Blagoja "Billy" Celeski (born 14 July 1985) is a retired Macedonian-born Australian

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 ...

. He last played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Ventforet Kofu is a Japanese football club from Kōfu in Yamanashi Prefecture. The team currently competes in the J2 League and play their home games in JIT Recycle Ink Stadium, located in Kōfu. The word "Ventforet" is a compound formed from two French ...

in the J1 League in 2016.

Club career

Celeski signed for Perth Glory for the

2005–06 A-League The 2005–06 A-League was the 29th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the inaugural season of the A-League. After over 12 months without a national professional club competition since the close of the 2003–04 National Soccer Lea ...

season from Bullen Zebras playing 18 times and won the club's media award, but was released at the end of the season. Celeski graduated from the

Victorian Institute of Sport The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It provides high performance sports programs for talented athletes, enabling them to achieve national and international succe ...

and Australian Institute of Sport. In March 2007 Celeski was signed by Perth Glory again. A notable performance, with Perth Glory, in the A-League occurred on Saturday, 15 December 2007 – where Celeski scored a hat-trick in Perth Glory's 4–2 win over Sydney FC at the Sydney Football Stadium. Afterwards Celeski signed for

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victor ...

at the end of the 2007–08 season in a one-year deal, post-mutual termination of his Perth Glory contract, primarily to bolster the squad for the AFC Champions League. Celeski scored his first goal for his new club in their 3–2 win over

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...

on 31 October 2008. Celeski signed a new 2-year contract with Melbourne Victory on 23 December 2008. Celeski went on to play a role in the Melbourne team, performing an important role in their title-winning campaign, while also not missing a league match until late 2009. This was to be stopped on 3 September of that year however, when he suffered a season ending anterior cruciate ligament injury, in the opening of a match against

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australian ...

. On 20 July 2013, Celeski represented the A-League All Stars in the inaugural A-League All Stars Game against Manchester United, a match in which the A-League All Stars were thrashed 5–1, courtesy of goals from

Danny Welbeck Daniel Nii Tackie Mensah Welbeck (born 26 November 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Brighton & Hove Albion. Welbeck made his way through the youth teams at Manchester United before making his senio ...

Jesse Lingard Jesse Ellis Lingard (born 15 December 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for club Nottingham Forest and the England national team. He has won the UEFA Europa League, FA Cup, FA Communi ...

and

Robin van Persie Robin van Persie (; born 6 August 1983) is a Dutch football coach and former professional footballer who played as a striker. Regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation, Van Persie was known for his excellent technique and ball c ...

. Just 4 days later, on 24 July 2013, he represented Melbourne Victory against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, a match in which the Victory lost 2–0, courtesy of goals from Steven Gerrard and an own-goal from Victory captain Adrian Leijer. He was the only Victory player to have played in both of those exhibition matches. On 30 July 2013, just a few days after representing the

A-League All Stars The A-Leagues All Star Game is a association football match contested by the A-Leagues All Stars team against an invitee club. The All Stars team is made up of selected A-League Men players. The game is played during the footballing off-season, ...

against Manchester United and representing Melbourne Victory against

, Billy Celeski transferred from Melbourne Victory to UAE Pro-League club Al-Shaab. On 24 February 2014, Celeski transferred to

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional association ...

side

Liaoning Whowin Liaoning Football Club (), officially known as Liaoning Hongyun (), was a professional association football club with a long history in Chinese football. The club can predate their formation to 1953, when Shenyang government sports body joined ex ...

. On 29 May 2014, he was released along with

Artyom Filiposyan Artyom Filiposyan (russian: Артём Филипосян, born 6 January 1988) is an Uzbek professional footballer of Armenian descent who plays as a centre-back. Career Club He began his playing career at Mash'al Mubarek. After two seasons ...

. On 6 August 2014, Celeski signed with the

. He was reportedly sacked by Jets owner

Nathan Tinkler Nathan Tinkler (born 1 February 1976) is an Australian mining industry executive and was previously the principal shareholder of Aston Resources and Whitehaven Coal. He started out as a mining apprentice in the Hunter Valley, in New South Wale ...

, following a player revolt midway through the season. On 3 February 2016, Celeski joined J1 League club

International career

Celeski made his first senior international debut for the

Socceroos The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated wit ...

on 28 January 2009 in an AFC Asian Cup qualifying match versus

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, appearing as a substitute for

Tom Pondeljak Tomislav "Tom" Pondeljak (born 8 January 1976 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) is a retired Australian football (soccer) player who last played for Victorian Premier League side St Albans Saints SC. Club career Pondeljak started his caree ...

. He was also a member of the unsuccessful Olyroos squad that took part in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Personal life

Celeski was born in

Ohrid Ohrid ( mk, Охрид ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the List of cities in North Macedonia, eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording ...

, SR Macedonia, and moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia as a child.

Honours

Club

: *

A-League Championship A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professionalism in association football, professional men's association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Austral ...

: 2008–09 * A-League Premiership: 2008–09

Individual

* A-League All Star:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

References

External links

Billy Celeski
at Aussie Footballers

at vicfootball * *
Melbourne Victory profile

FFA – Olyroos profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Celeski, Billy 1985 births A-League Men players Living people Sportspeople from Ohrid Australian people of Macedonian descent Australian soccer players Perth Glory FC players Whittlesea Zebras players Macedonian emigrants to Australia Melbourne Victory FC players Al-Shaab CSC players Liaoning F.C. players Newcastle Jets FC players J1 League players Ventforet Kofu players Olympic soccer players of Australia Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Australia international soccer players Victorian Institute of Sport alumni Expatriate footballers in China Chinese Super League players Association football midfielders UAE Pro League players Soccer players from Melbourne