Ilija Nestorovski

Ilija Nestorovski (Macedonian: Илија Несторовски; born 12 March 1990) is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Udinese, whom he captains, and the North Macedonia national team.

Ilija Nestorovski

Personal information
Full name	Ilija Nestorovski
Date of birth	(1990-03-12) 12 March 1990[1]
Place of birth	Prilep, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position(s)	Forward
Club information
Current team	Udinese
Number	30
Youth career
2000–2006	Pobeda
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006–2010	Pobeda	96	(39)
2010–2013	Slovácko	28	(2)
2011–2012	→ Viktoria Žižkov (loan)	13	(1)
2012–2013	→ Metalurg (loan)	20	(1)
2013–2016	Inter Zaprešić	90	(69)
2016–2019	Palermo	94	(38)
2019–	Udinese	28	(3)
National team^‡
	Macedonia U19	3	(1)
2009–2012	Macedonia U21	19	(5)
2015–	North Macedonia	36	(8)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:41, 7 August 2020 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20 November 2019

Club career

Born in Prilep, SR Macedonia, SFR Yugoslavia, Nestorovski started his career at hometown club FK Pobeda. Joining their youth academy in 2000, he made his senior debut in 2006. Between 2006 and 2010, he made 96 league appearances for Pobeda, scoring 39 goals.

In the early weeks of 2010, Nestorovski then moved to Czech First League side 1. FC Slovácko. He made 11 appearances in the remaining matches of the season, scoring his first and only league goal for that campaign in a 3–1 win over Slavia Prague.[1] The following season, he made 17 appearances, once more scoring a single league goal.

Nestorovski then went out on loan to Viktoria Žižkov where he spent the first half of the 2011–12 season. He left the relegation battlers in January 2012 and moved to Metalurg Skopje. He spent the next 12 months at Metalurg.

After not playing a single game for almost six months, Nestorovski signed for NK Inter Zaprešić on 9 August 2013, initially on a loan deal. He had a breakout year, scoring 20 times in the Croatian Second Football League and twice in the Croatian Football Cup. He extended his loan deal for another 12 months with Inter over the summer. The following season, Nestorovski found even more success, netting 24 times in 27 league games as Inter were promoted to the Croatian First Football League. Inter then signed him on a permanent deal.

After scoring 13 times in the first half of the 1. HNL, Nestorovski was signed by Italian Serie A side U.S. Città di Palermo, but spent the remainder of the 2015–16 season with Inter. Inter received a transfer fee of €500,000 while the player signed a four-year contract, starting in July 2016.[2] After a first season with 11 goal and 3 assists he was chosen as captain after deciding to remain in the relegating club of Palermo despite interests from clubs such as Fiorentina and Everton.

On 26 July 2019, he signed with Udinese, after Palermo was excluded from Serie B.

International career

Nestorovski played for the Macedonia national under-21 football team, and played in all six of their group matches in the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.[3]

He made his senior international debut for Macedonia in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying against Ukraine on 9 October 2015. On 29 May 2016, he scored his first goal for the national team against Azerbaijan in a friendly match in Austria.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 2 August 2020[4][1]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Pobeda	2007–08	First League	0	0	0	0	2	0	—	2	0
	2009–10		15	10	0	0	—	—	15	10
	Total		15	10	0	0	2	0	0	0	17	10
Slovácko	2009–10	Czech League	11	1	0	0	—	—	11	1
	2010–11		16	1	0	0	—	—	16	1
	Total		27	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	27	2
Viktoria Zizkov (loan)	2011–12	Czech League	13	1	0	0	—	—	13	1
Metalurg (loan)	2011–12	First League	14	1	0	0	—	—	14	1
	2012–13		6	0	0	0	4	1	—	10	1
	Total		20	1	0	0	4	1	0	0	24	2
Inter Zaprešić	2013–14	2.HNL	30	20	4	2	—	—	34	22
	2014–15		27	24	0	0	—	—	27	24
	2015–16	1.HNL	33	25	2	0	—	—	35	25
	Total		90	69	6	2	0	0	0	0	96	71
Palermo	2016–17	Serie A	37	11	1	0	—	—	38	11
	2017–18	Serie B	28	13	2	0	—	3	0	33	13
	2018–19		26	14	2	1	—	—	28	15
	Total		91	38	5	1	0	0	3	0	99	39
Udinese	2019–20	Serie A	28	3	2	0	—	—	30	3
Career total			271	123	13	3	6	1	3	0	293	127

International

As of 24 June 2019[5]

National Team	Year	Apps	Goals
North Macedonia
	2015	4	0
	2016	7	3
	2017	8	2
	2018	8	3
	2019	4	0
Total		31	8

International goals

As of match played 19 November 2018. North Macedonia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Nestorovski goal.[6]

International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	29 May 2016	Sportplatz Bad Erlach, Bad Erlach, Austria	7	Azerbaijan	3–1	3–1	Friendly
2	6 October 2016	Philip II Arena, Skopje, Macedonia	9	Israel	1–2	1–2	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
3	9 October 2016	Philip II Arena, Skopje, Macedonia	10	Italy	1–1	2–3
4	24 March 2017	Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein	12	Liechtenstein	2–0	3–0
5					3–0
6	16 November 2018	Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein	26	Liechtenstein	2–0	2–0	2018–19 UEFA Nations League D
7	19 November 2018	Philip II Arena, Skopje, Macedonia	27	Gibraltar	2–0	4–0
8					3–0

References

1. Ilija Nestorovski at Soccerway
2. "Najbolji strijelac HNL-a potpisao za Palermo, odšteta 500.000 eura". Gol.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 21 April 2016.
3. "Ilija Nestorovski". Under-21 Championship. UEFA. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
4. "Ilija Nestorovski » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
5. "Nestorovski, Ilija". National Football Teams. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
6. "Ilija Nestorovski". European Football. Retrieved 13 October 2016.

External links

• Profile at Macedonian Football (in English)
• Profile at 1. FC Slovácko website (in Slovak)