Mile Svilar ( sr-Cyrl, Миле Свилар; born 27 August 1999) is a Serbian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

. Born in Belgium, he played for the Serbia national team.

Club career

Early career and Anderlecht

Svilar is a product of the Belgian youth teams of

KFCO Wilrijk KFCO (107.1 FM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting a Christian hip hop format, licensed to Bennett, Colorado, and serving the Denver metropolitan area. It is owned by Pillar of Fire International with its radio studios and offices on ...

and

Beerschot A.C. Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club (), simply known as Beerschot AC, was a Belgian football club based in southern Antwerp. Beerschot played in the Belgian Pro League from 1999–2000 (as Germinal Beerschot) until 2012–13, when they were ...

, while in 2010 he joined the Belgian giant

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

. On 27 August 2015, he signed his first professional contract with the club. He was promoted to the first team in the 2016–17 season as the third choice goalkeeper, he was first included in the match day squad in the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

match against

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

. He was also amongst the unused substitutes in

's victory in the 2017 Belgian Super Cup..

Benfica

Svilar signed a five-year contract with Portuguese champions Benfica on 28 August 2017. On 14 October, he made his debut with the club in a 1–0 victory over

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association First Division, the fifth tier of ...

, becoming the youngest goalkeeper to ever play for Benfica. In international competition, he broke

Iker Casillas Iker Casillas Fernández (; born 20 May 1981) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and currently works as a football commentator. Popularly dubbed "''San Iker''" ("Saint Iker") for his ability to produce miracu ...

' record as the youngest goalkeeper to ever play in the Champions League on 18 October 2017, in a 1–0 home defeat to

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, aged 18 years and 52 days. In the return leg against the English side, aged 18 years and 65 days, he became the youngest goalkeeper ever to save a penalty in a Champions League match. In the same match, which ended in a 2–0 away defeat, he also became the youngest player ever to score an own goal in the competition.

Roma

On 1 July 2022, Svilar signed a contract with

club

until 30 June 2027. On 22 February 2024, he saved two penalties during the shootouts which ended in a 4–2 victory over

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

in the 2023–24 Europa League knockout round play-offs. In the 2024–25 season, Svilar recorded the highest save percentage in the league at 77%, and kept 16 clean sheets, a tally matched only by

Alex Meret Alex Meret (; born 22 March 1997) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Napoli and the Italy national team. Born in Udine, Meret began his career at an early age with amateur club Donatello Calcio before m ...

International career

Youth

Svilar was a member of Belgium U-16, Belgium U-17, Belgium U-18 national teams and was also a member of Belgium U-19. He was the first choice goalkeeper for the Belgium U-17 team at the

2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the 15th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (34th edition if the Under-16 era is included), the annual European international youth football championship contested by the men's under- ...

in Azerbaijan.

Senior

Born in Belgium to Serbian parents, Svilar is eligible to represent

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

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 ...

. On 4 November 2017, he announced that he would play his first game for the Serbia national team in March 2018, as he accepted the call from the

Football Association of Serbia The Football Association of Serbia () is the governing body of football in Serbia, based in Belgrade. It organizes Serbian football leagues, namely the Serbian Superliga, the Serbia national football team, as well as the Second Leagues. FSS was ...

. On 20 August 2021, he received his first call up to the

Serbia national football team The Serbia men's national football team ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалска репрезентација Србије, translit=Fudbalska reprezentacija Srbije) represents Serbia in men's international Association football, football competition. It is ...

, he debuted with Serbia in a friendly 4–0 win over

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

on 1 September 2021. On 5 March 2024, Svilar was called up by Serbia after being absent for almost three years, but he reportedly turned down the call-up, and was therefore not included in the final squad. Serbia manager

Dragan Stojković Dragan Stojković ( sr-Cyrl, Драган Стојковић, ; born 3 March 1965), also known by the nickname Piksi (Пикси), is a Serbian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He's currently a selector head coach of ...

later commented that Svilar will not receive future international call-ups from Serbia.

Personal life

Svilar has a

Serbian passport Serbian passport () is the primary document of international travel issued to nationals of Serbia. Passports are issued and renewed by the Police of Serbia, Serbian Police on behalf of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Serbia), Ministry of Inter ...

. His father,

Ratko Ratko (Cyrillic script: Ратко) is a male given name of Slavic origin. It is a diminutive form of the names Ratibor and Ratimir. Notable people *Ratko Čolić (1918–1999), Serbian footballer *Ratko Dautovski, Macedonian percussionist, i ...

, is a former Serbian

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Anderlecht *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Benfica *

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

: 2018–19 Individual *UEFA Europa League Team of the Season: 2023–24 * Serie A Best Goalkeeper: 2024–25 * ''The Athletic'' Serie A Team of the Season: 2024–25

References

External links

Mile Svilar
at the A.S. Roma website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Svilar, Mile 1999 births Living people Footballers from Antwerp Men's association football goalkeepers Serbian men's footballers Serbia men's international footballers Belgian men's footballers Belgium men's youth international footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Belgian people of Serbian descent Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Serie A players S.L. Benfica footballers S.L. Benfica B players AS Roma players Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Belgian expatriate men's footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Italy 21st-century Belgian sportsmen