A former Serie A glory who played for Palermo, Fiorentina and Atalanta, Slovenian striker Josip Ilicic (37) has since returned to the country. Playing for NK Maribor between 2022 and 2025, he now wears the FC Koper jersey. If retirement is slowly approaching for him, he has left quite an image in Italy. During the 2019/2020 season, he was at his peak, notably scoring a quadruple in the round of 16 of the Champions League against Valencia. While the Covid-19 pandemic spread and football stopped, Josip Ilicic did not return immediately and notably missed the quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain (2-1 defeat) due to depression.
In an interview for Gazzetta dello Sporthe returned to this episode: “I didn't know if I would ever be able to play again, and when you're stuck at home you start to think. I spent 42 days in Bergamo without my family. I suffered. Money, contracts, nothing mattered anymore. I wasn't well. And the rumors about my wife (about alleged infidelity, editor's note) hurt me. Finally, I came home. In Slovenia, it was as if Covid had never existed, while in Bergamo, coffins were being transported in trucks. A terrible image. A few years earlier, I had also experienced the tragedy of Astori, with whom I played for years at Fiorentina. This marked me.»
