Dejan Iliev

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.

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)
2019	→ Sereď (loan)	18	(0)
2020	→ Jagiellonia Białystok (loan)	4	(0)
2020–2021	→ Shrewsbury Town (loan)	3	(0)
2021	→ Sereď (loan)	9	(0)
2022	Trenčín	3	(0)
2023	HJK	8	(0)
2024	Sarajevo	12	(0)
2024–	UTA Arad	2	(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 5 August 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 20 June 2022

Career

Early life

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

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

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

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

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

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

AS Trenčín

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

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

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

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

International career

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

As of match played 5 August 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	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	2	0	0	0	—		—		—		2	0
Career total			59	0	3	0	2	0	1	0	6	0	71	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

Arsenal

• UEFA Europa League runner-up: 2018–19^[29]

HJK

• Veikkausliiga: 2023
• Finnish League Cup: 2023

References

1. "Deyan Iliev: Overview". ESPN. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
2. "Dejan Iliev: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
3. "Dejan Iliev: Profile". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
4. "'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.