Tony Popovic

Tony Popovic
Personal information
Full name Tony Popovic
Date of birth (1973-07-04) 4 July 1973
Place of birth Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position Centre Back
Club information
Current team
 Western Sydney Wanderers (manager)
Youth career
– Sydney United 58 FC
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 421 (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)
2009 Sydney FC (caretaker)
2011–2012 Crystal Palace (assistant)
2012– Western Sydney Wanderers

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Tony Popovic (Croatian: Tony Popović, pronounced [pǒpoʋit͡ɕ]; born 4 July 1973) is an Australian former football player who is the current head coach of A-League club Western Sydney Wanderers.

As a player Popovic's usual position was centre-back. Starting in 1989 at Sydney United he went on to play for Sanfrecce Hiroshima of Japan and Premier League side Crystal Palace, among other clubs. He appeared with the Australian national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where he played against reigning World Champions Brazil.

Popovic started his managing career in 2008 with Sydney FC. After a brief stint as assistant at Crystal Palace he was chosen as the inaugural manager of Western Sydney Wanderers at the start of the 2012–13 season.

Club career

Popovic playing for Sydney FC in 2008
Popovic playing for Sydney FC in 2008

Early career

Popovic was born in Sydney, New South Wales to a Croatian family.[1] Popovic grew up in Fairfield, New South Wales.[2] Popovic began his career with Sydney United. He rose through the youth ranks, making 162 appearances in seven years for the first team, before moving to play in the J1 League. Popovic signed with Sanfrecce Hiroshima where he stayed for five years scoring 13 goals in 94 appearances.

Crystal Palace FC

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. In his last season he played for Crystal Palace in 21 Premier League matches. In total he made more than 120 appearances for the club.[3]

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.

Sydney FC

In 2007, with the growth of the A-League and slight homesickness, Popovic moved to Sydney FC, signing a two-year deal, with coach Branko Čulina also announcing him the club's captain.[4] 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 after nearly 20 years as a professional footballer.[5]

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.[5]

Coaching career

Popovic in 2010.

After retiring, Popovic moved into an assistant coach's role with Sydney FC,[7] where he remained until February 2011, when he returned to England and to Crystal Palace as first team coach,[8] after former team-mate Dougie Freedman was appointed manager.[9]

Western Sydney Wanderers

On 17 May 2012, Popovic was announced as inaugural manager of A-League club Western Sydney Wanderers.[10] He joined the club on a four seasons deal after requesting to be released from the final year of his contracted role as assistant manager of Crystal Palace.[10] In Wanderers' first season, Popovic was named A-League Coach of the Year after finishing first in the league.[11] In the 2013/14 season Popovic led Wanderers to the 2014 AFC Champions League Final in the clubs first attempt in the competition. They defeated Al-Hilal in the final, becoming the first Australian team to win the tournament. As a result of this achievement, Popovic was named as the 2014 AFC Coach of the Year.[12] With poor recruiting, the loss of assistant coach Ante Milicic, and a grueling schedule of matches, the 2014/15 season saw Popovic's team finish ninth in the league and eliminated from the group stage of the 2015 AFC Champions League. Despite an unfavorable season Popovic signed new three-season deal with Western Sydney Wanderers, which would keep him at the club helm until 2018.[13]

Statistics

[14]

Club performance League Cup League Cup Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Australia League Cup League Cup Total
1989/90Sydney CroatiaNational Soccer League130130
1990/91171171
1991/92201201
1992/93242242
1993/94Sydney UnitedNational Soccer League272272
1994/95253253
1995/96294294
1996/977272
Japan League Emperor's Cup J.League Cup Total
1997Sanfrecce HiroshimaJ1 League1100060170
19982543121306
19992365010296
20002132032265
200170000070
England League FA Cup League Cup Total
2001/02Crystal PalaceFirst Division20210212
2002/0336430404
2003/0430110311
2004/05Premier League230230
2005/06League Championship1221 Qatar League Emir Cup Sheikh Jassem Cup Total
2006/07Al-ArabiStars League172172
Australia League Cup League Cup Total
2007/08Sydney FCA-League201201
2008/097070
Country Australia 1891618916
Japan 871310112310917
England 1197501197
Qatar 172172
Total 4123815112343942
Australia national team
YearAppsGoals
199580
1996100
199720
199820
199900
200071
2001105
200200
200321
200450
200580
200641
Total588

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)

Managerial statistics

As of 21 September 2016
Team From To Record
GWDLWin %
Western Sydney Wanderers 17 May 2012 Present 118 57 30 31 48.31
Total 118 57 30 31 48.31

Honours

As a player

Australia

As a manager

Western Sydney Wanderers
Premiers (1): 2012–13
Runners-up (2): 2013–14, 2015–16
Runners-up (3): 2013, 2014, 2016
Winners (1): 2014
Sixth-place (1): 2014

Individual

References

  1. ↑ I.Š (4 November 2014). "VIDEO: 'Infamous' Nishimura again shocked, but also helped the Croats". Gol.gr. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Halloran, Jessica (12 July 2007). "After 12 years, Poppa comes home to a whole new ball game". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  3. ↑ "Sydney welcomes back Milligan". Fox Sports. Australian Associated Press. 2 August 2007. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  4. ↑ "Popovic to lead Sydney FC". ABC News. 2 August 2007. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 Hassett, Sebastian (11 November 2008). "Tony Popovic announces retirement". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  6. ↑ "Socceroo defender Moore fails to arrive". Sydney Morning Herald. 4 October 2006. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  7. ↑ "Popovic, Filan commit to Sydney". The World Game. Special Broadcasting Service. 23 March 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  8. ↑ "Popovic To Quit Sydney For UK". Australian FourFourTwo. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  9. ↑ Gentry, Nick (8 February 2011). "Popovic poised to start Palace role at Coventry". News Shopper. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  10. 1 2 "Popovic head coach for new Sydney club". Football Federation Australia. 17 May 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  11. ↑ "Western Sydney Wanderers coach Tony Popovic named A-League Coach of the Year.". Adelaide Now. 15 April 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  12. ↑ http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/tony-popovic-nominated-for-2014-afc-coach-of-the-year-award-after-leading-wanderers-to-acl-glory/story-e6frf423-1227126036473
  13. ↑ "Popovic Extends Deal to 2018". wswanderersfc.com.au. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  14. ↑ Tony Popovic at National-Football-Teams.com
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