Milan Smiljanić

Lola Smiljanić

Smiljanić warming up with Espanyol
Personal information
Full name	Milan Smiljanić
Date of birth	(1986-11-19) 19 November 1986
Place of birth	Kalmar, Sweden
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Gençlerbirliği
Number	31
Youth career
	Partizan
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2005–2007	Partizan	48	(1)
2007–2011	Espanyol	47	(0)
2010	→ Sporting Gijón (loan)	6	(0)
2010–2011	→ Partizan (loan)	18	(1)
2011–2013	Partizan	47	(1)
2013–	Gençlerbirliği	1	(0)
National team
2006–2009	Serbia U21	28	(2)
2007–2008	Serbia	6	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:00, 27 May 2013 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Milan 'Lola' Smiljanić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан 'Лола' Смиљанић; born 19 November 1986) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays for Gençlerbirliği in the Süper Lig, as a midfielder.

Early life

Smiljanić was born in Kalmar, Sweden, as his father Branko, who was also a professional footballer, was playing for Kalmar AIK FK at the time.

Club career

Partizan

Smiljanić subsequently returned to Serbia and joined FK Partizan youth ranks. Under head coach Vladimir Vermezović, he made his debut for the first team in a league match against FK Sutjeska Nikšić, during the second part of 2004–05.

Smiljanić also spent some time playing for farm team FK Teleoptik and, in little more than two professional seasons, he amassed more than 50 official appearances with the club, and eventually gained club captaincy despite his age.

Espanyol

On 18 July 2007, Spain's RCD Espanyol agreed with Partizan for the transfer of Smiljanić for an undisclosed fee, in a five-year contract.^[1] He made his La Liga debut against Real Valladolid on 26 August, in a 0–1 home loss;^[2] most of his first two seasons in Catalonia were spent mainly appearing from the bench, even though one of his main competitors in the team, Iván de la Peña, was often injured.

After the club's initial unsuccessful attempts to loan him out for 2009–10, Smiljanić spent the first months of the new campaign only training, not having been given any squad number. However, such a move was arranged in late January 2010, as he joined Sporting de Gijón until June.^[3]

Partizan return

In the summer of 2010, Smiljanić was loaned to his former club Partizan.^[4] After his loan expired he returned to Spain and agreed the contract termination with the Barcelona-based club.^[5]

On 16 August 2011 Smiljanić signed a permanent contract with Partizan, penning a two-year deal.^[6]

Gençlerbirliği

On 29 May 2013, it was announced that Gençlerbirliği had agreed terms with Smiljanić to sign him as a free agent.^[7]

International career

After the 2006–07 season, Smiljanić was called up by Serbia's U-21 coach Miroslav Đukić to be part of his squad for the 2007 European Championships. He helped the national side finish runner-up in the tournament, to hosts Holland.

Smiljanić made his international debut for the full squad on 22 August 2007, in a 2–3 loss against Belgium in Brussels for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers. In July of the following year he was picked to the 18-man squad for the 2008 Summer Olympics, with Đukić again as manager – Serbia ranked last in its group.^[8]

Next year, Smiljanić appeared in the 2009 European Under-21 Championship as captain, but could not help repeat the previous edition's feat, as the nation did not progress through the group stages in his country of birth, Sweden.^[9]

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	17 October 2007	Tofiq Bahramov Stadium, Baku	Azerbaijan	5–1	6–1	Euro 2008 qualifying

Statistics

Club

As of 20 January 2013

International

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Milan Smiljanić.

• BDFutbol profile
• National team data (Serbian)
• Milan Smiljanić at National-Football-Teams.com

v t e Serbia men's football squad – 2008 Summer Olympics 1 Stojković (c) 2 Jovanović 3 Kolarov 4 Kačar 5 Rajković 6 Pavlović 7 Smiljanić 8 Gulan 9 Rakić 11 D. Tošić 12 Tadić 13 Fejsa 14 Mrdaković 15 Živković 16 Tomović 17 Z. Tošić 18 Stamenković 19 Kaluđerović Coach: Đukić