{"id":198755,"date":"2026-01-20T23:25:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T21:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=198755"},"modified":"2026-01-20T23:25:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T21:25:59","slug":"after-14-years-in-the-serbian-jersey-handball-player-nemanja-ilic-said-goodbye-to-the-national-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/after-14-years-in-the-serbian-jersey-handball-player-nemanja-ilic-said-goodbye-to-the-national-team\/","title":{"rendered":"AFTER 14 YEARS IN THE SERBIAN JERSEY: Handball player Nemanja Ili\u0107 said goodbye to the national team!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>Nemanja Ili\u0107, the winger of the Serbian national team, said goodbye to the jersey with the national emblem after the &#8220;Eagles&#8221; were eliminated from the European Championship in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway with a 26:25 defeat against Austria.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Serbia had a chance to reach the second stage with a triumph over the Austrians, but they lost, and then another bad news arrived in the form of Germany&#8217;s victory over Spain, which sent the &#8220;Eagles&#8221; to fourth place in Group A behind Germany, Spain, and Austria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And Ili\u0107 said goodbye to the selection with an emotional message:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Since 2012, I have had the honor of representing my country, wearing the emblem on my chest, singing the anthem, and sharing the court with incredible teammates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On that path, there was everything\u2026 Beautiful moments, important victories, painful defeats, struggles, and emotions that are not forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every call-up and every minute in this jersey had, and will have, a special weight and priceless honor. It was a particular privilege for me to be the captain of the Serbian national team. Thanks to everyone who was part of this journey!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I leave proud and grateful. The national team will forever have a special place in my heart,&#8221; it was stated in his message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ili\u0107 scored six goals against Austria, and it is interesting that he is the last player born in 1990 who played for the national selection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">MORE TOPICS:<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/ideal-start-for-the-serbian-woman-olga-danilovic-advanced-to-the-second-round-of-the-australian-open-in-doubles-as-well\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">IDEAL START FOR THE SERBIAN WOMAN: Olga Danilovi\u0107 advanced to the second round of the Australian Open in doubles as well!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/serbia-waits-for-americas-response-nis-submitted-a-request-to-ofac-for-the-extension-of-its-work-license-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">SERBIA WAITS FOR AMERICA\u2019S RESPONSE: NIS submitted a request to OFAC for the extension of its work license! (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/doncic-and-jokic-will-play-on-the-same-team-the-nba-league-announced-the-all-star-spectacle-these-are-the-starting-lineups\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">DON\u010cI\u0106 AND JOKI\u0106 WILL PLAY ON THE SAME TEAM: The NBA league announced the All-star spectacle, these are the starting lineups!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/serbia-eliminated-from-the-european-championship-germany-defeated-spain-and-took-revenge-on-the-eagles-for-the-defeat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">SERBIA ELIMINATED FROM THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP: Germany defeated Spain and took revenge on the Eagles for the defeat!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/the-final-days-of-a-serbian-hero-this-is-the-real-story-of-vojvoda-petar-bojovics-death\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">BURIED WITHOUT STATE AND MILITARY HONORS: What role the communists played in the death of the great duke Bojovi\u0107!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/today-we-celebrate-saint-john-on-this-day-brotherhoods-and-godparentships-are-formed-heres-how-else-he-is-called\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">TODAY WE CELEBRATE SAINT JOHN: On this day, brotherhoods and godparentships are formed, here\u2019s how else he is called!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>Source<\/strong><\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/nova.rs\/sport\/sport-ostalo\/kraj-posle-soka-i-ispadanja-sa-evropskog-prvenstva-jedan-od-najboljih-igraca-srbije-rekao-zbogom\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Nova.rs<\/a>; <strong>Photo<\/strong>: PressFocus\/Sipa, STARSPORT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nemanja Ili\u0107, the winger of the Serbian national team, said goodbye to the jersey with the national emblem after the &#8220;Eagles&#8221; were eliminated from the European Championship in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway with a 26:25 defeat against Austria. Serbia had a chance to reach the second stage with a triumph over the Austrians, but they [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2169,"featured_media":198756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[10822,1413,2467,91,113],"class_list":["post-198755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-nemanja-ilic","tag-rukomet","tag-rukometna-reprezentacija-srbije","tag-sport","tag-srbija","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Serbiantimes.info EN","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198769,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198755\/revisions\/198769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}