Stevan Ilic

Stevan Ilic (born 18 September 1994 in Jagodina,Serbia) is an Australian-Serbian footballer who plays as a striker for the Newcastle Jets NYL team in the Australian A-League NYL competition.

Junior football
Stevan was born in Jagodina, Serbia where his father played professional football for FK Vojvodina and FK Jagodina in the Serbian 1st division. As a 1 year old Stevan moved back to Sydney where he began playing football at age 5 for his local club Sans Souci Soccer Club. Stevan showed plenty of talent at an early age and at age 11 during his final year of primary school he was selected to represent NSW Primary Schools (NSWPSSA) at the Australian Schools Sports football carnival in Darwin where he showed his scoring talent finishing with the Golden boot. At age 12 & 13 Stevan was selected to represent St George in the NSW Metro League competition.

At age 13 Stevan was selected to represent Football NSW at the Football Federation Australia National Youth Championship in Coffs Harbour, NSW was growned Champions and Stevan was runner up in the Golden boot.That same year while playing for the Sutherland Sharks soccer club the team finished the NSW Premier league U-14's season as minor premiers and grand final winners, Stevan finished Golden boot with 24 goals.

At age 14 Stevan received a Football scholarship with the NSW Institute of Sports where he spent the next 2 years playing in the NSWPL Under 18's & Under 20's competitions, Stevan continued his goal scoring contributing 15 plus goals per season. During his NSWIS scholarship Stevan also played a total of 6 games for Sydney FC in the A-League National Youth league competition. That same year Stevan was invited to trial for Red Star Belgrade Youth Academy and after a successful 6 week trail was offered a position at the club but due to school commitments he declined.

Stevan has represented Endeavour Sport High School in many regional and state tournaments and in 2011 Stevan was awarded the schools Junior Sport Star of the Year award.That same year he was selected to represent NSW at the Australian Schools Sports football carnival in Adelaide where he finished Golden boot with 14 goals in 7 games and was selected to represent the Australia U-19 Schoolboys team. In 2012 Stevan was awarded the NSW State Schools Player of the tournament and selected in the NSW Schoolboys team. Stevan repeated his Golden boot of 2011 finishing the 2012 ASSFC tournament in Cains with 9 goals in 6 games and was selected to represent the Australia U-19 Schoolboys team.

Club career
Stevan began his NSW Premier League (NSWPL) Youth career with the Sutherland Sharks FC in 2008, he then played 2 seasons (2009/2010) with NSW Institute of Sports (NSWIS) in the NSW Premier league U-18 / 20's competitions.Following the completion of his scholarship with NSWIS and aged 16 he was signed by Sydney Olympic FC in 2011 representing them in the NSWPL Under 20's competition.Looking to play senior football he signed for St George Saints FC in 2012 in the NSWPL Super league competition under the guidance of his Endeavour Sport School coach Kory Babington.In 2012/13 Stevan was signed by Newcastle Jets NYL playing in the A-League NYL competition.In 2013 Stevan was re-united with his former NSWIS coach JP at Marconi Stallions FC and managed 2 goals in 3 games for the First team.

International career
Stevan has represented Australia at Under 17 (Joeys) level at the Asian qualifiers (AFC U-16) in Canberra where he scored 3 goals in 2 games.He was also on standby for the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico after a strong performance during a 2 week training camp in Canberra prior to the final selection. Stevan has also represented Australia (2011/12) Under 19 Australian Schoolboys level touring the UK, Ireland and Wales. He also represented Australia (2012/13) at Under 19 Australian Schoolboys level touring the Brazil, Argentina.

A-League NYL
In 2012/13 Following another Golden Boot performance at the National Schoolboys Titles in Townsville, Stevan was signed by the Newcastle Jets under the guidance of former Socceroo Striker Clayton Zane. Stevan played 10 matches during the A-League NYL season where Newcastle finished third on the ladder.