A right-sided defender who can play at either full-back or centre-half, Branko Ilic has been a regular in the Slovenia squad since making his debut against Serbia in August 2004. A difficult spell at club level cost the 27-year-old his place in Matjaz Kek’s starting line-up towards the end of the Zmajceki’s qualifying campaign, but a March move to Lokomotiv Moscow could be his ticket back into the starting XI.<\/P>
Ilic had started in each of Slovenia’s opening four South Africa 2010 preliminaries, helping the team to important wins over Slovakia and Northern Ireland, but the loss of his first-team place at Real Betis saw him drop out as Kek’s side went on to secure qualification. The Spanish side had paid €1.5 million to sign the Ljubljana-born defender in 2007 after he impressed on loan following successful spells with NK Olimpija and FC Koper in his homeland. However, Ilic fell out of favour during the 2008\/09 season, which ended in relegation for Betis, and was on the move again in September 2009, joining FK Moscow on loan.<\/P>
The Russians were sufficiently impressed to make the arrangement permanent when Betis released Ilic from his contract in January of this year, but any hope of stability was dashed just a few weeks later when the club was disbanded following the withdrawal of its main sponsor. This development left the big defender a free agent and, on 10 March, Lokomotiv Moscow swooped to snap him up on a two-year deal. Earlier the same week, Ilic had earned his 36th cap in Slovenia’s 4-1 friendly win over Qatar and he will be desperate to add to that tally during South Africa 2010.<\/P>","95081CC600C137A3ECD07E1A2BAC6047":"30","1E9A8D352C52FB60DE0D25B327F8FD01":"2019-7-1","DAF09C52CF6076BD5E585110E27D1A5D":"0","31E4B7E841B17C66":"Branko Ilic","E40B4988E6F21D3C":"26943","6438FCEB8DF4FD6202A461D3835934E5":"Vejle,NK Olimpija Ljubljana,Urawa Red Diamonds,FC Astana,Partizan Belgrade,Hapoel Tel Aviv,Anorthosis Famagusta FC,Lokomotiv Moscow,Real Betis","3DD52A7123843A0599BD59EBE6AB4E97":"Vejle","C9B224F2C5B356EF":"Domzale","289C5F85E5EE1B609E88960AAED5C65D":"1983-2-6","B628C0FB460378A51A233D645651DF2F":"","76E5DE99890AB189":"188cm","F9622CC2808B37CB":"80kg","033EA04110C4B96A":"1","DAF09C52CF6076BDF21F9C2EFDD9E43065C5B3AC13FF9DA2":"1","26A41B77C025E2F442D11C4E5D31FCE8":"2","70356B8F0C59F6B5":"1690","DF03820F537F8E7C95F8F8605BCB052C":"Slovenia","92D102DDE1327A88":"Branko Ilic","FD1933E1882D5E7A216F21827D2B22B4":"","e_index":7};