Ivo Iličević

Early days

Iličević was born in Aschaffenburg, West Germany to Bosnian Croat parents. His father emigrated to West Germany from a small village near Odžak, Bosnia and Herzegovina, then part of the SFR Yugoslavia). He began his career in the youth ranks of Viktoria Aschaffenburg, before joining Regionalliga Süd side Darmstadt 98 in January 2005. At the club, he quickly became a first-team regular under former Bundesliga star Bruno Labbadia and scored eight goals in 44 league matches. As a youth-team player, he played as a forward, but later became mainly deployed as an attacking midfielder.

VfL Bochum

In the summer of 2006, Iličević joined Bundesliga side VfL Bochum and made his top-flight debut in the club's opening match of the 2006–07 league season, a 2–1 defeat at Mainz 05 on 12 August 2006. On 24 September 2006, he scored his first Bundesliga goal, netting the match-winning goal in a 2–1 win at home to Arminia Bielefeld. He made a total of 19 Bundesliga appearances in his first season with Bochum, scoring two goals. In January 2008, he was loaned to Greuther Fürth of the 2. Bundesliga, after making just six Bundesliga appearances (without scoring a goal) with Bochum in the first half of the 2007–08 league season. He went on to spend a season and a half with Greuther Fürth, scoring 4 goals in 38 league appearances.

1. FC Kaiserslautern

In the summer of 2009, Bochum loaned Iličević to another 2. Bundesliga side, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, for the…

In May 2007, Iličević received his first call-up to the Croatia national under-21 team, made his international U21 debut on 2 June 2007 in a 2–0 win against the Faroe Islands in Varaždin. In his second appearance for the team, on 6 June 2007, he scored a brace to help them to a 3–2 win against Greece in Zaprešić. He won a total of 11 international caps and scored five goals for the Croatian U21s, with his last appearance coming on 9 September 2008 in a 1–1 draw against Italy in Varaždin. On 29 September 2008, he received his first full international call-up for Croatia's 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine and Andorra the following October, but did not feature in any of the two matches. He eventually made his full international debut on 12 October 2010, coming on as a half-time substitute for Luka Modrić in a friendly match against Norway in Zagreb, which Croatia won 2–1. On 17 November 2010, he made his competitive debut in a 3–0 win at home to Malta in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying, replacing Ivan Rakitić in the 69th minute. On 9 February 2011, he scored his first goal in his third appearance as a full international, netting the final goal in a 4–2 win against the Czech Republic, in a friendly match played in Pula. He came on as substitute of Niko Kranjčar in the 64th minute in the match against Republic of Ireland. Iličević was initially listed amongst the 23 Croatian players selected for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, but was forced to withdraw due to an…

1. FC Kaiserslautern

2. Bundesliga: 2009–10