štilić extended his contract with Željezničar until June 2024.

International career

Štilić represented the Bosnia and Herzegovina U21 national team eight times, scoring one goal. On 15 December 2007, he represented the Bosnia and Herzegovina Olympic team, coming on as an 89th-minute substitute in Bosnia's 0–1 friendly defeat against

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 ...

. He made his senior international debut for

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

on 30 January 2008, in a friendly match against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, coming on as an 83rd-minute substitute in 0–3 away defeat.

Personal life

Semir is the son of the former

and current

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

Ismet Štilić Ismet Štilić (born 31 July 1960) is Bosnian professional football manager and former player. Playing career Štilić began his 14-year professional career with hometown club Sloboda Tuzla, making his debut with the first team in 1981. He also ...

Career statistics

Club

¹ One appearance in

Ekstraklasa Cup The Ekstraklasa Cup ( pl, Puchar Ekstraklasy) was an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs who play in the Polish 1st Division Ekstraklasa. The Ekstraklasa Cup was the fourth attempt at introducing a League Cup competition in Poland. T ...

.
² One appearance in

Polish Super Cup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2021, the Polish Super Cup has been pl ...

.
³ One appearance in

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is us ...

International

Honours

Lech Poznań *

: 2009–10 *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in football ( pl, Puchar Polski w piłce nożnej ) is an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs, held continuously from 1950, and is the second most important national title in Polish football after the Ekstraklasa title. ...

: 2008–09 *

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

APOEL *

: 2015–16 Individual *

All-time XI

References

External links