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

attacking 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. ...

. Besides his homeland, he also played in Poland, Ukraine, Turkey and Cyprus. A former youth international for Bosnia and Herzegovina national team, Štilić made his senior international debut in 2008, earning 7

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

until 2015.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, 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 football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation's highest division. ...

in June 2008. On 23 July 2012, Štilić joined Karpaty Lviv, 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 matc ...

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

APOEL

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

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

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

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

in the second qualifying round of 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 scored his first goal for APOEL on 22 August 2015, in his team's 5–1 away victory over Ermis Aradippou in a league match. On 26 August 2015, Štilić scored from a long-range free kick against

Astana Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...

at the

GSP Stadium The GSP Stadium () is a association football, football stadium in Strovolos, Nicosia District, Cyprus. Although small by international standards, it is the largest stadium in Cyprus, with a capacity of 22,859 and was opened in 1999. It serves as ...

, in APOEL's 1–1 draw in the play-off round of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League. On 19 September 2016, his contract with APOEL was mutually terminated.

Wisła Płock

On 4 September 2017, Štilić moved from Wisła Kraków to

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

club Wisła Płock. 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 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 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 () is a town and municipality in the West Herzegovina Canton, a federal unit of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Name The name Posušje is derived from ''suša'' ( Croatian for drought). Th ...

on 3 April 2022. On 15 June 2023, he extended his contract with Željezničar until June 2024. Štilić left the club after the end of the 2023–24 season and announced his retirement from professional football following his contract expiration.

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 the country's 0–1 friendly defeat to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Štilić made his senior international debut for

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

on 30 January 2008, in a friendly game against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

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

Post-playing career

On 14 August 2024, Željezničar announced the hiring of Štilić as a new scout for the club.

Personal life

Semir is the son of 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.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Lech Poznań *

: 2009–10 *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

: 2008–09 *

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 2024, the Polish Super Cup has been ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

APOEL *

: 2015–16 Individual *Ekstraklasa Midfielder of the Season: 2014–15 *Ekstraklasa Player of the Month: August 2014 *

All-time XI * ''Piłka Nożna'' Foreigner of the Year: 2008

References

External links