Zoran Ilic (; ; born 2 Januar 2002) is a Serbian-Hungarian

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

player for

HSV Hamburg Handball Sport Verein Hamburg is a professional handball club from Germany, located in Hamburg. Currently, Handball Hamburg competes in the Handball-Bundesliga. The full name in German is ''Handball Sport Verein Hamburg e.V.'' but the club has t ...

and for the Hungary national team.

Career

Club

Ilić moved from Serbia to Hungary as a teenager, and started his career at

NEKA Neka () is a city in the Central District of Neka County, Mazandaran province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. History Not much is known about this area in geographical or historical accounts of the past, until ...

. He made his debut in the first team in 2018, and in that season he scored 4 goals in 9 matches in the then still Nemzeti Bajnokság I/B team. In 2019, the Hungarian record champion moved to

Telekom Veszprém Telekom may refer to: *A1 Telekom Austria Group, Austria **A1 Telekom Austria *Deutsche Telekom, Germany **Hrvatski Telekom, Croatia **Magyar Telekom, Hungary **Crnogorski Telekom, Montenegro **Makedonski Telekom, North Macedonia **Telekom Romania ...

, where he initially played in the second team, but was able to play 5 matches in the first team, in the

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, ), also known as NB I or Fizz Liga after its title sponsor, OTP Bank's webshop subsidiary, is a professional association football league in Hungary and the highest level of the Hungarian football league system. Twelve ...

, in which he scored 2 goals. He also made his debut in the

EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...

(his coach and mentor at the club,

Momir Ilić Momir Ilić (; born 22 December 1981) is a Serbian former handball player. He became the first player in the history of the EHF Champions League to score over 100 goals in three consecutive seasons. Currently he is the head coach of Telekom Vesz ...

, has a similar background but is not a relative). In the fall of 2020, Veszprém loaned Ilić to Polish team

Wisła Płock Wisła Płock Spółka Akcyjna (Wisła Płock S.A.), commonly referred to as Wisła Płock (), is a Polish professional football club based in Płock, Masovian Voivodeship. They will compete in the Ekstraklasa in the 2025–26 season after wi ...

, but after three months he decided to return to Hungary and finish his studies. He scored 21 goals in six matches in the

Polish Superliga The Polish Superliga, officially known as the Orlen Superliga due to its sponsorship by Orlen, is the top men's handball league in Poland. It is currently a 14 teams league, played from September to May. The competition was founded in 1956 under ...

, and 11 goals in 3 matches in the Champions League for Wisła. In the 2021/22 season, he participated in the BL Final 4 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, where he also scored a goal in the bronze medal match. At the end of the 2022/23 season, he became champion and cup winner with Veszprém, after which he left for the German team

. He had scored 80 goals in 44 first-class matches for Veszprém, and 17 goals in 27 matches in the EHF Champions League. In December 2024, it was announced that Zoran would transfer to the Polish team

for 3 years from July 2025.

National team

He made his debut in the

Hungary men's national handball team The Hungary national handball team is administered by the Hungarian Handball Federation. Competitive record Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place Olympic Games Competitive record at t ...

on 4 November 2020, in a Eurocup match against the

Spain men's national handball team The Spain national handball team is governed by the Royal Spanish Handball Federation. Spain is one of the most successful handball teams in the world, having won two IHF World Men's Handball Championship, World Champions ...

; Hungary won 32–29 but he did not score in the match. He was 9th with the Hungarian team at the 2021 Youth European Championship. He was included in the extended squad of the

2021 World Men's Handball Championship The 2021 IHF World Men's Handball Championship was the 27th event hosted by the International Handball Federation and held in Egypt from 13 to 31 January 2021. Starting with this edition, the World Championship was expanded from 24 teams to 32. I ...

, but in the end he did not become a member of the reduced squad. As a member of the junior national team, he participated in the 2022 Junior European Championship where the Hungarian team finished 5th. He was included in the extended squad for the

2022 European Men's Handball Championship The 2022 European Handball Federation, EHF European Men's Handball Championship was the 15th edition of the tournament and the second to feature 24 national teams. It was co-hosted in two countries – Hungary and Slovakia – from 13 to 30 Janua ...

, but again did not make the cut for the reduced squad. He also participated in the

2023 World Men's Handball Championship The 2023 World Men's Handball Championship, IHF World Men's Handball Championship was the 28th such event hosted by the International Handball Federation. It was held in Poland and Sweden from 11 to 29 January 2023. Denmark men's national handba ...

as a member of the Hungary team (8th place, 9 matches / 10 goals). He participated in the 2023 Junior World Championship, where he was voted the best right back and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

won the silver medal. He also participated in the

2024 European Men's Handball Championship The 2024 EHF European Men's Handball Championship was the 16th edition of the tournament and the third to feature 24 national teams. It was hosted in Germany from 10 to 28 January 2024. The two opening games of the tournament were attended by ...

(5th place, 8 matches / 7 goals) followed by the

2024 Paris Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

where the Hungarian team finished 10th (5 matches / 9 goals). He also participated in the

2025 World Men's Handball Championship The 2025 IHF World Men's Handball Championship was the 29th such event hosted by the International Handball Federation. It was held in Croatia, Denmark and Norway from 14 January to 2 February 2025. This edition marked the first time the world cha ...

as a member of the

. (8th place, 7 matches / 26 goals).

Honours

National team

* Junior World Championship: ** :

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Club

;BFKA-Veszprém * Nemzeti Bajnokság I/B ** : 2021 ;Telekom Veszprém *

: ** :

** :

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Magyar Kupa The Hungarian Cup (, ), officially known as MOL Magyar Kupa for sponsorship reasons, is the Hungarian cup competition for football clubs. It was started by the Hungarian Football Association'','' in 1909, eight years after the commencement of ...

: ** :

SEHA League The South East Handball Association League, or simply the SEHA League, is a regional men's club handball league in Southeast Europe, featuring teams from Croatia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovakia. Due to sponsorship reasons, the le ...

** :

Individual

* All-Star Right Back of the Junior World Championship:

* Hungarian Youth Handball Player of the Year: 2022, 2023https://www.nemzetisport.hu/kezilabda/kezilabda-bode-biro-blankat-es-rosta-miklost-valasztottak-az-ev-jatekosanak-2994759

References

External links

Zoran Ilic
at EHF
Zoran Ilic
at MKSZ {{DEFAULTSORT:Ilic, Zoran 2002 births Living people Hungarian male handball players Serbian emigrants to Hungary Naturalized citizens of Hungary Serbian expatriate handball players in Germany Handball-Bundesliga players Expatriate handball players in Poland Wisła Płock (handball) players Veszprém KC players Olympic handball players for Hungary Handball players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Hungarian expatriate handball players in Germany Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Serbian male handball players 21st-century Hungarian sportsmen