Daniell Zelený (born 19 October 1988) is an Australian

association 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 ...

of Czech and Italian descent, currently playing for

Churchill Brothers SC Churchill Brothers FC Goa, or simply known as Churchill Brothers, is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the I-League, alongside Goa Professional League. Founded in 1988 in Margao, the club usually parti ...

in India. He plays as a defender. Zelený possesses dual passports due to his European heritage.

Career

Zelený started his youth career at

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 ...

, before moving onto PCYC Parramatta, as well as

NSW Super League The NSW League One Men is an Australian semi-professional association football league comprising teams from New South Wales. The league sits at Level 2 on the New South Wales league system, behind the National Premier Leagues NSW, (Level 3 of th ...

club

Fraser Park Fraser Park is Lower Hutt's largest recreational sportsground, at 27 hectares it is the biggest sporting ground in the lower North Island. It is home to the Ricoh Sports Centre, a multi-use venue, as well as sports like rugby, rugby league, fo ...

, before signing with National Premier Leagues NSW club

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football, soccer club, based in Belmore, New South Wales, Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales, that plays in the National Premier Leagues NSW. The Club was founded as Pan- ...

. In November 2011, it was announced Zelený had travelled to India, and signed with

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

club

Mohun Bagan A.C. Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

for the

2011–12 I-League The 2011–12 I-League was the fifth season of the I-League. The season began in October 2011 and ended in May 2012. Salgaocar are the defending champions, having won their maiden title in the previous season. The current edition has a tota ...

season, replacing fellow Australian and former

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 ...

player

Simon Storey Simon Storey (born 5 June 1982) is an Australian footballer. Club career Storey began his senior career at Springvale City in State League 1 for one season at the age of 16 whilst on scholarship with the Victorian Institute of Sport for 3 years ...

. Zelený made his debut for

in the East Bengal derby against

Kingfisher East Bengal F.C. East Bengal Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal (), is an Indian professional multi-sport club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is best known for its professional men's football team that competes in the Indian Super League, the top fl ...

in front of 100 000 spectators. Zelený received widespread praise for his good performance in his first game for

, and would remain as a cult figure against

for the remainder of his tenure at

, earning the moniker of "Mr. Derby" amongst the supporters for his impressive performances against fiercest rivals

In March 2012, Zelený signed for Gresik United in the

Indonesia Super League Liga 1 ( en, League 1), also known as BRI Liga 1 for sponsorship reasons with Bank Rakyat Indonesia, is the men's top professional football division of the Indonesian football league system. Administered by the PT Liga Indonesia Baru (), Liga 1 i ...

. Zelený moved to Kaya F.C. in the UFL Division 1 for the 2013 season, under the tutelage of fellow Australian, David Perkovic. On 11 April 2013, Zelený added to his reputation of being a "big-game player", as Kaya F.C. defeated rivals

Global F.C. Global Football Club was a professional association football, football club that last played in the Philippines Football League (PFL), the top flight of Philippines' club football. The club has won four league titles, two UFL Cups, one UFL FA Cu ...

in a memorable game, that saw Kaya F.C. fight back from being 2–0 down, to win 3–2. This marked Kaya F.C.'s first win against

in the club's history, and the first time

had lost, since February 2012. On 13 June 2013, Zelený and Kaya repeated the same feat against

, coming from two goals behind to win the game 3–2. In doing so, Kaya ended Global's hopes of winning the UFL Championship, and became the only team in the competition to successfully defeat Global in both home and away games. Zelený ended the season having not lost a game whilst playing for Kaya F.C.

completed their foreign quota by signing Zelený from Kaya F.C. Churchill Brothers would go on to qualify for the knockout stages of the AFC Cup for the first time in their history, and also finished the season as Federation Cup champions.

References

External links

Mohun Bagan A.C. profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeleny, Daniell 1988 births Living people Soccer players from Sydney Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in India Australian people of Czech descent Australian people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent Expatriate men's footballers in India I-League players Mohun Bagan Super Giant players Gresik United F.C. players Kaya F.C.–Iloilo players Philippines Football League players Churchill Brothers FC Goa players Bankstown City FC players Sydney Olympic FC players St George FC players Liga 1 (Indonesia) players Expatriate men's footballers in Indonesia Australian expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia Expatriate men's footballers in the Philippines Australian expatriate sportspeople in the Philippines Men's association football defenders Australian men's soccer players