Milenko "Mile" Ačimovič (; ; born 15 February 1977) is a Slovenian 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
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 ...
. Besides Slovenia, he has played in FR Yugoslavia, England, France, Saudi Arabia, and Austria.
Club career
Ačimovič started his career with the youth ranks of his hometown club
Železničar Ljubljana. He made four first division appearances for Železničar when he was 18 years old. From 1996 until 1998 he scored seven league goals in 36 matches for
Olimpija. He then joined
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 ...
, where he played for four and a half years. After successful appearances for the Slovenian national team in
Euro 2000
The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe.
The finals tournament was ...
and
World Cup 2002, several bigger European clubs expressed interest in him. In the summer of 2002, he joined
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...
. In his first season in London, he made a few appearances, but never established himself as a first team player. In his second season, he became a fringe player.
In January 2004, he joined French club
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
on loan until the end of the season. When he arrived, the club was in 14th place in the Ligue 1, but Ačimovič contributed to an eventual second-place finish, enough to qualify for the
Champions League. Also, in his first year at Lille, he was part of the team's
UEFA Cup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
campaign, when Lille reached the last sixteen before being eliminated. The following year, he played in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, when Lille reached the group stages. Ačimovič scored Lille's only goal of the campaign against
Manchester United
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
in Lille's 1-0 victory in Paris.
After two-and one-half seasons in Lille, he fell out of favour and joined
Al-Ittihad for the 2006–07 season. After failing to adapt to life in Saudi Arabia, he agreed on a mutual termination of the contract, subsequently moving back to Europe to join
Austria Wien
Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the most trophies of any Aust ...
. On 15 September 2010, his ended his football career following a persistent right knee injury.
Ačimovič returned to Slovenia and was appointed the Director of football at
Olimpija Ljubljana, in January 2011, where he stayed until September 2012 when he resigned his position, due to poor results of the team in the
Slovenian PrvaLiga
The Slovenian PrvaLiga (, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Slovenian football league system. Contested by ten clubs, it operates on a system of prom ...
.
International career
Ačimovič debuted for the
Slovenia national team on 22 April 1998 in
Murska Sobota
Murska Sobota (, Slovenian abbreviation: ''MS'' ; ;''Radkersburg und Luttenberg'' (map, 1:75,000). 1894. Vienna: K.u.k. Militärgeographisches Institut. ) is a town in northeastern Slovenia. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Murska Sob ...
against the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
.
In the first leg of the
UEFA Euro 2000 qualifiers against
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
, he scored the winning goal from near the halfway line, helping Slovenia qualify for its first major tournament. At the
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
, Ačimovič scored in Slovenia's 3–1 defeat to
Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
in
Seogwipo
Seogwipo (; ) is the second-largest Administrative divisions of South Korea, city on Jeju Island, settled on a rocky volcanic coastline in the southern part of Jeju Province, South Korea. In July 2006, Seogwipo's boundaries were expanded to inclu ...
. His final appearance for the national side came on 28 March 2007 in
Celje
Celje (, , ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, third-largest city in Slovenia. It is a regional center of the traditional Slovenian region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria and the administrative seat of the City Municipality of Celje. Th ...
, during a 1–0 home defeat to 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 ...
in a
Euro 2008 qualification match. He announced his retirement from international football that August. He earned a total of 74 caps for Slovenia, scoring 13 goals.
Personal life
Ačimovič and his wife Lea have two children, a daughter Klara (born 2002) and a son Mateo (2007). He is also the former brother-in-law of Serbian footballer
Dejan Stanković
Dejan Stanković ( sr-Cyrl, Дејан Станковић, , born 11 September 1978) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. He captained the Serbia national team from 2007 until 2011, when he announced his retirement from ...
, who was married to his sister Ana until 2024.
Honours
Lille
*
UEFA Intertoto Cup
The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...
:
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
References
External links
Milenko Ačimovičat
NZS
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acimovic, Milenko
1977 births
Living people
Footballers from Ljubljana
Slovenian people of Serbian descent
Men's association football midfielders
Men's association football wingers
Slovenian men's footballers
Slovenia men's youth international footballers
Slovenia men's under-21 international footballers
Slovenia men's international footballers
UEFA Euro 2000 players
2002 FIFA World Cup players
NK Ljubljana players
NK Olimpija Ljubljana (1945–2005) players
Red Star Belgrade footballers
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players
Lille OSC players
Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah) players
FK Austria Wien players
Slovenian PrvaLiga players
Slovenian Second League players
First League of Serbia and Montenegro players
Premier League players
Ligue 1 players
Saudi Pro League players
Austrian Football Bundesliga players
Slovenian expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia and Montenegro
Expatriate men's footballers in England
Expatriate men's footballers in France
Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia
Expatriate men's footballers in Austria
Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia and Montenegro
Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in England
Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in France
Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia
Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Austria
Slovenian football managers