Tony Popovic
Anthony " Tony" Popovic ( born July 4, 1973 in Sydney, Croatian spelling of the surname: Popović, [ pɔ pɔʋitɕ ː ] ) is a former Australian football player of Croatian descent who was used to the position of a defender. He finished his career in November 2008 at the Sydney FC.
Career
Popovic began his career in 1989, for which he played for Sydney United until 1997. In 1994 he was awarded the Canberra FC, but came in the same year returned to Sydney. In 1997, he spent five years after Japan Sanfrecce Hiroshima. 2001 was followed by the second step in the English league, where he was employed at the London club Crystal Palace. In the season 2004/ 05 he played a year with the team in the Premier League before the club was relegated back to the second division. After the contract had expired at the end of the 2005/06 season, Popovic moved in summer 2006 to Qatar with Al -Arabi, which he left for summer break before the 2007/ 08 season again to return to his home country. From 2007 to November 2008, he was active for Sydney FC, after he finished his career as a football player.
Internationally
As of 1989, went through Tony Popovic the various youth teams of Australia and in 1992 was also a member of the Australian team at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. From 1995 to 2006 he became a permanent Australian national team, where he came to 58 inserts, and eight gates. In 2005, he was able to celebrate with the team's historic participation in the Football World Cup 2006, where he also belonged to the Australian World Cup squad. 1996, 2000 and 2004, he managed to win his country the OFC Nations Cup. With a friendly match against Paraguay in October 2006 Popovic ended his international career, including his longtime companion Zeljko Kalac national, Stan Lazaridis and Tony Vidmar this was the farewell game.
Coach
From 2008 to 2011 he was an assistant coach at Sydney FC. In 2009 he was engaged for a short time on an interim basis head coach. In the season 2011/12 he trained in England the second division Crystal Palace FC and led this 17 table in the league consists of 24 clubs. In 2012 he was hired as head coach of the newly formed franchise Western Sydney Wanderers FC.
Achievements
- OFC Nations Cup winner: 1996, 2000, 2004