- Nikolai Topor-Stanley
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Nikolai Topor-Stanley 
Personal information Full name Nikolai David Topor-Stanley Date of birth 11 May 1985 Place of birth Canberra, Australia Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Playing position Centre Back Club information Current club Newcastle Jets Number 4 Youth career Tuggeranong United Belconnen ACTAS 2002 AIS Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 2004 Belconnen 26 (1) 2005 Manly United 29 (0) 2006–2007 Sydney FC 14 (0) 2007–2009 Perth Glory 37 (0) 2009– Newcastle Jets 61 (2) National team‡ 2004–2005 Australia U-20 2 (0) 2006–2008 Australia U-23 26 (4) 2008 Australia 2 (0) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:00, 10 November 2011 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17:30, 12 November 2010 (UTC)Nikolai Topor-Stanley (born 11 March 1985) is an Australian professional football (soccer) player who currently plays as a defender for the Newcastle Jets in the A-League.
Contents
Club career
Topor-Stanley was born to a Mauritian father of Indo-European heritage, Percy, and a Polish-German mother, Helen.[1]
He has had several short-term contracts with A-League club Sydney FC,[1] firstly as a replacement for injured Jacob Timpano, and then Ruben Zadkovich, but was not signed by former Sydney FC coach Terry Butcher on a reported long-term deal despite his "outstanding performance" because of the club's salary cap problems.[2] He is a defender and has previously played for NSW Premier League teams Manly United FC and Belconnen Blue Devils, as well as representing Australia in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship. He was also selected to participate in the first training camp for the Beijing Olympics.
On 15 July 2006, Nikolai debuted for Sydney off the bench against Queensland in the Pre-season Cup before scoring his first goal for the club against Newcastle a week later. Nikolai made his A-League debut on 27 August 2006 against the Central Coast Mariners. In the absence of Timpano, Nikolai cemented a place in Sydney's first team, having started a number of Sydney FC's games in the 06-07 season.
He was known to Sydney fans as "Hyphen", a name that was given to him by Sydney FC supporters' group "The Cove" upon him scoring his first goal for the club. The name "Hyphen" comes about due to his hyphenated name. Topor-Stanley wore shirt number 21 at Sydney FC and played as a left-sided stopper.
Sydney coach Butcher was apparently "fuming" after hearing that he had developed a foot injury at an Olyroos training session before the first semi-final against Newcastle Jets.[3] In the first qualifying game against Taiwan in Adelaide on Wednesday, 7 February 2007, Topor-Stanley scored 2 of the 11 goals - one with each foot.
He was rumoured to be following Sasho Petrovski and Alvin Ceccoli out of Sydney FC and it was confirmed on 1 April 2007 that he has signed on with A-League rival team, Perth Glory on a two year deal.[4][5] He left Sydney due to the contract which was offered to him by the club which was less than the amount he was being paid as a replacement player during the first season.[6] Topor-Stanley will continue to represent Sydney until after Sydney's participation in the 2007 Asian Champions League. He is a "victim of a club-versus-country tug of war," according to Branko Culina, flying from country to country in between Olyroos and Sydney FC matches, along with fellow Sydney and Olyroos player Mark Milligan.[7] Fellow Sydney FC player Mark Rudan was quoted as saying, "Nikolai Topor-Stanley will be a pretty big loss for us and again we seem to be losing players and not getting them."[8]
He was praised as a new player for Perth Glory at the beginning of the 2007-08 season of the A-League, along with Jimmy Downey, and was nicknamed Nikolai "Gandhi" Topor-Stanley by his teammates.[9] Only several matches into the A-League season, however, he took an ankle injury whilst playing for the Olyroos,[10] but was able to play his next match against Iraq. "Outstanding young Perth Glory defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley has capped off a wonderful season by claiming the 2007/08 ‘Most Glorious Player’ Award, along with a host of other accolades, at the club’s presentation evening on Friday. The event belonged to Topor-Stanley as he scooped the pool with three awards in his debut season with Perth, adding the ‘Players’ Player of the Year’ and ‘Young Player of the Year’ to his 'Most Glorious Player' award." (Perth Glory website, 22 February 2008)
On 8 January 2009 Nikolai signed a two-year contract with Newcastle Jets. The assistant coach at the club 'rates Nikolai Topor-Stanley one of the best centre-backs in Australia and believes he is the perfect man to fix the club's defensive woes.'.[11] Playing for the Jets will enable Nikolai to compete in the Asian Champions League for the second time, the first being with Sydney FC in 2006.
In a tense penalty shoot-out on 20 February 2010, Nikolai scored the goal that earned Newcastle Jets the right to go into the A-League 2010 semi-finals -- much to the disappointment of Gold Coast United fans at Skilled Park, Gold Coast, Australia.
