Christopher Naumoff (born 29 June 1995) is a retired Australian professional football (soccer) player who played as a winger for

Sutherland Sharks Sutherland Sharks Football Club is an Australian Association football club based in the suburb of Sutherland in Sydney New South Wales. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW. The club's home games are played at Seymour ...

in the NPL and for

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

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 ...

. Born in Sydney, Naumoff played youth football for

, eventually playing for the first team in the National Premier Leagues NSW before moving to

's senior side in 2014. He made over 50 appearances for Sydney before leaving the club in 2016. Soon after, Naumoff agreed to a deal with Spanish side Numancia, but was found in medical testing to have a heart disease,

hypertrophic cardiomyopathy Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM, or HOCM when obstructive) is a condition in which the heart becomes thickened without an obvious cause. The parts of the heart most commonly affected are the interventricular septum and the ventricles. This r ...

, which led to the cancellation of the contract and Naumoff's subsequent retirement as a health precaution. Naumoff represented the Australian

under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

and under-23 sides on several occasions.

Early life

Naumoff was born to a

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...

mother born in Smilevo in the Demir Hisar Municipality, and a Macedonian Australian father, whose parents hail from Capari near

Bitola Bitola (; mk, Битола ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki ...

. He is a Macedonian Orthodox Christian.

Club career

Sydney FC

Naumoff joined Sydney FC's youth team from New South Wales Premier League outfit

in 2011 after winning the Under 20s Championship and being crowned the Under 20s Premier League Player of the Year 2012. Having had a strong pre-season under Frank Farina where he scored 5 goals, Naumoff was handed his senior debut at home to the Newcastle Jets in Round 1 of the 2013–14 season where Sydney FC won 2–0. On 15 November 2013, Naumoff made his starting debut for Sydney FC against Melbourne Heart at

AAMI Park The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons, is an outdoor sports stadium on the site of Edwin Flack Field in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the Melbourne central business district. When completed ...

. His first A-League goal was against the Central Coast Mariners on 24 January 2015. On 16 March 2016, Naumoff scored the winning goal in a 1–0 against

Pohang Steelers The Pohang Steelers (Hangul: 포항 스틸러스) are a South Korean professional football club based in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province that compete in the K League 1, the top flight of South Korean football. The Steelers were founded on 1 A ...

in the Asian Champions League. He has participated in various community activities for the club, including training sessions with local club Curl Curl Acdamy. At the conclusion of the 2015–16 season, Naumoff was not offered a new contract with Sydney FC.

Numancia and retirement

On 16 June 2016, Naumoff agreed to a three-year deal with Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

side Numancia The deal was later cancelled after Naumoff failed a medical examination. Following further testing, Naumoff was diagnosed with

(HCM). On 4 July 2016, he announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 21 for health reasons but stated his wish to stay involved in the game. Professional Footballers Australia announced that they would continue to support Naumoff.

Management career

Naumoff joined Rockdale City Suns as a youth coach in late 2016, and also flagged an intention to start an academy of his own, which he has subsequently done. He also currently coaches Sydney Grammar School.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Sydney FC * National Youth League: 2013–14

Individual

* NSW Premier League Grade 20 Player of the Season: 2012

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Naumoff, Christopher 1995 births Living people Australian men's soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australia men's under-20 international soccer players Men's association football wingers A-League Men players National Premier Leagues players Sydney FC players Sutherland Sharks FC players Australian people of Macedonian descent Soccer players from Sydney