One Friendly Ended Svilar's Belgium Dream: Serie A's Best Goalkeeper Has an International Career Stuck at One Match

Despite being one of Europe's best goalkeepers, Mile Svilar's international football career is stuck at just one match. The half he played on his Serbia debut in a friendly against Qatar in Debrecen, Hungary, on 1 September 2021 remains, five years later, his only international appearance.

It was a Qatar preparation match, played 14 months before the World Cup. Serbia won 4-0 at the neutral venue. The 22-year-old Svilar came on at half-time in place of Predrag Rajkovic; that was his debut for Serbia.

After that match, Svilar was in the squad for four more World Cup qualifiers but did not play in any of them. At 27, that one match is still his only appearance for Serbia. Yet last season he won Serie A's best goalkeeper award, and in Roma's jersey he is now one of Europe's finest keepers.

Svilar was born in Antwerp, Belgium, in August 1999 and grew up there. His father, Ratko Svilar, was a former Yugoslavia goalkeeper who played nine matches; he spent 16 years under Royal Antwerp's bar before leaving professional football in 1996. The son's story begins in the father's shadow.

At the age of 10, Svilar moved from Beerschot to Anderlecht in Brussels. He then played for every Belgian youth team from under-15 level. He caught everyone's eye with outstanding performances at the 2016 European Under-17 Championship. In 2017, at just 18, he left Anderlecht for Benfica, where he played his first senior match.

During that under-17 tournament, Svilar told UEFA.com that he had learned a lot from his father, almost everything, and that his style of play was like his father's. That pull of playing like his father, the pull of blood and the sporting calculation together led him, a few years later, to choose his father's country. His father had encouraged him too.

But Belgium's door was not fully closed then, nor was it open. Under the bar stood Thibaut Courtois, who in 2021 was 29 and, as a goalkeeper, was just entering his prime. Svilar and his father probably understood even then that becoming Belgium's number one in the medium term would be extremely difficult. Svilar never received a Belgium senior call-up and played 26 matches at youth level. At 22, he accepted Serbia's offer and switched federations.

In Serbia, however, another kind of wall awaited. Rajkovic was number one, with Vanja Milinkovic-Savic ready to challenge. In the following years Serbia largely rotated between those two. After all the trouble of switching federations, Svilar had hoped to quickly become the main goalkeeper; it did not happen. Regret therefore began very soon.

Svilar no longer wanted to play for Serbia; he wanted to return to Belgium. But FIFA's rules raised a wall there. Under the rule known as the 'one-way rule', once a player switches federation and plays one senior match for the new country — friendly or competitive — he can never return to the previous one. That is exactly what Svilar did against Qatar in September 2021; he will never play for Belgium.

Yet the Roma goalkeeper did not stop. Even after moving from Benfica to Italy in 2022, he sought clearance from FIFA year after year. In the spring of 2024, Belgium's then coach Domenico Tedesco said they had been following Svilar for months, but it was clear he could not play for Belgium. Before the 2026 World Cup he reportedly tried again to persuade FIFA; again he returned empty-handed.

The cruellest scene was perhaps the World Cup quarter-final. Courtois left the field injured against Spain, and Senne Lammens came on in his place in the 71st minute. Late in the match, Lammens' mistake put eventual champions Spain ahead 2-1. Many supporters felt that the man who should have come on in that 71st minute was perhaps Svilar.

According to a Gazzetta dello Sport report, Svilar has not given up hope even after the latest summer disappointment; the desire to return to Belgium remains. Yet the door to playing for Serbia is open. Serbia's coach Veljko Paunovic told TV Arena Sport about a year ago that he had spoken with Svilar, who had decided he would not play for the team again. The coach expressed sorrow and said he had tried to show Svilar that he was important and that a place in the national team was his if he wanted it. The coach is calling and the door is open — yet Svilar does not return, because the door of the country he wants to return to is locked.