Do You Remember Them #15- Milenko Acimovic

Biodata

Full Name: Milenko Acimovic

Nationality: Slovenian

Date of Birth: 15 February 1983

Position: Attacking Midfielder, Winger

Former Clubs:

1994- 1996 Zeleznicar Ljubljana

1996- 1998 Olimpija

1998- 2002 Red Star Belgrade

2002- 2004 Tottenham Hotspur

2004 Lille (loan)

2004- 2006 Lille

2006- 2007 Al-Ittihad

2007- 2010 Austria Wien

International Career:

1998- 2007 Slovenia

Achievement:

Red Star Belgrade

1999 Yugoslav Cup Winner

1999- 2000 Yugoslavian Champion

2000 Yugoslav Cup Winner

2000- 2001 Yugoslavian Champion

2002 Yugoslav Cup Winner

Austria Wien

2006- 2007 Austrian Cup Winner

2008- 2009 Austrian Cup Winner

Career

Slovenia isn’t the first nation when someone mentioned about the best football team in Europe. However, this nation had produced some talented football players that currently play in Europe top teams such as Jan Oblak, Josip Ilicic and Samir Handanovic. These players had made their mark in major European side and gave a new breath in the small nation. Prior to these batch of players, there is also another batch of players who established a strong foundation for these upcoming talents. One of the outstanding players in this batch is the attacking midfielder of the team, Milenko Acimovic.

Acimovic started his career in the youth rank of Zeleznicar Ljubljana and promoted to the senior side at the age of 17. Two years later, he joined another Slovenian club, Olimpija and slowly made his mark over there. Acimovic scored 7 goals in 36 games in Olimpija as a young attacking midfielder. This performance had finally earned him a chance to move abroad as he signed for Serbian giants, Red Star Belgrade. It is in Belgrade that Acimovic reached the peak of his career. He even gets his national team debut in 1998 against the Czech Republic. In his first season in Belgrade, Acimovic won his first-ever silverware in his career when he helped Red Star Belgrade to win the Yugoslav Cup in his debut season. Furthermore, he was Red Star Belgrade’s third-highest scoring player with 18 goals in 39 games to help his team to achieve league and cup double in his second season in Belgrade. His stock was never higher before.

In terms of international football, Acimovic had many notable performances for the Slovenian national team. One of the most notable ones was the spectacular goal from the middle of the field against Ukraine in the Euro 2000 Play-off round. Acimovic was also represented Slovenia national team in two tournaments, which are Euro 2000 and FIFA World Cup 2002. In which Slovenia get knocked out from the group stage in both tournaments. Even though his national team couldn’t progress further in the tournament, Acimovic’s performance was still worth to watch. After witnessed his performances in these major tournament, several bigger European clubs come calling. In the summer of 2002, Acimovic joined the Premier League side, Tottenham Hotspur. However, his time in London was not as smooth as he thought. Acimovic never established himself as a regular first-team member and became a fringe player in the squad.

Acimovic joined French side Lille on loan until the end of the season in order to gain more playing time. When he arrived, Lille was just in 14th place in the league table, but with his 6 goals contributions in 16 matches, Acimovic fired this time to an eventual ninth-place finish. He also helped Lille fired into the last-16 in the UEFA Cup too. With the impressive performance, Acimovic was signed permanently by Lille on the next summer transfer. In his first full season in Lille, Acimovic helped Lille to finish in second place behind Lyon in the league. In the following season, he was the scorer of Lille’s only goal of the Champions League campaign against Manchester United in Lille’s 1-0 victory. However, he was soon fell out of favour in Lille and joined Saudi side Al-Ittihad for the 2006-2007 season.

His life in Saudi Arabia wasn’t smooth either as he failed to adapt to life in there. Acimovic agreed on a mutual termination of the contract and subsequently moving back to Europe to join Austrian side, Austria Wien. It is in Vienna that Acimovic regained his form. In his first season back to European football, Acimovic helped Austrian Wien to win the Austrian Cup. In his four seasons in Vienna, Acimovic registered 40 goals and 54 assists in all competitions. Which includes the last season that he contributed 10 goals and 16 assists in the league to help Austria Wien to finish second in the Austrian league. Unfortunately, Acimovic suffered serious meniscus damage and forced to have an early retirement from professional football in 2010, age only 27.

Post Retirement

Acimovic returned to Slovenia after retirement and been appointed as the Director of football at one of his former club, Olimpija Ljubljana. However, he was resigned from his position in September 2012 due to poor results of the team in the Slovenian PrvaLiga.

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