Tony Popovic

Football player infobox
playername = Tony Popovic
fullname = Anthony Popovic


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1973|7|4
cityofbirth = Sydney
countryofbirth = Australia
height = height|m=1.93
currentclub = Sydney FC
clubnumber = 6
contractend = 2009
position = Centre Back, Left Back
youthyears =
youthclubs = Sydney United
years = 1989–1997
1994
1997–2001
2001–2006
2006–2007
2007–"present"
clubs = Sydney United
→ Canberra Deakin "(loan)"
Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Crystal Palace
Al-Arabi
Sydney FC
caps(goals) = 162 (14)
005 0(1)
094 (13)
123 0(6)
017 0(2)
019 0(1)
nationalyears = 1989
1991
1992
1995–2006
nationalteam = Australia U-17
Australia U-20
Australia U-23
Australia
nationalcaps(goals) =
058 0(8)
pcupdate = 15 December 2007
ntupdate = 15 December 2007

Anthony Popovic [IPA|ˈpɔːpɔʋitɕ] (born July 4, 1973 in Sydney, Australia) is a Croatian Australian football (soccer) player. He currently plays for Sydney FC.

Popovic grew up in Fairfield, Sydney. He attended Fairvale High School and left in 1989 to pursue his football career.

Club career

Popovic began his career with Sydney United before a move to play in the J-League, where he stayed for five years scoring 13 goals in 94 appearances.

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.

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.

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. Popovic scored his first goal on the 28th October 2007 from a corner to beat the Mariners 3-2 in front of his home crowd of 17,850.

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. Tony Popovic announced his retirement from International football in October 2006 [ [http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Popovic-announces-Socceroos-retirement/2006/10/04/1159641376572.html Popovic announces Socceroos retirement] ]

Popovic's most famous goal was a header, the opening goal in a 3-1 win for Australia against England at Upton Park in 2003.

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. 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. 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.

Honours

With Australia:
* OFC Nations Cup: 1996, 2000, 2004

References

External links

* [http://www.sydneyfc.com/default.aspx?s=sydfc_playerprofile_item&pid=295 Sydney FC profile]
* [http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Players/P/PO.html Oz Football profile]