Vid Belec (; born 6 June 1990) is a Slovenian 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

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

club

APOEL APOEL FC (; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") is a Cypriot professio ...

Club career

Internazionale

Signed by

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

along with

Rene Krhin Rene Krhin (born 21 May 1990) is a Slovenian retired footballer who played as a central midfielder. He earned a total of 48 caps for the Slovenia national team. Club career Inter Milan Born in Maribor, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Slovenia) ...

at the age of 16, Belec spent three-and-a-half seasons with Inter Primavera team. In the first season he was a backup for

Paolo Tornaghi Paolo Tornaghi (born 21 June 1988) is an Italian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. Club career Youth career Born in Garbagnate Milanese, the Province of Milan, Tornaghi started his career with Inter Milan. Tornaghi had played for Inter f ...

and won the Primavera Scudetto that season. He also played for Campionato Nazionale Allievi under-17 youth team in the 2006–07 season. In the 2007–08 season, at first he had to compete with

Enrico Alfonso Enrico Alfonso (born 4 May 1988) is an Italian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for club Virtus Verona. Club career Early career Aged only 6 years old, Alfonso began hi ...

for the starting place in Primavera team until Alfonso left the club in January 2008. He then became the fourth keeper of Inter's first team and the first choice in Primavera, which won the 2008

Torneo di Viareggio The Torneo di Viareggio (), officially named the Viareggio Cup World Football Tournament Coppa Carnevale, is a youth association football tournament held annually in the commune of Viareggio, Italy and its surrounding areas. Established in 1949, t ...

and finished as the league runners-up. Under

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Süper Lig club Fenerba ...

, Belec was promoted to the senior team and made his first team debut on 17 July 2009, in a pre-season friendly. He also played at the

World Football Challenge The World Football Challenge was an international club association football Exhibition game, exhibition competition featuring club teams from Europe and North America, that was held from 2009 until 2012, when it was replaced by the International C ...

. In November 2009, he signed a reported five-year contract with the club.

Crotone

On 6 July 2010, Belec completed a loan to

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 ...

club

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

. He made his debut on 4 September 2010 after the first-choice keeper Emanuele Concetti was not available. He then became the starting goalkeeper ahead of Concetti since round 18. However, in the

2011–12 Serie B The 2011–12 Serie B (known as the Serie bwin for sponsorship reasons) was the eightieth season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams contested the league: 15 of these were returning from the 2010–11 season, four had been pro ...

season, his former Inter teammate Giacomo Bindi took the starting place from round 2 to 4, and again since round 10. However, after a 3–0 defeat to

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

, Belec re-took the starting place in January 2012.

Return to Internazionale

Belec returned to Inter during the summer 2012 window after his loan deal to Crotone expired. He was kept as a third choice keeper behind

Samir Handanović Samir Handanović (born 14 July 1984) is a Slovenian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Since August 2024, he is the head coach of Inter Milan's Inter Milan Youth Se ...

and

Luca Castellazzi Luca Castellazzi (born 19 July 1975) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He serves as the goalkeeper coach of AC Milan young team under 17. Club career Early career Castellazzi began his career at Monza. He ...

. He made his first team debut on 30 August as a substitute in a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

game against

FC Vaslui Fotbal Club Vaslui, commonly known as FC Vaslui, or simply as Vaslui (), was a Romanian professional football club based in Vaslui, Vaslui County, founded in 2002 and dissolved in 2014. Its official club colours were yellow and green, hence t ...

to replace

Antonio Cassano Antonio Cassano (; born 12 July 1982) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a forward. A talented and technically gifted player, he was usually deployed as a supporting forward, but could also play as an attacking midfielde ...

after starting goalkeeper Castellazzi was sent off.

Olhanense

On 15 July 2013, Belec completed a loan to

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 ...

, from the Portuguese

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 ...

Konyaspor

On 1 September 2014, Belec was signed by

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club), commonly referred to as Konyaspor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya, one of the largest cities in central Anatolia. Due to sponsorship agreements, the club is also officially known ...

in a temporary deal. On 2 February 2015 the loan was terminated.

Carpi

In summer 2015, Belec terminated his contract with Internazionale. On 31 August 2015, he signed with Carpi F.C. 1909 for one season. He made his debut in Serie A in a win against

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

on 10 October 2015. After debut he became a regular starter in first eleven for Carpi. On 30 May 2016, he signed a new two-year deal with Carpi.

Benevento

In July 2017, Belec signed a three-year contract with Serie A side

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

APOEL

On 23 June 2019, Belec joined

on loan with an obligation to buy after two seasons.

Salernitana

On 25 September 2020, he moved to

club

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919 is an Italian professional football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recently in 2011. The current ...

Return to APOEL

On 27 June 2022, Belec returned to APOEL on a three-year deal.

International career

Belec was the first-choice goalkeeper for the Slovenia under-19 team in the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship qualifications. He received his first call-up to the Slovenia under-21 team in August 2010 as the backup goalkeeper to

Jan Koprivec Jan Koprivec (born 15 July 1988) is a Slovenian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. Club career Koprivec started his career at Koper. In summer 2007, Koprivec joined Cagliari, and played two matches in the 2007–08 Coppa Italia, both of which ...

. Belec received a call-up from the senior team in February 2011, after the injury of

, for a friendly match against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. However, he had to wait until June 2014 to make his debut, starting and playing the full 90 minutes in a friendly against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

after first-choice goalkeepers Handanović and

Jan Oblak Jan Oblak (born 7 January 1993) is a Slovenian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Atlético Madrid and captains the Slovenia national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. Oblak signed ...

contracted food poisoning. In total, Belec made 21 appearances for Slovenia until his retirement in August 2024.

References

External links

Vid Belec
at Football.it
Vid Belec
at NZS {{DEFAULTSORT:Belec, Vid 1990 births Living people Footballers from Maribor Slovenian men's footballers 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Men's association football goalkeepers Slovenian expatriate men's footballers Slovenia men's youth international footballers Slovenia men's international footballers Inter Milan players FC Crotone players S.C. Olhanense players Konyaspor footballers AC Carpi players Benevento Calcio players UC Sampdoria players APOEL FC players US Salernitana 1919 players Serie B players Primeira Liga players Süper Lig players Serie A players Cypriot First Division players UEFA Euro 2024 players Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus