Slobodan "Bobby" Despotovski (born 14 July 1971) is an Australian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played 12 seasons in the top tier of Australian soccer. He played in

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 ...

(NSL) for

Heidelberg United Heidelberg United Alexander Football Club (founded as Alexander the Great-Melbourne Soccer Club) established in 1958 is a football (soccer) club based in the northern Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg West, Victoria, Australia. The team currently ...

and

Morwell Falcons Morwell is a town in the Latrobe Valley area of Gippsland, in South-Eastern Victoria, Australia approximately 152 km (94 mi) east of Melbourne. Morwell has a population of 14,389 people at the . It is both the seat of local governme ...

before moving to

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

where he played eight seasons in the NSL and two in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

Early life

Despotovski was born in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia, to a Macedonian father, Cvetko, and mother, Valentina (Saharov). Her maternal parents, Martin and Margareta Saharov were from

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

, USSR. Valentina was born in

Kačarevo Kačarevo (Serbian language, Serbian and mk, Качарево) is a village in northern Serbia, situated in the municipality of Pančevo, South Banat District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population num ...

Pančevo Pančevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Панчево, ; german: Pantschowa; hu, Pancsova; ro, Panciova; sk, Pánčevo) is a city and the administrative center of the South Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is located on ...

and married Cvetko in

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

. Only nine months after his birth his family moved to

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

because his mother was homesick. He grew up with his family in the town of

, 16 km outside the capital

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 ...

, and played junior level football with

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

. When Despotovski was 15 he had a choice to continue either

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

which he says had always played a large part in his life, or to pursue a career in professional football, eventually he chose football and was selected to play for the reserve team at his first senior club,

Dinamo Pančevo A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

Playing career

After a stint with the

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska a ...

during the

Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia from ...

which ended as a result of self-inflicted injuries, Despotovski returned to his birthplace in 1992 and continued his professional career with

Floreat Athena Floreat Athena Football Club is an association football (soccer) club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club competes in the National Premier Leagues Western Australia. The club's founders were of Greek heritage. Floreat Athena has been c ...

in the Western Australian Premier League. In 1994, he joined

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

in the NSL and left the club to join the now defunct NSL club

in 1995. Bobby's career took off when he received a call from the then

general manager, Roger Lefort. The new club wanted Despotovski to lead their attack in the club's inaugural season and he certainly didn't disappoint scoring 14 goals in only 23 NSL games. Despotovski was in the centre of a controversy when playing against the

Melbourne Knights Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, the second-tier of the Australian soccer league ...

(a team primarily supported by

Croatian Australian Croatian Australians are Australian citizens of Croatian ancestry. Croatia has been a source of migrants to Australia, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2021, 200,000 persons resident in Australia (0.6%) identified themselves as having ...

s) at the

Knights Stadium Knights Stadium was a baseball stadium which served as the home of the International League's Charlotte Knights from 1990 to 2013 and had a capacity of 10,002. The park was located across the state line from Charlotte, North Carolina, in Fort M ...

on 21 May 2001 he gave a three fingered salute to the predominantly Croatian crowd which is a

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the population in ...

symbol that represents Orthodox Christianity. As the Perth team left the stadium Despotovski and Perth coach

Bernd Stange Bernd Walter Stange (born 14 March 1948) is a German football manager who last managed the Syria national team. During his playing career, he played for Chemie Gnaschwitz, Vorwärts Bautzen, and HSG DHfK Leipzig as a defender. Playing caree ...

were assaulted by angry Knights supporters. To avoid repetition of violence, the next Knights home fixture against Perth was played in Launceston. He was one of the most successful strikers in the now defunct

Australian 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 it ...

. Despotovski was with the

Western Australian Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

team Perth Glory for 10 years, and holds their all-time goal scoring record. Following the conclusion of the 2004/2005 season of the NSL Despotovski signed with Perth Glory for the 2005/2006

season after a brief stint with the

Bonnyrigg White Eagles Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Bonnyrigg, Sydney, New South Wales, currently playing in the NSW League One. The club was founded in 1968 as Avala Sports Club and took its current name in 1992. H ...

in the Vodafone Premier League in

NSW ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. Despotovski finished the season as joint top goal scorer of the league and winner of the

Johnny Warren Medal The Johnny Warren Medal is awarded to the best player of the Australian national soccer club competition. It was first awarded in the National Soccer League in 1990, and upon the NSL's demise in November 2004, was carried forward into the new na ...

. Season 2006/2007 started without Bobby because of his re-occurring back injury but he returned to partner Stuart Young up front.

Coaching career

He was the coach of Inglewood United in 2007, and the coach of Perth boys school

Hale School Hale School is an independent, Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located in Wembley Downs, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Named after the school founded by Bishop Mathew Blagden Hale in 1858, Hale School claims to b ...

's 1st XI Soccer side in 2008. He was variously the coach of the Perth Glory NPL U20s team and the Perth Glory's Women's team between 2015 and 2020.

Career statistics

International

Honours

;

* NSL Championship: 2002–03, 2003–04 ;Individual *

: 2005–06 with

Golden Boot: 2005–06 with

– 8 goals *

Most Glorious Player Award: 2005–06, 2003–04, 2001–02, 2000–01 *

Player's Player of the Year: 2005–06 *

Member's Player of the Year: 2002–03 * W-League Coach of the Year: 2016–17

References

External links

Oz Football profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Despotovski, Bobby 1971 births Living people A-League Men players National Soccer League (Australia) players Sportsmen from Western Australia Australian people of Serbian descent Australian soccer players Australia international soccer players Red Star Belgrade footballers FK Dinamo Pančevo players Expatriate footballers in Yugoslavia Perth Glory FC players Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC players Floreat Athena FC players Soccer players from Perth, Western Australia Association football forwards Gippsland Falcons players Australian people of Macedonian descent 2002 OFC Nations Cup players