Ilija Aračić

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Ilija Aračić

| image = Ilija aracic.jpg

| fullname =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1970|11|15|df=y}}

| birth_place = Slavonski Brod, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia

| height = 1.88 m

| position = Striker

| currentclub =

| youthyears1 = 1980–1985 | youthclubs1 = Ukrina Novo Selo

| youthyears2 = 1985–1991 | youthclubs2 = Polet Bosanksi Brod

| years1 = 1991–1993 | caps1 = | goals1 = | clubs1 = Slavonski Brod

| years2 = 1993–1994 | caps2 = 19 | goals2 = 2 | clubs2 = Rijeka

| years3 = 1994–1997 | caps3 = 78 | goals3 = 22 | clubs3 = Chemnitzer FC

| years4 = 1997–1998 | caps4 = 49 | goals4 = 24 | clubs4 = Tennis Borussia Berlin

| years5 = 1999–2000 | caps5 = 25 | goals5 = 6 | clubs5 = Hertha BSC

| years6 = 2000–2002 | caps6 = 36 | goals6 = 3 | clubs6 = Arminia Bielefeld

| totalcaps = 188 | totalgoals = 55

| manageryears1 = 2004–2011 | managerclubs1 = Augsburg (youth team coach)

| manageryears2 = 2012–2015 | managerclubs2 = VfB Stuttgart (youth team coach)

| manageryears3 = 2016–2018 | managerclubs3 = FV Illertissen

| manageryears4 = 2018 | managerclubs4 = VfB Stuttgart (assistant)

| manageryears5 = 2021 | managerclubs5 = CSKA Moscow (assistant)

| manageryears6 = 2021–2022 | managerclubs6 = Hertha BSC (assistant)

}}

Ilija Aračić (born 15 November 1970) is a Croatian football coach and a former player who played as a striker.{{cite web|url=http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-kurier/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/2000/0118/serie/0001/index.html|title=In dieser Familie konnte Ilija Aračić nur Fußballer werden|first=Mathias|last=Bunkus|work=Berliner Kurier|date=18 January 2000|accessdate=8 September 2010|language=German}}

Club career

Aračić was born in Slavonski Brod, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. Coming from a sporting family, he started his footballing career as a 9-year-old at Croatian team NK Ukrina Novo Selo, before moving aged 14 to the team his father Anto played for professionally at the time, NK Polet Bosanski Brod. He later played for his local team where he was spotted by scouts of Prva HNL side NK Rijeka. Aračić, a drafter by trade, left Croatia as a result of the War of Independence, signed for Chemnitzer FC in Germany before transferring to Tennis Borussia Berlin in the summer of 1997. During the 1998–99 season, after impressing Hertha BSC with his two goals against them in the DFB-Pokal,{{cite web|url=http://www.fussballdaten.de/dfb/1999/achtelfinale/tbberlin-herthabsc/|title=Tennis Borussia Berlin – Hertha BSC 4:2|work=fussballdaten.de|date=28 October 1998|accessdate=8 September 2010|language=German}} quickly signed for TeBe's fellow West Berlin rivals where he played for one and a half years before moving to Arminia Bielefeld and seeing out the twilight of his playing career.

Post-playing career

In 2004 Aračić took over as coach of FC Augsburg's youth team.{{cite web|url=http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/Home/Lokales/Augsburg-Stadt/Sport/Artikel,-FCA-verlaengert-Vertrag-mit-Jugendtrainer-Aracic-_arid,1924496_regid,2_puid,2_pageid,9114.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120718084701/http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/Home/Lokales/Augsburg-Stadt/Sport/Artikel,-FCA-verlaengert-Vertrag-mit-Jugendtrainer-Aracic-_arid,1924496_regid,2_puid,2_pageid,9114.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 July 2012|title=Vertrag mit Jugendtrainer Ilija Aračić verlängert|work=Augsburger Allgemeine|date=10 October 2009|accessdate=8 September 2010|language=German}} On 1 January 2012, he became head coach of the under-19 team of VfB Stuttgart.{{cite web|url=http://www.vfb.de/de/aktuell/meldungen/news/2011/trainerwechsel-bei-der-u19/page/3275-0-3-1324636396.html|title=Trainerwechsel bei der U19|work=VfB Stuttgart|date=23 December 2011|accessdate=1 January 2012|language=German|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052842/http://www.vfb.de/de/aktuell/meldungen/news/2011/trainerwechsel-bei-der-u19/page/3275-0-3-1324636396.html|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}} Aračić moved to FV Illertissen in 2016. In January 2018 he returned to VfB Stuttgart and became assistant coach of Tayfun Korkut.{{cite web|url=http://www.vfb.de/en/vfb/latest/news/professionals/2018/trainerteam-ilija-aracic-steven-cherundolo-/|title=Trainer team complete|work=VfB Stuttgart|date=30 January 2018|accessdate=30 January 2018}}