During Round 14 of the 2010-11 Hyundai A-League season against Adelaide United, Nikolai Topor-Stanley finally broke his goal-scoring drought by scoring his first goal in 88 games for the Newcastle Jets.In his commentary Mick Cockerill stated: "Has that [goal] been a long time coming! Topor-Stanley ends one of the longest droughts in Australian football...". In Round 16 he scored another goal for the Jets, a magnificent glancing header. On 27 November 2010 Nikolai captained the Jets to defeat David Beckham's LA Galaxy at Energy Stadium before a record crowd. Beckham commended the Jets on their speed and fitness.
International career
He was part of the Olyroos squad that represented Australia at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Topor-Stanley contributed significantly to the Olyroos' win over Saudi Arabia at Hindmarsh Stadium on 28 March 2007 by scoring the first goal, a header from the near post in the 74th minute of the game.[12] In 2008, Topor-Stanley was named in Pim Verbeek's preliminary Australian squad which opened their World Cup qualifying campaign against Qatar on Wednesday 6 February in Melbourne but made his international debut against Singapore in March 2008. Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek included Nikolai in the Socceroos squad that drew 0-0 against China in Kunming on Wednesday 26/3/2008, that won against Ghana on and lost to China in Sydney on Sunday 22/6/2008. Nikolai is the most capped Olyroos player representing Australia at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Verbeek selected Nikolai for the Socceroos squad that played Indonesia to a nil all draw on 28 January 2009 and for the squad that is to play Kuwait in Canberra on 5 March 2009.
A-League career statistics
(Correct as of 29 October 2010)
Club Season League Cup Asia Total Apps Goals Assists Apps Goals Assists Apps Goals Assists Apps Goals Assists Sydney FC 2006–07 14 0 1 - - - 0 0 0 14 0 1 Perth Glory 2007–08 16 0 3 - - - - - - 16 0 3 2008–09 21 0 0 - - - - - - 21 0 0 Newcastle United Jets 2009–10 28 0 0 - - - 6 0 0 34 0 0 2010–11 22 2 0 - - - - - - 22 2 0 Total 101 0 4 0 0 0 6 0 0 107 0 4 Honours
Personal Honours:
- Perth Glory Most Glorious Player Award: 2007-2008
- Perth Glory Player's Player of the Year: 2007-2008
- Perth Glory Young Player of the Year: 2007-2008
References
- ^ a b John Taylor (30 January 2007). "Nikolai has paid his dues". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.news.com.au/sundaytelegraph/story/0,,21135675-5006068,00.html. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
- ^ "Butcher ready to deal in Topor-Stanley". tribalfootball.com. 1 October 2006. http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=13234. Retrieved 2007-02-22.[dead link]
- ^ Guy Hand (1 February 2007). "Finalist fume over Olyroo injuries". The Australian. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21154425-23215,00.html. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
- ^ SBS (1 April 2007). "Topor-Stanley joins Perth". theworldgame.com.au. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20071011085209/http://www.theworldgame.com.au/transfer/index.php?pid=st&cid=85830. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
- ^ "Topor-Stanley now a Glory boy". The Daily Telegraph. 2 April 2007. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21487523-5006068,00.html. Retrieved 2007-04-25.
- ^ Peng Cheng (2 February 2008). "Interview with Nikolai Topor-Stanley". Australian Football. http://australianfootball.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/interview-with-nikolai-topor-stanley/. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
- ^ Michael Cockerill (14 March 2007). "Cap-strapped Sydney target Popovic for dual role". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/football/capstrapped-sydney-target-popovic-for-dual-role/2007/03/13/1173722468543.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
- ^ David Davutovic (27 March 2007). "Sydney FC taking time out". The Sunday Telegraph. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21798718-5006068,00.html. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
- ^ David Tarka (24 October 2007). "David Tarka comment". Perth Now. http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22640101-5005401,00.html. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ Aidan Ormond (15 November 2007). "Topor-Stanley In Doubt". FourFourTwo. http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/65049,toporstanley-in-doubt.aspx. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Daniel Lato (29 March 2007). "Win sets target for Olyroos". The Adelaide Advertiser. http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,21465975-5006373,00.html. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
External links
Awards Preceded by
Simon Colosimo, David TarkaPerth Glory Most Glorious Player Award
2007/08Succeeded by
Adriano PellegrinoAustralia squad – 2008 Summer Olympics 
Newcastle United Jets FC – current squad Categories:- 1985 births
- Living people
- People from Canberra
- A-League players
- Australian soccer players
- Australia international soccer players
- Australian people of Mauritian descent
- Australian people of Polish descent
- Australian people of German descent
- Association football defenders
- Perth Glory FC players
- Sydney FC players
- Olympic soccer players of Australia
- Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Newcastle United Jets players
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