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Eli Babalj

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Eli Babalj

Eli Babalj (born 21 February 1992) is a footballer who plays as a striker. Born in Sarajevo, he has represented Australia at international level. Alongside Robert Cornthwaite and Sasa Ognenovski, Babalj, at 1.95 m is the joint third tallest player to have represented the Australia national association football team, behind Zeljko Kalac (2.02 m) and Harry Souttar (1.98 m).

Born in Sarajevo, SFR Yugoslavia, Babalj has spent the majority of his life in Australia and started off playing with Perth SC. In 2008, he was signed by Perth Glory for their Youth League team. However, he was signed by the AIS for the 2009–10 season in which the AIS came last, however Babalj managed to find the net 9 times.

On 26 December it was announced that A-League expansion club Melbourne Heart had signed the then 17-year-old for their inaugural A-League 2010–11 season. He made his debut for the club in a friendly against Geelong All Stars XI and also scored his first goal in that match. He also took part in the friendly against Everton FC in which Heart lost 2–0. He made his debut for Melbourne Heart in the opening round of the 2010–11 A-League season against Central Coast Mariners at AAMI Park. During May 2012 it was announced that Serbian side Red Star Belgrade was scouting him.

On 7 June 2012 it was announced he had signed with Serbian Superliga contender Red Star Belgrade. He made his debut on 31 August 2012, against Bordeaux in the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League play-off round. He scored his first goal on his league debut against FK Smederevo on 29 September 2012.

Eli Babalj made his return appearance to the A-League for the Melbourne Heart away to the Western Sydney Wanderers on Australia Day, 26 January 2013 as a 2nd half substitution.

On 19 April 2013, Dutch club AZ Alkmaar completed the signing of Eli for a fee believed to be in the region of $200,000.

On 2 February 2015, Babalj was sent on loan at PEC Zwolle for the rest of the season. Eli Babalj made his Eredivisie debut for PEC Zwolle at home to the Go Ahead Eagles on 15 February 2015 as a 70th-minute substitute for Maikel van der Werff.

On 24 July 2015, Alkmaar confirmed that they would allow Babalj to go out on loan back to Australia to Adelaide United for the 2015–16 A-League season. This would be Guillermo Amor's first signing for Adelaide as the new manager. Babalj made his debut for Adelaide United as a substitute in the 2015 FFA Cup in Darwin against Darwin Olympic. He also scored his first goal to help Adelaide to a 6–1 win.

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