Saša Ilić (footballer, born 1972)

Saša Ilić
Personal information
Full name	Saša Ilić
Date of birth	18 July 1972 (age 52)
Place of birth	Melbourne, Australia
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
	Broadmeadow Magic
	Bonnyrigg White Eagles
Senior career*
Years	Team
1991–1993	Grafičar Beograd
1993–1996	Radnički Beograd
1997–2002	Charlton Athletic
2000	→ West Ham United (loan)
2001	→ Portsmouth (loan)
2002–2003	ZTE
2003	Portsmouth
2003–2004	Barnsley
2004–2005	Blackpool
2005	Aberdeen
2005	Leeds United
Total
International career
1998–2001	FR Yugoslavia
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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

Club career

Born in Melbourne, Ilić started playing soccer with Sydney-based Bonnyrigg White Eagles. He later moved to his parents' home country and started playing for Grafičar Beograd in the Belgrade Zone League, before signing with Radnički Beograd of the First League of FR Yugoslavia.

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 9 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 FR Yugoslavia 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]