Ivan Ergić

Ivan Ergić (Serbian Cyrillic: Иван Ергић) is a Serbian footballer who plays as a midfielder.
Born in Croatia and raised in Australia, he began his career at Perth Glory and was briefly with Juventus before moving to Switzerland's FC Basel in 2001, where he played 202 league matches. He left in 2009 for Bursaspor, where he spent two seasons, winning the Turkish Süper Lig in the first.
Ergić was a member of Serbia & Montenegro's squad at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and earned 11 international caps between 2006 and 2008.

Club career

Perth Glory

Ergić was born in the Croatian coastal town of Šibenik, and lived in the village of Gaćelezi. However, he moved to Perth, Western Australia at an early age and trained at the Australian Institute of Sport on a government-funded football scholarship. He started his football career with Perth Glory in 1999 and helped the club finish runners-up during the 1999–2000 season.

Basel

In 2000, Ergić moved to Italian giants Juventus, but went on loan to FC Basel of Switzerland during the season. He later signed for FCB for CHF1.6 million. He was given the captaincy when Pascal Zuberbühler left in 2006, but in 2008 he resigned from being captain and handed it over to his teammate, Franco Costanzo. He played his 150th first-team game for Basel on 10 May 2008 against BSC Young Boys at St. Jakob-Park. Basel won the game 2–0, which resulted in them becoming Champions. On 16 June 2009, he was released by FC Basel after newly hired manager Thorsten Fink decided not to offer him a new contract. He spent nine years at the club and played over 200 matches.

Bursaspor

He then signed for Bursaspor of the Turkish Süper Lig. In Ergić's first season with Bursaspor, the club won the 2009–10 Süper Lig, the first time in Bursaspor's history of winning the league. He featured in five games of the 2010-11 UEFA Champions League.

International career

Ergić did not choose to play international football for Australia, and instead chose Serbia. On 15 May 2006, he was named as a member of the squad to take part at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. He made his international debut in Serbia & Montenegro's 1–1 draw with Uruguay at the Stadion Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade on 27 May 2006. He left the national team 2007, but he returned in 2008.

Outside football

Ergić self-identifies as a Yugoslav.

Depression

In June 2004, Ergić was treated for depression in the psychiatric university clinic in Basel, and his further career as a football player was in question at the time. Nevertheless, FC Basel kept him as a player and eventually made him club captain. He is also close friends with Ljubo Miličević. He appeared on the Swiss late night show Aeschbacher, stating that football players earn too much money and expressing sympathies for the ideas of Karl Marx. He also appeared on RTS (Serbian public broadcaster) programme Ključ where he openly discussed his battle with depression as well as treatment he had undergone.

Journalism

Since December 2008, Ergić has been writing an irregular column for Serbian daily newspaper Politika. His contributions are about issues related to professional sports, written from an insider's viewpoint. He's touched on various topics such as: male chauvinism in sports, raw competitive spirit he considers to be unhealthy, corporate machinery behind institutionalized sports, and lack of public's understanding for professional athletes who do not subscribe to a cliché lifestyle created by sports media, fans, club leadership, and leagues stakeholders and officials.

Honours

Perth Glory

• National Soccer League: 1999–2000

Basel

• Schweizer Cup: 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008
• Swiss Super League: 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008
• Uhrencup: 2003, 2006, 2008

Bursaspor

• Turkish Super League: 2009–10