Milan Vilotić ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Вилотић; born 21 October 1986) is a Serbian former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who played as

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Čukarički

Born in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, Vilotić first played professional football with Čukarički from the age of 18. He played over 80 matches for Čukarički from 2004, debuting with one of the best generation of Čukarički players which included

Miloš Ninković Miloš Ninković ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Нинковић; born 25 December 1984) is a Serbian former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Club career Čukarički At a young age, Ninković joined FK Čukarički's youth academy and la ...

Red Star Belgrade

In summer 2009 he transferred to

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

. In 2010, however, he was diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening condition and missed half of the 2010–11 season. After the second half of the season, Vilotić was showing promising potential and was promoted to captain of Red Star for a brief period in the 2011 summer off-season. However, at the half-time of a friendly match with

F.C. Ashdod Moadon Sport Ashdod (, ''Sport Club Ashdod''), commonly referred to as F.C Ashdod (, ''Mem Samekh Ashdod''), is an Israeli professional football club, playing in the port city of Ashdod. The unusual name of the team (unlike most Israeli foot ...

, Red Star coach

Robert Prosinečki Robert Prosinečki (; born 12 January 1969) is a professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Born in West Germany, he internationally represented Yugoslavia and later Croatia. He is the current manager of the Mont ...

got upset at Vilotić and said in a subsequent conference that he was demoted from being Red Star's captain. By late November 2011, he was also openly accused in the media by his teammate Cristian Borja of creating a bad atmosphere in the squad with the intention of sabotaging the foreign players that were playing in Red Star at the time.

Grasshoppers

In July 2012, Vilotić signed with

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ), commonly referred to as Grasshopper Club or simply just GC, is a professional sports club, multisports club based in Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland. They are nicknamed the ''Grasshoppers'' or sometimes just ''Hopper ...

on a bosman move. He quickly became the team's most reliable centre-back and scored a penalty after over-time in the 2013 Schweizer Cup Final.

Young Boys

On 31 January 2014, Vilotić moved to the league rivals

BSC Young Boys Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss footbal ...

, ending a two-year playing spell with Grasshopper.

International career

Milan was part of the

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2006–07 comp ...

Serbian squad and has played for the

Serbia national under-21 football team The Serbia national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Serbia and is controlled by the Football Association of Serbia. Both FIFA and UEFA consider the Serbia national team to be the direct and sole successor of the ...

. In April 2010 national team coach

Radomir Antić Radomir Antić ( sr-Cyrl, Радомир Антић, ; 22 November 1948 – 6 April 2020) was a Serbian professional football manager and player. Following a 17-year playing career as a defender, most of which he spent playing at Partizan, wit ...

selected him in Serbia squad for a friendly match against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

, but Vilotić failed to debut due to stomach problems. In May 2011, he received another call up and played his first game in a

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

jersey against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. In November 2013 Vilotić showed interest in playing for

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

on international level.

Illness

In August 2010, after a medical screening he has been diagnosed with a malignant tumor on right

scapula The scapula (: scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on either side ...

that had threatened to end his playing career. After a surgical intervention in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, and a period of recovery, during which he had the undivided support of the public in Serbia, in January 2011 doctors confirmed that he could play professional football again.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Red Star *

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије / Kup Srbije), also known as Mozzart Serbian Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. ...

(2): 2009–10, 2011–12 Grasshoppers *

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Individual

* Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season: 2009–10 (with Red Star) *

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

Team of the Year: 2013–14

Club career

Čukarički

Red Star Belgrade

Grasshoppers

Young Boys

International career

Illness

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Individual

References

External links