Charlie Yankos (born 29 May 1961) is an Australian former

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 played for the Australian national team 49 times and scored 7 international goals. He captained the national team on 30 occasions between 1986 and 1989. Charlie Yankos started his local football career with former NSL club

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 ...

in 1979 and became one of the greatest players to wear the gold and black colors. He was also an important part of APIA Leichhardt's 1987 NSL title victory.

International career

Charlie Yankos represented the Australian national team on 49 times including 13 world cup qualifiers, captaining the side on 30 occasions and scoring 7 international goals. He participated in the 1985 and 1989 World Cup qualifying campaigns, and also played in the

Seoul Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

in 1988 where Australia made the quarterfinals. Yankos scored a long range goal from over 30 yards in the 1988 Australian Bicentennial Gold Cup against then-World Champions

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. In a

1990 FIFA World Cup qualification The qualification competition for the 1990 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Confederation of African Football (CAF), CONCACAF (North ...

away match against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, he scored an equaliser for Australia, again with a long range free kick.

After retirement

Following his retirement from

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, Yankos moved into a successful career in business. He was inducted into the

Football Australia Hall of Fame The aims of the Football Australia Hall of Fame are to celebrate and highlight the achievements of retired players and other participants who have contributed significantly to the game. These are made up of either Australian and/or non-Austral ...

in 1999. Charlie Yankos Street in the Sydney suburb of Glenwood is named for him.

References

External links

Oz Football profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yankos, Charlie 1961 births Living people Australian soccer players Australian people of Greek descent Australia men's international soccer players Olympic soccer players for Australia Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics National Soccer League (Australia) players APIA Leichhardt FC players Blacktown City FC players PAOK FC players West Adelaide SC players Men's association football defenders Australian expatriate soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece Soccer players from Melbourne Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia