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Dejan Iliev

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Dejan Iliev
Personal information
Full name Dejan Iliev
Date of birth (1995-02-25) 25 February 1995 (age 29)[1]
Place of birth Strumica, Macedonia
Height 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)[2]
Position(s) Goalkeeper[3]
Team information
Current team
UTA Arad
Number 22
Youth career
2007–2012 Belasica
2012–2017 Arsenal
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2022 Arsenal 0 (0)
2019Sereď (loan) 18 (0)
2020Jagiellonia Białystok (loan) 4 (0)
2020–2021Shrewsbury Town (loan) 3 (0)
2021Sereď (loan) 9 (0)
2022 Trenčín 3 (0)
2023 HJK 8 (0)
2024 Sarajevo 12 (0)
2024– UTA Arad 3 (0)
International career
2011 Macedonia U17 7 (0)
2012 Macedonia U19 5 (0)
2013–2014 Macedonia U21 3 (0)
2022– North Macedonia 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 14 December 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 20 June 2022

Dejan Iliev (Macedonian: Дејан Илиев; born 25 February 1995) is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Liga I club UTA Arad and for the North Macedonia national team.

Career

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Early life

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Iliev was born in Strumica, Macedonia[3] and first played youth club football for his hometown club of FK Belasica. He was spotted by Arsenal scouts and signed to join their academy in London in 2012.[4]

Arsenal

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Iliev joined the Arsenal Academy immediately upon signing the youth contract.[4] He signed a three-year contract extension from March 2015 until June 2018,[5] when he signed another extension.[6] Iliev appeared three times in the Arsenal squad as an unused substitute: against Norwich in the Carabao Cup in October 2017; and twice in the UEFA Europa League: against Qarabağ and against Chelsea in the final as the third goalkeeper.[7][8][9]

Iliev's contract with the club was terminated in January 2022 by mutual consent.[10][11]

Loan to Sereď

[edit]

In July 2019, he moved to ŠKF Sereď for a one-year loan, and on the 22nd of the same month he made his debut for his new club in the 2–0 loss to Spartak Trnava.[12][13][14]

Loan to Jagiellonia Białystok

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After an early end to his loan with ŠKF Sereď, Iliev opted to join Polish Ekstraklasa club Jagiellonia Białystok for the remainder of the 2019–20 season.[15] He made four appearances after suffering an injury.

Loan to Shrewsbury Town

[edit]

On 8 October 2020, Iliev joined League One side Shrewsbury Town on a short-term loan deal.[16] On 28 January 2021, he returned to Arsenal.[17]

Second loan to Sereď

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On 26 July 2021, Arsenal announced that Iliev had returned to ŠKF Sereď on a season-long loan deal.[18]

AS Trenčín

[edit]

On 7 February 2022, Iliev signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with Fortuna Liga club AS Trenčín.[19] He made his debut in goal on 30 April in a 5–2 victory against Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš.[20]

HJK Helsinki

[edit]

On 8 February 2023, Iliev signed with HJK in Finland for the 2023 season, with an option for 2024.[21] On 1 August 2023, it was announced that Iliev will be ruled out for the rest of the season following an elbow injury suffered in a Veikkausliiga match against SJK.[22] At the end of the season, HJK did not exercise their option and Iliev was released.

Sarajevo

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In December 2023, Iliev signed with Bosnian Premier League club Sarajevo.[23][24] At the end of the season, the club decided not to extend Iliev's contract.[25]

UTA Arad

[edit]

On 18 June 2024, Iliev signed with Liga I club UTA Arad.[26]

International career

[edit]

Iliev has appeared for Macedonia's under-19 and under-21 teams a total of ten times. He has been called up to the senior squad and made his debut in 2022.

