Quick Facts
Biography
Stanko Svitlica (Serbian Cyrillic: Cтaнкo Cвитлицa ; born May 17, 1976 in Kupres) is a retired Serbian football player.
Career
A journeyman striker who played in a host of clubs in his native Serbia, as well as France and Greece, usually without much success, before Dragomir Okuka brought him to Legia Warsaw in the summer of 2001. Svitlica took a while to settle in Warsaw: in his first season he scored 10 goals in 28 games in all competitions, but his goal against Wisła Kraków won the championship for Legia that year. After the average first season, his talent suddenly exploded in 2002. In his second season in Poland he scored excellent 29 goals in 38 games (24 in 29 in the league), becoming the first ever foreigner to win the golden boot in the Polish Ekstraklasa. His goalscoring form continued in 2003 (11 goals in 16 games) and during the winter break Legia decided to cash in and sold Svitlica to Hannover 96. Despite an impressive start (Svitlica scored against Bayern Munich beating Oliver Kahn just 3 minutes into his debut), his career in the Bundesliga never really took off and Hannover offloaded him after just half a year. After 2 years in LR Ahlen in the 2nd Bundesliga Svitlica tried to return to Poland, this time with Wisła Kraków, but struggled for fitness and after just 2 games returned to Serbia. He retired from football in 2009 and is now an agent.
Honours
- Partizan Belgrade
- First League of FR Yugoslavia: 1995-96
- Legia Warsaw
- Ekstraklasa: 2001-02
- Ekstraklasa Cup: 2002
Individual
- Ekstraklasa top scorer: 2002-03
External sources
- Profile and stats at Srbijafudbal.
- Profile and stats at 90minut.