Saša Ilić (footballer born 1977)

Football player infobox| playername= Saša Ilić
fullname = Saša Ilić
nickname = Sale


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1977|12|30
cityofbirth = Požarevac
countryofbirth = SFR Yugoslavia
height = 178 cm
currentclub = Red Bull Salzburg
position = Attacking Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1996-04 2004 2004-05 2005-2007 2007-
clubs = Partizan Belgrade Celta de Vigo Partizan Belgrade Galatasaray Red Bull Salzburg
caps(goals) = 202 (101) 13 (1) 22 (16) 71 (27) 31 (9)
nationalyears = 2000-present
nationalteam = Serbia
nationalcaps(goals) = 41 (6)
pcupdate = 14 August 2006
ntupdate = 14 September 2008

Saša Ilić (Serbian Cyrillic: Саша Илић; born December 30, 1977 in Požarevac, Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian football midfielder who plays for Red Bull Salzburg of the Austrian Bundesliga.

Club career

Partizan

Ilić played for Partizan Belgrade for almost ten years, except for a brief 6-month spell at Celta Vigo of Spain in the latter part of the 2003/04 season.

Galatasaray

He is known as a skilled midfield play-maker as well as a prolific goal scorer. Ilić has excellent goal scoring instincts and his goal per game ratio is outstanding for a midfielder. Saša Ilić joined Galatasaray in the summer of 2005, and scored twice in his first Turkish league match that August. On joining Galatasaray, Ilić was offered the prestigious #10 shirt, but declined and chose to wear his old Partizan number 22. With 12 goals scored, he was the third highest goal scorer for Galatasaray in the 2005/06 season. Saša made an excellent start in the 2006/07 season by scoring 5 goals in 4 Turkish Premier Super League matches.

Red Bull Salzburg

On the date 08/08/2007, he was transferred to Austrian football club Red Bull Salzburg with a €900,000 fee paid to Galatasaray.

International career

He was selected for the 23-man Serbia and Montenegro national football team squad to play in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Despite coming on as a substitute in the last group game of the tournament, he managed to score a goal against the Ivory Coast in a thrilling 3:2 match, eventually won by the opposition.

He has played 41 matches for the Serbian National Team.

Personal

In May 2006, Ilić married his fiancée Tijana.

External links

* [http://www.beliorlovi.net/sasa-ilic.html Player Profile]
* [http://www.myspace.com/pfk22 The Official Saša Ilić MySpace Fan Page]