Ilija Aračić

Ilija Aračić
Personal information
Full nameIlija Aračić
Date of birth15 November 1970
Place of birthSlavonski Brod, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing positionStriker
Club information
Current team
VfB Stuttgart (youth team coach)
Youth career
1980–1985NK Ukrina Novo Selo
1985–1991NK Polet Bosanksi Brod
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1991–1993Slavonski Brod
1993–1994NK Rijeka
1994–1997Chemnitzer FC78(22)
1997–1998Tennis Borussia Berlin49(24)
1999–2000Hertha BSC25(6)
2000–2002Arminia Bielefeld36(3)
Total188(55)
Teams managed
2004–2011FC Augsburg (youth team coach)
2012–VfB Stuttgart (youth team coach)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Ilija Aračić (born 15 November 1970 in Slavonski Brod, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a retired Croatian footballer.[1]

Coming from a sporting family, Aračić started his footballing career as a 9-year-old at Croatian team NK Ukrina Novo Selo, before moving aged 14 to the team his father Anto played for professionally at the time, NK Polet Bosanski Brod.[1] He later played for his local team where he was spotted by scouts of Prva HNL side NK Rijeka.[1] Aračić, a drafter by trade,[1] left Croatia as a result of the War of Independence,[1] signed for Chemnitzer FC in Germany before transferring to Tennis Borussia Berlin in the summer of 1997. During the 1998–99 season, after impressing Hertha BSC with his two goals against them in the DFB-Pokal,[2] quickly signed for TeBe's fellow West Berlin rivals where he played for one and a half years before moving to Arminia Bielefeld and seeing out the twilight of his playing career.

In 2004 Aračić took over as coach of FC Augsburg's youth team.[3] On 1 January 2012, he became head coach of the under-19 team of VfB Stuttgart.[4]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Bunkus, Mathias (18 January 2000). "In dieser Familie konnte Ilija Aračić nur Fußballer werden". Berliner Kurier (in German). Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  2. "Tennis Borussia Berlin – Hertha BSC 4:2". fussballdaten.de (in German). 28 October 1998. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  3. "Vertrag mit Jugendtrainer Ilija Aračić verlängert". Augsburger Allgemeine (in German). 10 October 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  4. "Trainerwechsel bei der U19". VfB Stuttgart (in German). 23 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.

External links