Željko Bilecki

Željko Bilecki
Personal information
Date of birth	April 28, 1950
Place of birth	Zagreb, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia
Date of death	April 26, 2023 (aged 72)
Place of death	Toronto, Canada
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
1969	Toronto Croatia
Senior career*
Years	Team
1970–1974	Toronto Croatia
1975–1978	Toronto Metros-Croatia
1979–1980	Tampa Bay Rowdies
1979–1980	Tampa Bay Rowdies (indoor)
1980	Los Angeles Aztecs
1980–1981	Los Angeles Aztecs (indoor)
1980–1983	Tulsa Roughnecks (indoor)
1981–1982	Tulsa Roughnecks
International career
1976–1977	Canada
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Željko Bilecki (April 28, 1950 – April 26, 2023) was a Canadian soccer player who played as a goalkeeper.

Club career

Bilecki played at the youth level with Toronto Croatia's junior team in 1969.^[1] In 1970, he played in the National Soccer League with Toronto Croatia's senior team.^[2] He was named the league's top goalkeeper twice in 1971, and 1972.^[3] In 1974, he assisted in securing the NSL Championship against Toronto Homer.^[4] For the 1975 season he played in the North American Soccer League with Toronto Metros-Croatia.^[5]

He later played for three other NASL sides in the United States: Tampa Bay Rowdies, Los Angeles Aztecs and Tulsa Roughnecks.^[6]^[7] He won a Soccer Bowl with Toronto in 1976 and was a runner-up in 1979 for Tampa Bay.^[8] He was the back up goalie for Tulsa when they won Soccer Bowl '83. Bilecki also won the NASL's indoor title in 1979–80 with Tampa Bay.

Bilecki made his debut for Canada on December 22, 1976, in a 3–0 victory against the United States in a World Cup qualification match in Port-au-Prince. He won two more caps the next year, the last of these coming in a 2–1 win over Suriname on October 12, 1977, in Mexico City, where he came on at the start of the second half to replace Tony Chursky.^[9]

Bilecki died on April 26, 2023, four days after the death of his mother.^[10]

^ Waring, Ed (September 1, 1969). "Croatia off as Hamilton wins tourney". The Globe and Mail. p. 23.
^ Waring, Ed (July 30, 1970). "Brazilian rookie now NSL's Pele". The Globe and Mail. p. 35.
^ "National Soccer League 1926 to 1992" (PDF). canadiansoccerleague.ca. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
^ Waring, Ed (October 21, 1974). "White Eagles romp to Canadian title, defeat Calgary 3-1". The Globe and Mail. p. S6.
^ Balberstadt, Alan (May 20, 1975). "Metros have plenty of scoring chances but Cosmos defeat them in home opener". The Globe and Mail. p. 35.
^ Labow, Jeffrey (March 15, 1979). "Rowdies get Bilecki in deal with Blizzard". The Globe and Mail. p. 50.
^ "Bilecki on move". Calgary Herald. March 13, 1981. p. 22.
^ "Toronto beats Kicks 3-0 in Soccer Bowl". Winona Daily News. August 29, 1976. p. 19.
^ "Zeljko Bilecki". www.canadasoccer.com. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
^ "Marica "Maria" Bilecki | Mississauga | Turner & Porter Funeral Directors". turnerporter.permavita.com.

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