Žarko Odžakov ( mk, Жарко Оџаков) (born 11 November 1955, in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

) is a retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

13 times in full international matches. Former Australia coach

Rale Rasic Zvonimir "Rale" Rasic Order of Australia, OAM (/Zvonimir Rale Rašić; born 26 December 1935) is an Australians, Australian former association football player, coach and media personality. Playing career Club Born in Dole (Ljubuški), Dole, Lit ...

in 2006 picked Odžakov in his greatest Socceroo team.

Playing career

Club career

FK Vardar

Odžakov played 109 matches over eight years for

FK Vardar FK Vardar Skopje ( mk, ФК Вардар Скопје), or simply Vardar, is a football club based in the capital city of Skopje, North Macedonia, North Macedonia. The club was founded in 1947 and currently competes in the Macedonian Second Foo ...

in the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

, scoring nine goals.

Preston

In 1982, he emigrated to Australia where he played for

Preston Makedonia Preston Lions Football Club (formerly Preston Makedonia Soccer Club) is a soccer club from Preston, a northern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The club was established in 1947 to play non-professional soccer matches against other tea ...

in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

Sydney Croatia

From 1985 until 1987 he played at NSL club

Sydney Croatia Sydney United 58 Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club and current NSW NPL Champions based in Edensor Park, Sydney, New South Wales Australia. The club was formed as Sydney Croatia in 1958, by Croatian Australians in the area, but it ...

. It was at Croatia that he took the notice of the Australian selectors.

Blacktown City

After two years at Croatia he moved to

Blacktown City Blacktown City Council is a local government area in Western Sydney, situated on the Cumberland Plain, approximately west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1906 as the Blacktow ...

where he played two years, playing 55 NSL matches.

International career

Outdoor football

In 1985 Odžakov played his first international match for the

. In all he played 13 full international matches for the Socceroos, playing his last match in 1987.

Futsal

Odžakov played three matches for the

Australia national futsal team The Australia National Futsal Team represents Australia in men's international futsal. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of both the Asian Football Confederatio ...

at the

1989 FIFA Futsal World Championship The 1989 FIFA Futsal World Championship was the first ever FIFA Futsal World Championship, the quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was held between 5 and 15 J ...

Coaching career

Soon after retiring Odžakov returned to his native

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

. He soon received his coaching accreditation in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

. After a string of assistant coaching roles Odžakov had stint managing

, where he managed to place Vardar in the top half of the

Macedonian First League The Macedonian First Football League ( mk, Прва македонска фудбалска лига, ''Prva Мakedonska Fudbalska Liga''), also called Macedonian First League, 1. MFL, and Prva Liga, is the highest professional football competiti ...

. Odžakov managed various

youth teams, including the North Macedonia national under-21 football team.

Zarko Odzakov Cup

The Zarko Odzakov Cup is named in honour of Odžakov. It is contested by Sydney United (formerly Sydney Croatia) and

Bankstown City The City of Bankstown was a Local government in Australia, local government area in the South-western Sydney, south-west region of Sydney, Australia, centred on the suburb of Bankstown, from 1895 to 2016. The last Mayor of the City of Bankstown ...

(a team representing the Macedonian-Australian community).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Odzakov, Zarko 1955 births Living people Footballers from Skopje Yugoslav emigrants to Australia Association football midfielders Yugoslav footballers Macedonian footballers Australian soccer players Australia international soccer players FK Vardar players Preston Lions FC players Sydney United 58 FC players Blacktown City FC players Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav Second League players National Soccer League (Australia) players Yugoslav expatriate footballers Macedonian expatriate footballers Australian men's futsal players Macedonian football managers Australian soccer coaches FK Vardar managers North Macedonia national under-21 football team managers