Róbert Ilyés

Róbert Ilyés (born 4 February 1974) is a Romanian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder.

Club career

Foresta Fălticeni He started his professional career by joining Divizia B side Foresta Fălticeni in 1995. In his second season at the club he played a crucial role in winning the 1996–97 Divizia B title that also meant promotion to Divizia A. The club barely avoided relegation at the end of the 1997–98 Divizia A season and as the team stood last before the winter break of the 1998–99 Divizia A season he left midseason to the better rated Divizia A side Astra Ploiești.

Astra Ploiești With his continued good performances as a box-to-box midfielder throughout the 3 seasons that he played for Astra, he drew the attention of bigger Bucharest clubs.

Rapid București Rapid București manager Viorel Hizo signed him during the winter transfer window of the 2001–02 Divizia A. He enjoyed major success at the club, winning the 2001–02 Cupa României, 2002 Supercupa României, 2002–03 Divizia A and 2003 Supercupa României. Although he was vital to the team's success, he felt that his financial compensation was unfairly low compared to other teammates. He did not renew his contract in the winter of 2005.

Khazar Lankaran During his one and a half-year spell at the club, he went on to win both the 2006–07 Azerbaijan Top League and 2006–07 Azerbaijan Cup with Khazar.

FC Brașov He returned to Romania to Liga II side FC Brașov in July 2007. Being the team captain, he helped the side promote to Liga I by winning the 2007–08 Liga II. He spent the following 3 seasons playing for the club in Liga I.

Târgu Mureș After one last Liga I season at FCM Târgu Mureș, he decided to retire as a player.

Later lower league games After a brief assistant manager spell at FC Brașov, he returned to play football in the lower Romanian leagues as the player-manager of FK Csíkszereda. While being the assistant manager of Sepsi OSK, he made a few Liga III appearances for the club's reserve team. He scored his last Liga III goal on 9 October 2020 at the age of 46.

Managerial career In 2013 he had a brief spell as the assistant manager of Liga I side FC Brașov. Later in 2013 he became player-manager at his hometown club FK Csíkszereda. He led the team to promotion from Liga IV to Liga III at the end of his first season but he struggled to obtain promotion to Liga II in the following 3 seasons. In 2017 he switched to coaching the youth team of the club and in 2018 he obtained the UEFA B Licence in Hungary. He left FK Csíkszereda for an assistant manager role at Liga I side Sepsi OSK in 2019.

International career He was player-manager of the Székely Land squad that finished 3rd at the 2017 ConIFA European Football Cup and 4th at the 2018 ConIFA World Football Cup respectively.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player Foresta Fălticeni Divizia B: 1996–97 Rapid București Divizia A: 2002–03 Cupa României: 2001–02 Supercupa României: 2002, 2003 Khazar Lankaran Azerbaijan Top League: 2006–07 Azerbaijan Cup: 2006–07 FC Brașov Liga II: 2007–08 FK Csíkszereda Liga IV – Harghita County: 2013–14 Székely Land CONIFA European Football Cup third place: 2017 CONIFA World Football Cup fourth place: 2018

Coach FK Csíkszereda Liga IV – Harghita County: 2013–14 Székely Land CONIFA European Football Cup third place: 2017 CONIFA World Football Cup fourth place: 2018