Tonči Žilić (born 26 February 1975) is a retired

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

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 ...

player. He spent most of his career playing in the Croatian Prva HNL, but also a spell in Italy where he played three seasons in

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

Career

Born in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

, Žilić began playing football for local side NK Orkan Dugi Rat, debuting early for the senior team before moving to Primorac Stobreč, at 17 and a half years of age. He joined

HNK Šibenik Hrvatski nogometni klub Šibenik (), better known as HNK Šibenik or simply Šibenik (), is a Croatian professional association football, football sports club, club based in Šibenik. It competes in the Croatian Football League, SuperSport HNL, t ...

and

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek (), commonly referred to as NK Osijek (), is a Croatian professional association football, football sports club, club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav First Le ...

before leaving for Italy in December 1997. Žilić joined

side A.S.D. Castel di Sangro Calcio. After one season, he left and would play in Serie B for Hellas Verona F.C. and A.C. Siena. In 2002, Žilić returned to Croatia where he would spend the next six seasons playing in the Prva HNL with Šibenik, NK Zagreb and Hajduk Split. After spending the 2007–2008 season outside the Hajduk first team, training with the junior team, he went to the Druga HNL team NK Solin, where he stayed until January 2009, when he signed for the

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

n team Drava Ptuj. After a year and a half there, he returned to his hometown club, the fourth-tier NK Orkan, serving both as a player and a youth team coach. In 2011, he joined the Treća HNL Jug side NK Omiš. Žilić made four appearances for the Croatia national under-21 football team.

References

External links

*
Profile at Lega CalioProfile at 1hnl.netProfile at HNL-Statistika.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zilic, Tonci 1975 births Living people Footballers from Split, Croatia Men's association football defenders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers NK Primorac 1929 players HNK Šibenik players NK Osijek players ACD Castel di Sangro Cep 1953 players Hellas Verona FC players Fermana FC players Siena FC SSD players NK Zagreb players HNK Hajduk Split players NK Solin players NK Drava Ptuj (1933) players Croatian Football League players Serie B players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia