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 football team.

Ilija Nestorovski
Personal information
Full name Ilija Nestorovski
Илија Несторовски
Date of birth (1990-03-12) 12 March 1990[1]
Place of birth Prilep, SR Macedonia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
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 39 (4)
National team‡
Macedonia U19 3 (1)
2009–2012 Macedonia U21 19 (5)
2015– North Macedonia 44 (9)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 January 2021
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19 November 2020

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 23 January 2021[4][1]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Pobeda 2007–08 First League 000020—20
2009–10 151000——1510
Total 15100020001710
Slovácko 2009–10 Czech League 11100——111
2010–11 16100——161
Total 272000000272
Viktoria Zizkov (loan) 2011–12 Czech League 13100——131
Metalurg (loan) 2011–12 First League 14100——141
2012–13 600041—101
Total 201004100242
Inter Zaprešić 2013–14 2.HNL 302042——3422
2014–15 272400——2724
2015–16 1.HNL 332520——3525
Total 90696200009671
Palermo 2016–17 Serie A 371110——3811
2017–18 Serie B 281320—303313
2018–19 261421——2815
Total 91385100309939
Udinese 2019–20 Serie A 28320——303
2020–21 11110——121
Total 394300000424
Career total 2821241436130305128

International
As of 24 June 2019[5]
National TeamYearAppsGoals
North Macedonia
201540
201673
201782
201883
201940
202011
Total379

International goals
As of match played 5 September 2020. 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 2016Sportplatz Bad Erlach, Bad Erlach, Austria7 Azerbaijan3–13–1Friendly
2 6 October 2016Philip II Arena, Skopje, Macedonia9 Israel1–21–22018 FIFA World Cup qualification
3 9 October 201610 Italy1–12–3
4 24 March 2017Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein12 Liechtenstein2–03–0
5 3–0
6 16 November 201826 Liechtenstein2–02–02018–19 UEFA Nations League D
7 19 November 2018Philip II Arena, Skopje, Macedonia27 Gibraltar
2–0
4–0
8 3–0
9 5 September 2020
39
 Armenia
2–0
2–1
2020–21 UEFA Nations League C

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.
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