Tony Popovic
 |
|||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Anthony Tony Popovic | ||
| Date of birth | 4 July 1973 | ||
| Place of birth | Sydney, Australia | ||
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||
| Playing position | Centre Back | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Crystal Palace | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1989–1997 | Sydney United | 162 | (14) |
| 1994 | → Canberra FC (loan) | 5 | (1) |
| 1997–2001 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 87 | (13) |
| 2001–2006 | Crystal Palace | 123 | (6) |
| 2006–2007 | Al-Arabi | 17 | (2) |
| 2007–2008 | Sydney FC | 27 | (1) |
| Total | 428 | (37) | |
| National team‡ | |||
| 1988–1989 | Australia U-17 | 7 | (2) |
| 1990–1991 | Australia U-20 | 9 | (1) |
| 1992 | Australia U-23 | 4 | (0) |
| 1995–2006 | Australia | 58 | (8) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2008–2011 | Sydney FC (Assistant Manager) | ||
| 2011– | Crystal Palace (1st team coach) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:47, 4 February 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
|||
Anthony Popovic (Croatian pronunciation: [poːpoʋitɕ]; born 4 July 1973 in Sydney, Australia) is a Croatian Australian former football (soccer) player. He last played for Sydney FC. He is currently the First Team Coach of Crystal Palace. Popovic grew up in Fairfield, New South Wales.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Club career
[edit] Early career
Popovic began his career with Sydney United. He rose through the youth ranks. He made 162 appearances for the first team. He spent seven years in first team Before a move to play in the J-League. He signed with Sanfreece Hiroshima where he stayed for five years scoring 13 goals in 94 appearances.
[edit] Crystal Palace F.C
Tony Popovic signed for Crystal Palace on a free transfer in August 2001 from Sanfrecce Hiroshima. He became an integral part of the Palace defence, eventually becoming club captain. He played more than 120 matches for Crystal Palace. He played for Crystal Palace in his last season with the club in the Barclays Premier League. He made 21 appearances.[2]
Popovic's contract with Palace expired at the end of June 2006, and he decided against accepting the club's offer of a new contract. He instead moved to Qatar club, Al-Arabi. It was at Crystal Palace where he also scored one of the most remarkable own goals ever.
[edit] Sydney FC
In 2007, with the growth of the A-League and slight homesickness, Popovic, moved to his home town club Sydney FC, signing a two year deal, with coach Branko Čulina also announcing him the club's captain.[3] Popovic scored his first goal on 28 October 2007 from a corner to beat the Mariners 3-2 in front of his home crowd of 17,850.
Popovic announced his retirement on 11 November 2008, his body not being able to cope with the A-League conditions, after nearly 20 years as a professional footballer.[4]
[edit] International career
Popovic competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona for the Australian U-23 team.
He began his full international career in 1995 with the Australian national team. Over the next eleven years Popovic made 58 appearances for the Socceroos, scoring 8 goals.
The highlight of Popovic's career came in 2006 when the Australian national team qualified for the FIFA World Cup under the management of Guus Hiddink. He took part in both legs in the qualifying match against Uruguay. Being replaced in the first half of the second leg due to injury by Harry Kewell. The tall defender was named in the competing squad and made his World Cup debut against Brazil on 18 June. He suffered a calf injury 40 minutes into the game and was replaced by Marco Bresciano for the second half.[5] His injury ruled him out of Australia's last match in the group stage, against Croatia, and their second round loss against eventual winners, Italy.
