Josip Iličić

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Josip Iličić
Personal information
Full name Josip Iličić
Date of birth (1988-01-29) 29 January 1988 (age 36)
Place of birth Prijedor, SFR Yugoslavia
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Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Fiorentina
Number 72
Youth career
1995–2006 Triglav Kranj
2006–2007 Britof
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2008 Bonifika Izola 24 (3)
2008–2010 Interblock 55 (12)
2010 Maribor 5 (1)
2010–2013 Palermo 98 (20)
2013– Fiorentina 72 (24)
International career‡
2009 Slovenia U21 5 (0)
2010– Slovenia 36 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17 April 2016
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 March 2016

Josip Iličić (born 29 January 1988 in Prijedor) is a Slovenian footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Italian club Fiorentina and the Slovenia national team.

Club career

Iličić started his career playing in the youth teams of Triglav Kranj and later Britof from Kranj. At the age of 19, he moved to SC Bonifika, where he played for a season in Slovenian second division, 2.SNL. It was there when his talent was spotted by Interblock, where he stayed for two seasons playing in Slovenian top league, 1.SNL. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Interblock was relegated into 2.SNL after two qualifications matches against Triglav. Despite being one of the best players of his club and one of the top prospects of Slovenian football Iličić finished the season as a reserve.[1]

Aged 21 Iličić contemplated an idea of finishing his playing career altogether, however, few weeks later he received a phone call from Zlatko Zahovič, Director of Football at Maribor, who proposed he should sign for the most successful club in the country.[2] In a life changing decision Iličić took the offer immediately and moved to Slovenia's second largest city where he made a big impact from the start as he scored twice in the UEFA Europa League match against Scottish Premier League club Hibernian in July 2010.[3] He then scored again, in the return leg of the UEFA Europa League playoff round against Sicilian Palermo, which ended in a 3–2 win for the Slovenian side. On the very next day, it was confirmed that Palermo had acquired Iličić and teammate Armin Bačinović from Maribor for a permanent move.[4] The transfer fee paid by Palermo was undisclosed, but it is believed to be around €2.3 million.[5]

Palermo

He then picked up where he left off as he nearly scored a late equaliser at his debut for his new team in Serie A.[6] In the next round, he was already a starter and scored his first goal for Palermo at home against reigning champions Inter.[7] Only four days later, on 23 September 2010, he scored his second goal of the season, this time against another Italian giant Juventus.[8] His terrific performances against top Italian teams continued when he scored a goal against Fiorentina on 3 October 2010,[9][10] and against Roma on 28 November 2010.[11]

On 20 June 2011, Josip signed a new five-year contract.[12] He changed his shirt number to 27 on 16 August 2011.[13] However, in the 2011–12 season Iličić struggled to make an impact mostly due to Javier Pastore - Iličić's attacking midfield partner - being sold in a record bid to Paris Saint-Germain F.C., and the Slovene providing only two goals as a result. Despite that, he was confirmed for the 2012–13 season as well, being paired with new signing Franco Brienza in a 3–4–2–1 formation by new head coach Gian Piero Gasperini. Iličić's top moment of the season came on 24 November 2012, as he scored a winning brace in a 3–1 home win for a struggling Palermo side against Catania in the Sicilian derby.

On 17 March 2013, Iličić reached 100 caps on rosanero: 91 in the league, 2 in European Cups and 7 in the Coppa Italia.

Fiorentina

On 23 July 2013, Palermo officially confirmed the sale of Josip Iličić to Serie A rivals Fiorentina on their website. It is understood that the player favoured a move to Florence over playing in the Bundesliga (Bayer 04 Leverkusen). Later the deal was officially announced by Fiorentina on their website.[14] Vincenzo Montella's side have confirmed the signing of Slovenian midfielder Josip Iličić from Palermo for an undisclosed fee which is believed to be in the sum of €9 million (£7.7m) plus add-ons.[15] He scored 6 goals in his first season at Fiorentina. The 2014-15 season was more successful for him, finishing as the club's top scorer with 10 goals in all competitions, along with Mario Gómez.

International career

Iličić missed out on the 2010 FIFA World Cup but made his debut for the national side in a friendly match against Australia on 11 August 2010.[16] He scored his first international goal on 10 September 2013 against Cyprus.

International goals

Scores and results list Slovenia's goal tally first.[17]

Career statistics

Club

As of 17 April 2016[18]
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Bonifika 2007–08 2. SNL 24 3 0 0 — — 24 3
Total 24 3 0 0 — — 24 3
Interblock 2008–09 1. SNL 27 9 4 1 — — 31 10
2009–10 28 3 2 1 2 0 2 0 34 4
Total 55 12 6 2 2 0 2 0 65 14
Maribor 2010–11 1. SNL 5 1 0 0 6 3 — 11 4
Total 5 1 0 0 6 3 — 11 4
Palermo 2010–11 Serie A 34 8 5 0 0 0 — 39 8
2011–12 33 2 1 3 2 1 — 36 6
2012–13 31 10 1 1 — — 32 11
Total 98 20 7 4 2 1 — 107 25
Fiorentina 2013–14 Serie A 21 3 2 1 8 2 — 31 6
2014–15 25 8 2 0 7 2 — 34 10
2015–16 26 13 1 0 6 2 — 33 15
Total 72 24 5 1 21 6 — 98 31
Career total 254 60 18 7 31 10 2 0 305 77

International

Slovenia national team
Year Apps Goals
2010 6 0
2011 8 0
2012 8 0
2013 1 1
2014 4 0
2015 8 1
2016 1 0
Total 36 2

Last updated: 26 March 2016
Source: Josip Iličić

Personal life

Josip Iličić was born in Prijedor, present day Bosnia and Herzegovina and moved to Slovenia after the death of his father when he was only one year old, together with his mother Ana and brother Igor. As a top prospect without national team experience he was once asked in an interview if he would be interested in playing for Croatia national football team, due to his Croatian ancestry, but Iličić replied that he would have never accepted the offer because he has lived in Slovenia his whole life.[19] Later, he made a similar comment regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country where he was born.[20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ http://en.violachannel.tv/breaking-news-detail/items/fiorentina-and-palermo-agree-terms-on-ilicic-deal.html
  15. ↑ http://www.goal.com/en/news/11/transfer-zone/2013/07/23/4137956/official-ilicic-joins-fiorentina
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Josip Iličić at Soccerway
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

1. *I will never be a superstar 2. *I wanna score 15 goals Nogomania.com 3. *Zahovic: There are no limits for Josip Ilicic Nogomania.com 4. *Josip Ilicic signs for Fiorentina SkySports

External links

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