Ilija Vukotić (born 7 January 1999) is a Montenegrin 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 plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

club Boavista.

Club career

Vukotić began his competitive football career at the age of 12. On 21 March 2015, he scored against

Berane Berane (Cyrillic: Беране) is a town in Montenegro in the northern region. It is former administrative centre of the Ivangrad District. The town is located on the Lim river. From 1949 to 1992, it was named Ivangrad ( cyrl, Ивангра ...

in his debut for

Grbalj Grbalj ( sr-Cyrl, Грбаљ), denotes a historic, rural region of the Montenegrin littoral, and a parish located between town of Budva Budva (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Будва, or ) is a town in the Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region o ...

, becoming the youngest goalscorer in the history of the

Montenegrin First League The Montenegrin First League (Montenegrin language, Montenegrin: ''Prva crnogorska fudbalska liga'' — ''Prva CFL'' — ''1. CFL''; ), referred to as the Meridianbet 1. CFL for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional Association football, ...

at age 16. In the summer of 2017, Vukotić moved to Portugal, joining Benfica's youth setup. On 17 August 2021, Vukotić signed a new contract with Benfica and was immediately loaned to

club Boavista for two seasons. In the summer of 2022, Vukotić permanently joined Boavista as part of the deal that sent Petar Musa to Benfica. Benfica retained 50% of Vukotić's economic rights and a buy-back option.

International career

He debuted for

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

on 13 November 2021 in a

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

match against

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He came on as a substitute in the 69th minute, with Montenegro trailing 2–0, and scored in the 82nd minute to bring the score to 2–1, contributing to the eventual 2–2 final result.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Montenegro goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Vukotić goal.''

References

1999 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Montenegrin men's footballers Montenegro men's youth international footballers Montenegro men's under-21 international footballers Montenegro men's international footballers FK Lovćen players OFK Grbalj players Vitória F.C. players S.L. Benfica B players Boavista F.C. players Montenegrin First League players Liga Portugal 2 players Primeira Liga players Montenegrin expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Portugal {{Montenegro-footy-bio-stub