On 4 October 2006 Tony Popovic announced his retirement from the Socceroos.[6] His final game was a friendly against Paraguay that month. He scored his eighth international goal, from a Mark Bresciano free kick, in his final minute on field to put Australia ahead, 1-0 in a game that finished 1-1.[7]
[edit] Coaching career
After retiring, Popovic moved into an Assistant Coach's role with Sydney FC,[8] where he remained until February 2011, when he returned to England and to Crystal Palace as First Team Coach,[9] after former team-mate Dougie Freedman was appointed manager.[10]
[edit] Statistics
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Australia | League | Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||||
| 1989/90 | Sydney Croatia | National Soccer League | 13 | 0 | 13 | 0 | ||||
| 1990/91 | 17 | 1 | 17 | 1 | ||||||
| 1991/92 | 20 | 1 | 20 | 1 | ||||||
| 1992/93 | 24 | 2 | 24 | 2 | ||||||
| 1993/94 | Sydney United | National Soccer League | 27 | 2 | 27 | 2 | ||||
| 1994/95 | 25 | 3 | 25 | 3 | ||||||
| 1995/96 | 29 | 4 | 29 | 4 | ||||||
| 1996/97 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 2 | ||||||
| Japan | League | Emperor's Cup | J. League Cup | Total | ||||||
| 1997 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | J. League 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| 1998 | 25 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 30 | 6 | ||
| 1999 | 23 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 6 | ||
| 2000 | 21 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 26 | 5 | ||
| 2001 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | ||
| England | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||||
| 2001/02 | Crystal Palace | First Division | 20 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 2 | ||
| 2002/03 | 36 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 40 | 4 | ||||
| 2003/04 | 30 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 1 | ||||
| 2004/05 | Premier League | 23 | 0 | 23 | 0 | |||||
| 2005/06 | League Championship | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | |||||
| Qatar | League | Emir of Qatar Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||||
| 2006/07 | Al-Arabi | Stars League | 17 | 2 | 17 | 2 | ||||
| Australia | League | Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||||
| 2007/08 | Sydney | A-League | 20 | 1 | 20 | 1 | ||||
| 2008/09 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | ||||||
| Country | Australia | 187 | 17 | 187 | 17 | |||||
| Japan | 87 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 109 | 17 | ||
| England | 119 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 119 | 7 | ||||
| Qatar | 17 | 2 | 17 | 2 | ||||||
| Total | 412 | 39 | 15 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 439 | 43 | ||
| Australia national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 1995 | 8 | 0 |
| 1996 | 10 | 0 |
| 1997 | 2 | 0 |
| 1998 | 2 | 0 |
| 1999 | 0 | 0 |
| 2000 | 7 | 1 |
| 2001 | 10 | 5 |
| 2002 | 0 | 0 |
| 2003 | 2 | 1 |
| 2004 | 5 | 0 |
| 2005 | 8 | 0 |
| 2006 | 4 | 1 |
| Total | 58 | 8 |
[edit] International Goals
| Date | Venue | Opponent | Result | Result | Competition | Scored |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 June 2000 | Papeete, Tahiti |  Cook Islands |
17-0 | Won | Oceania Nations Cup | 1 (1) |
| 9 April 2001 | BCU International Stadium |  Tonga |
22-0 | Won | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC) | 1 (2) |
| 11 April 2001 | BCU International Stadium |  American Samoa |
31-0 | Won | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC) | 2 (4) |
| 16 April 2001 | BCU International Stadium |  Samoa |
11-0 | Won | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC) | 2 (6) |
| 12 February 2003 | Boleyn Ground, London |  England |
3-1 | Won | Friendly | 1 (7) |
| 7 September 2006 | Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane |  Paraguay |
1-1 | Draw | Friendly | 1 (8) |
[edit] Honours
With Australia:
[edit] References
- ^ SMH - After 12 years, Poppa comes home to a whole new ball game
- ^ FoxSports - Sydney welcomes back Milligan
- ^ ABC - Popovic to lead Sydney FC
- ^ SMH - Tony Popovic announces retirement
- ^ SMH - Tony Popovic announces retirement
- ^ Popovic announces Socceroos retirement Sydney Morning Herald, 4 October 2006
- ^ SMH - Tony Popovic announces retirement
- ^ Popovic, Filan commit to Sydney
- ^ "Popovic to Quit Sydney for UK". FourFourTwo Australia. 4 February. http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/195471,popovic-to-quit-sydney-for-uk.aspx. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
- ^ Popovic poised to start Palace role at Coventry
- ^ Popovic, Tony national Football Teams
[edit] External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tony Popovic |
- Player profile - Tony Popovic Sydney FC
- Australian Player Database Oz Football
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- 1973 births
- Living people
- Sportspeople from Sydney
- Australian people of Croatian descent
- Australian soccer players
- Australian expatriate soccer players
- Australia international soccer players
- Olympic soccer players of Australia
- Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players
- 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players
- 2006 FIFA World Cup players
- Sydney United players
- Sanfrecce Hiroshima players
- Crystal Palace F.C. players
- Sydney FC players
- Expatriate footballers in Japan
- Expatriate footballers in England
- Premier League players
- Al-Arabi Sports Club players
- A-League players
- J. League Division 1 players
- National Soccer League (Australia) players