Career statistics

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As of match played 18 December 2024[27][28]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Sereď (loan) 2019–20 Slovak First League 18 0 0 0 18 0
Jagiellonia Białystok (loan) 2019–20 Ekstraklasa 4 0 0 0 4 0
Shrewsbury Town (loan) 2020–21 League One 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Sereď (loan) 2021–22 Slovak First League 9 0 1 0 10 0
AS Trenčín 2021–22 Slovak First League 3 0 0 0 2[c] 0 5 0
HJK Helsinki 2023 Veikkausliiga 8 0 0 0 2 0 1[d] 0 11 0
Sarajevo 2023–24 Bosnian Premier League 12 0 2 0 14 0
UTA Arad 2024–25 Liga I 3 0 1 0 4 0
Career total 60 0 4 0 2 0 1 0 6 0 73 0
  1. ^ Includes FA Cup, Slovak Cup, Polish Cup, Finnish Cup, Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup
  2. ^ Includes EFL Cup, Finnish League Cup
  3. ^ Appearances in Fortuna Liga Conf. League Playoff
  4. ^ Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League

Honours

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Arsenal

HJK

References

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  1. ^ "Deyan Iliev: Overview". ESPN. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Dejan Iliev: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Dejan Iliev: Profile". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  4. ^ a b "'I'm in a place everyone wants to be'". www.arsenal.com. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  5. ^ "Deyan Iliev signs new contract". www.arsenal.com. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  6. ^ "Deyan Iliev signs contract extension". www.arsenal.com. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Arsenal 2-1 Norwich City". 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  8. ^ "Europa League: Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny returns in easy 1-0 win over Qarabag". 13 December 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  9. ^ "Chelsea beat Arsenal 4-1 to win Europa League final". 29 May 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  10. ^ Malley, Tom (8 January 2022). "Premier League done deals in January window so far". mirror. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Deyan Iliev leaves club". Arsenal.com. 17 January 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  12. ^ "V 1. kole Fortuna ligy prehra v Trnave". skficlinicsered.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  13. ^ "Деби со пораз за Војнески и Илиев во словачки Серед". gol.mk (in Macedonian). 22 July 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  14. ^ "Macedonian internationals performances (19-22.07.2019)". www.macedonianfootball.com. 22 July 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  15. ^ "Iliev agrees to join Jagiellonia Bialystok on loan". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  16. ^ "Dejan Iliev: Shrewsbury sign Arsenal goalkeeper on loan". BBC Sport. 8 October 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  17. ^ "Deyan Iliev departs Town". Shrewsbury Town FC. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  18. ^ "Deyan Iliev joins SKF Sered on loan for 2021-22". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  19. ^ "A-tím | Iliev prichádza zvýšiť konkurenciu medzi brankármi". AS Trenčín (in Slovak). 7 February 2022. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  20. ^ "VIDEO: Trenčín si doma zgustol na Lipt. Mikuláši. Hetrikom sa blysol srbský mladík | TVNOVINY.sk". TVNoviny (in Czech). 30 April 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  21. ^ "Dejan Iliev HJK:n maalille" [Dejan Iliev for HJK's goal] (in Finnish). HJK. 8 February 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  22. ^ HJK:n maalivahti Dejan Iliev joutuu leikkaukseen – sivussa loppukauden, Yle, Juuso Koskinen, 1 August 2023
  23. ^ Dejan Iliev novi golman FK Sarajevo, faktor.ba, 12 December 2023
  24. ^ Macedonian national goalkeeper Iliev is linked with a transfer to FC Sarajevo?!, slobodenpecat.mk, 9 December 2023
  25. ^ "Sport1 - (ZVANIČNO) Zimus stigao na Koševo: Fudbaler u dogovoru sa klubom napustio Sarajevo" (in Bosnian). Oslobođenje. 17 June 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  26. ^ "Bun venit, Dejan Iliev!" (in Romanian). FC UTA Arad. 18 June 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  27. ^ Dejan Iliev at Soccerway
  28. ^ Deyan Iliev at Soccerbase
  29. ^ "2018/19, Final: Chelsea 4–1 Arsenal: Overview". UEFA. Retrieved 4 June 2020.