Ilija Ivić (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (, ), also known as the Serbian script, (, ), is a standardized variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language. It originated in medieval Serbia and was significantly reformed in the 19th cen ...

: Илија Ивић; born 17 February 1971) 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 lea ...

who played as a striker. A skillful attacker who showed great technical ability, Ivić could often be found in a supporting attacking role, opening up spaces for teammates. He played once for the national team of his country, against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in September 1998. He was a former technical director of

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

Club career

Ivić began his football career in 1986 at Proleter Zrenjanin, where he stayed until 1991. Afterwards, he played for three years at

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

(until

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

). In his first season with Red Star, he won the Yugoslav national championship in 1991–92, scoring 26 goals in 92 games. The following season he also won

FR Yugoslavia Cup The Serbia and Montenegro Cup was an association football knockout cup tournament of Serbia and Montenegro played between 1992 and 2006, after which Serbia and Montenegro became separate nations. The competition was the continuation of the old ...

winner with the Belgrade club in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. In the summer of 1993, he moved to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and transferred to

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

and scored 16 goals in 30 league appearances. During his years at Olympiacos he won the

Greek championship The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repl ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, and the double in 1999, having his best campaign in the second of those title triumphs, claiming 26 goals in 32 matches. He was a member of Olympiacos squad in 1998–99 UEFA Champions League, when his team achieved its greatest success in European competition while they reached the quarter-finals and being eliminated by

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. His next step was with Italian club,

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

in the summer of 1999, although he failed to find the net in 19 games, nine as a substitute in his first season in

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. Having failed to break into the first team the following term, he returned to Greece to signed

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Konstantinidis, Greek architect * ...

, where he played for one and a half season. In January 2002, Ivić moved to

, where he closed his football career. He played 48 matches and he scored 18 times. His team finished second in the Greek Championship, equal points with Olympiacos, however he reached with his team the final in the Greek Cup, where AEK met his past team Olympiacos. Ivić scored the winning goal in the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

final for AEK against Olympiacos but refused to celebrate, for sentimental reasons, having played for the opposition earlier in his career. In the following season, he played a considerable part in AEK finishing third in the league after scoring nine goals in 20 games. In the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

he featured in five of AEK's six drawn games in the first group stage.

International career

Ivić was played for Yugoslavia U21 in 1990 playing 3 matches scoring once and was in the squad for the 1990 European U21 Championship. He played for

FR Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

coming a sub in a friendly against

on 2 September 1998.

Post-playing career

In June 2004, Ivić accepted the proposal of

administration and assumed the position of technical director. Ivić stayed for almost three years as the technical manager of AEK and during his career had a successful choices of players despite been given a small budget. In February 2007 he resigned and appealed that he had some collaboration problems with the then manager of AEK, Lorenzo Serra Ferrer. In June 2007, Ivić accepted the proposal of Petros Kokkalis, the management director of Olympiacos and assumed the position of technical manager. He resigned as technical director of Olympiacos on 7 May 2008. Ivić also resigned from Red Star in the end of 2008–09 season because of financial problems of the club. Οn 27 August 2019, he signed as the technical director of

, where he resigned οn 23 December 2020.

Personal life

He is the older brother of the former footballer and current football manager Vladimir Ivić.

Honours

Red Star Belgrade *

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

: 1991–92 *

: 1992–93 Olympiacos *

Alpha Ethniki The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

: 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99 *

: 1998–99 Torino *

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie 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 season. It had b ...

: 2000–01 AEK Athens *Greek Cup: 2001–02

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivic, Ilija 1971 births Living people Footballers from Zrenjanin Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's under-21 international footballers Serbia and Montenegro men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro men's international footballers FK Proleter Zrenjanin players Red Star Belgrade footballers Olympiacos F.C. players Torino FC players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players AEK Athens F.C. players Yugoslav First League players First League of Serbia and Montenegro players Super League Greece players Serie A players Serbia and Montenegro expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Italy AEK Athens F.C. non-playing staff Aris Thessaloniki F.C. non-playing staff Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Greece