Ilija Stolica (; born 7 July 1978) is a Serbian football manager and former player.
Club career Due to his promising performances at Zemun, Stolica earned a transfer to Spanish club Lleida in 1998. He played one season in Spain's second division, but failed to score in 18 games and eventually returned to his parent club.
In 2000, Stolica signed a contract with Partizan. He, however, failed to make an impact with the Crno-beli and returned to Zemun the following year. By the end of the 2001–02 season, Stolica became the league's second-highest scorer with 19 goals.
In the 2003 winter transfer window, Stolica was transferred to Ukrainian club Metalurh Donetsk. He managed to play only 20 league games over the next two years, before returning to his homeland and joining OFK Beograd.
Between 2005 and 2008, Stolica spent three seasons in Belgium. He played for Sint-Truidense and Mons, scoring 20 goals combined. He subsequently had two unassuming spells in Greece and Montenegro.
In March 2006, while at Sint-Truidense, Stolica and two other players were questioned by the police as part of an investigation into match-fixing.
New England Revolution
On 30 July 2010, Stolica signed with Major League Soccer club New England Revolution. He made his Revolution debut on 7 August, coming on as a 73rd minute substitute for Zack Schilawski in a 1-0 win over D.C. United. He made his first start the following week and scored his first Revolution goal, a game-winning effort against FC Dallas on 14 August.
He scored twice more in the remainder of the 2010 New England Revolution season; on 28 August in a 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Union, and on 22 September against FC Dallas. He recorded his first Revolution assist on 4 September, setting up Kheli Dube's goal in a 3-1 win over Seattle Sounders FC. He played the entirety of the 2010 North American SuperLiga final.
Stolica made only 2 appearances in the 2011 New England Revolution season, scoring one goal, a 93rd minute equaling effort against Vancouver Whitecaps FC on 6 April.
In April 2011, Stolica was loaned to USL Pro team FC New York.
On 30 June, the Revolution declined Stolica's contract.
International career At international level, Stolica was capped for FR Yugoslavia U21, making three appearances during the qualifications for the 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.
Managerial career In November 2016, Stolica was appointed as manager of Serbian SuperLiga club Voždovac. He resigned from his position in December 2017, only to take over as manager of Vojvodina later that month.
In October 2019, Stolica was named as manager of the Serbia under-21s, taking over the team from Nenad Milovanović after poor start to the qualifications for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.
Managerial statistics Updated 11 August 2024
+ Managerial record by team and tenureTeamFromToRecordSerbia U171 January 201510 November 2016Voždovac9 November 201631 December 2017Vojvodina1 January 20184 April 2018Olimpija Ljubljana11 June 201831 July 2018Serbia U217 October 201915 October 2021Serbia (caretaker)January 2021March 2021Partizan8 June 202212 August 2022Trenčin26 May 2023PresentTotal
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