Saša Ilić (footballer, born 1972)

Saša Ilić (Serbian Cyrillic: Саша Илић, pronounced [sâʃa ǐːliːt͡ɕ] or [îːliːt͡ɕ]; born 18 July 1972) is a retired Serbian-Australian football goalkeeper.

Saša Ilić
Personal information
Full name Saša Ilić
Date of birth (1972-07-18) 18 July 1972
Place of birth Melbourne, Australia
Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
Bonnyrigg White Eagles
Borac Banja Luka
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1993 Borac Banja Luka 27 (0)
1993–1996 Radnički Beograd 61 (0)
1996 St. Leonards Stamcroft 0 (0)
1997–2002 Charlton Athletic 51 (0)
2000 → West Ham United (loan) 1 (0)
2001 → Portsmouth (loan) 7 (0)
2002–2003 ZTE 4 (0)
2003 Portsmouth 0 (0)
2003–2004 Barnsley 25 (0)
2004–2005 Blackpool 3 (0)
2005 Aberdeen 0 (0)
2005 Leeds United 0 (0)
Total 179 (0)
National team
1998–2001 FR Yugoslavia 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Born in Melbourne, Ilić started his career with Sydney-based Bonnyrigg White Eagles before transferring to Borac Banja Luka in Bosnia.

Ilić later joined Charlton Athletic, where he became most well-known. He was a regular in goal in the latter half of the 1997–98 season and kept a record 10 clean sheets in a row, including both play-off semi-finals against Ipswich Town. The run was ended as Charlton gained promotion after a classic 4–4 play-off final, in which he saved the deciding penalty from Michael Gray in a 7-6 win over Sunderland on penalties in the First Division play-off final. After Charlton's relegation in 1998–99, Ilić lost his place in the team to new signing Dean Kiely.[1]

In February 2000 he went on loan to West Ham United but made just one appearance - a 4-0 defeat at home to Everton in the Premier League.[2] In September 2001 he went on loan to Portsmouth and made seven appearances.

Ilić left Charlton in 2002 and joined Hungarian side ZTE where he played against Manchester United in a UEFA Champions League qualifier. ZTE won the first leg 1-0 but lost the second leg 5-0, a game in which Ilić was also sent off for a foul on Ruud van Nistelrooy.[3]

In February 2003 he returned to Portsmouth to provide back up to Shaka Hislop and Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi.[4] However he made no appearances as Portsmouth won promotion to the Premier League, and then joined Barnsley in August 2003.[5]

International career

Ilić made two appearances for the Serbia and Montenegro national football team. His debut was in December 1998 in a friendly match against Israel as a second-half substitute[6] and his second and last appearance was in a home loss against Russia during the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification.[7]

References
  1. "Pick a number..." talkfootball. 21 August 2007. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
  2. "Barmby treble smashes Hammers". BBC. 26 February 2000. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  3. "Rampant Reds on the march". BBC. 27 August 2002. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  4. "Transfers - February 2003". BBC Sport. 7 February 2003.
  5. "Transfers - August 2003". BBC Sport. 5 September 2003.
  6. http://www.rsssf.com/tablesj/joeg-intres90.html
  7. http://www.rsssf.com/tablesj/joeg-intres2000.html
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