Ivan Ilić ( sr-cyr, Иван Илић; born 17 March 2001) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

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 ...

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 ...

and the Serbia national team.

Club career

Red Star Belgrade

Ivan started playing football with local football club Filip Filipović. Ilić moved to

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 ...

youth team from Real Niš in summer 2016. Shortly after he joined the new club, he signed his first three-year professional contract. Ilić made his senior debut for

in 28 fixture match of the

2016–17 Serbian SuperLiga The 2016–17 Serbian SuperLiga was the eleventh season of the Serbian SuperLiga. Red Star are the defending champions. The fixtures were announced on 15 June 2016. Red Star Belgrade drew the highest average home attendance of the league (9,056). ...

season against Spartak Subotica, replacing

Srđan Plavšić Srđan Plavšić ( sr-Cyrl, Срђан Плавшић; born 3 December 1995) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays for Polish club Raków Częstochowa. He can operate as an attacking midfielder, side midfielder or winger. Club caree ...

in last minute of the game played on 1 April 2017. He became the youngest debutant in the club history and first player born 2001 who appeared in the

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

Manchester City move & Red Star loan

In summer 2017, Ilić had been sold to

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

along with his older brother Luka, staying on loan at Red Star until his 18th birthday. At the beginning of October 2017,

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

picked Ilić as the most prospective first-year scholar in the academy of Manchester City. Ilić played his first full-time senior match in 5–0

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије / Kup Srbije), also known as Mozzart Serbian Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. ...

victory over Dinamo Vranje on 11 October 2017.

Hellas Verona & Torino

In 2020, Ilić joined

club

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Hellas Verona (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Verona, Veneto, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won ...

. He was loaned to

on 30 January 2023.

International career

Ilić made his first competitive matches with Serbia under-14 national team at the international tournament in Croatia in 2015. He noted 2 caps for the team, in matches against host country and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In November 2015, Ilić was invited into the Serbia U15 squad, after which he represented the team until 2016. In early 2016, he was also with U16 national team. He has been called into the Serbia U17 squad since 2016. As a team member, he qualified for the

2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2017) was the 16th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (35th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth association foo ...

. Ilić also continued playing with under-17 level in 2017–18 UEFA qualifications, scoring his first goal for the team in 2–1 victory over

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

on 21 October 2017. He made his debut for

Serbia national football team The Serbia men's national football team ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалска репрезентација Србије, translit=Fudbalska reprezentacija Srbije) represents Serbia in men's international Association football, football competition. It is ...

on 7 June 2021 in a friendly against Jamaica. In November 2022, he was selected in Serbia's squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

in Qatar. He played in a group stage match against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Serbia finished fourth in the group. Ilić was selected in Serbia's squad for the

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

. He played in all three group stage matches, against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

and

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. Serbia finished fourth in the group.

Style of play

As a left-footed player, Ivan appeared as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

in early years of playing football. Later he converted his position on the field to

, and through the youth career, Ilić usually played pairing with his older brother Luka as a central midfielder. He is also available to play a classic defensive role in 4–1–4–1 formation, which he mostly played in national team.

Personal life

Born in

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...

, Ilić grew up in a sports family. His father Srđan played as a winger with Radnički Niš and his mother

Danijela Ilić Danijela Ilić (Serbian Cyrillic: Данијела Илић, born August 20, 1970, in Niš, SFR Yugoslavia) is a former Yugoslavian and Serbian female basketball player. Personal life Ilić has two sons, Luka (born 1999) and Ivan (born 2001), ...

played basketball professionally. Ivan's older brother, Luka is also a professional footballer.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ilic, Ivan 2001 births Living people Footballers from Niš Men's association football midfielders Serbian men's footballers Serbia men's youth international footballers Red Star Belgrade footballers FK Zemun players Serbian SuperLiga players Serbia men's under-21 international footballers NAC Breda players Eerste Divisie players Serbian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Hellas Verona FC players Torino FC players Serie A players Serbian expatriate men's footballers Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Serbia men's international footballers 2022 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2024 players Serbian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England