Milan Smiljanić

Milan Smiljanić

File:Smiljanic.jpg
Personal information
Full name	Milan Smiljanić
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Partizan (on loan from Espanyol)
Number	99
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005–2007	Partizan	48	(1)
2007–	Espanyol	47	(0)
2010	→ Sporting Gijón (loan)	6	(0)
2010–	→ Partizan (loan)	5	(0)
International career
2006–2009	Serbia U21	28	(2)
2007–	Serbia	6	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 10:16, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Milan "Lola" Smiljanić (Serbian: Милан "Лола" Смиљанић; born 19 November 1986 in Kalmar) is a Swedish-born Serbian footballer who plays for FK Partizan on loan from RCD Espanyol, as a midfielder.

Early life

Smiljanić was born in Kalmar, Sweden, as his father Branko, who was also a professional footballer, was playing for lowly Kalmar AIK FK at the time.

Club career

Smiljanić returned to his country and joined FK Partizan youth ranks; under head coach Vladimir Vermezović, he made his first team debuts, in a league match against FK Sutjeska Nikšić. In little more than two professional seasons, he amassed more than 50 official appearances with the Belgrade side, and eventually gained club captaincy despite his age.

On 18 July 2007, Spain's RCD Espanyol agreed with Partizan for the transfer of Smiljanić for an undisclosed fee, in a five-year contract. He made his La Liga debut against Real Valladolid on 26 August, in a 0–1 home loss; most of his first two seasons in Catalonia were spent mainly appearing from the bench, even though one of his main competitors in the team, Iván de la Peña, was often injured.

After the club's initial unsuccessful attempts to loan him out for 2009–10, Smiljanić spent the first months of the new campaign only training, not having been given any squad number; however, such a move was arranged in late January 2010, as he joined Sporting de Gijón until June.

International career

After the 2006–07 season, Smiljanić was called up by Serbia's U21 coach Miroslav Đukić to be part of his squad for the 2007 European Championships; he helped the national side finish runner-up to hosts Holland.

He made his international debut for the full squad on 22 August 2007, in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match in Brussels against Belgium, a 2–3 loss.

In July 2008, Smiljanić was picked to the 18-man squad for the 2008 Summer Olympics, with Đukić again as manager. Serbia ranked last in its group. Next year, he appeared in the 2009 European Under-21 Championship, as captain, but could not help repeat the previous edition's feat, as the nation did not progress through the group stages in his country of birth, Sweden.

Career statistics

Club

As of 28 September 2010

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2004–05||rowspan="3"|Partizan||rowspan="3"|SuperLiga||2||0||0||0||0||0||2||0 |- |2005–06||15||1||1||0||0||0||16||1 |- |2006–07||31||0||3||1||8||0||42||1 |- Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2007–08||rowspan="3"|Espanyol||rowspan="3"|La Liga||30||0||4||0||0||0||34||0 |- |2008–09||17||0||5||0||0||0||22||0 |- |2009–10||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0 |- |2009–10||rowspan="1"|Sporting Gijón||rowspan="1"|La Liga||6||0||0||0||0||0||6||0 |- Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2010–11||rowspan="1"|Partizan||rowspan="1"|SuperLiga||5||0||0||0||5||0||10||0 |- Template:Football player statistics 353||1||4||1||13||0||70||2 Template:Football player statistics 453||0||9||0||0||0||62||0 Template:Football player statistics 5106||1||13||1||13||0||132||2 |}

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	17 October 2007	Tofik Bakhramov Stadium, Baku	Azerbaijan	5–1	6–1	Euro 2008 qualifying

External links

• BDFutbol profile
• Milan Smiljanić at reprezentacija.rs