Daniel Vukovic ( ; born 27 March 1985) is an Australian professional

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 plays as a goalkeeper for

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Ma ...

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 ...

and the

Australia national team Sport is an important part of Australia that dates back to the early colonial period. Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union, association football, cricket and tennis are among the earliest organised sports in Australia. Sport ha ...

. Vukovic is the holder of several A-League records: he has the second most clean sheets of any goalkeeper in the A-League (87), he is the only goalkeeper to score in the A-League.

Club career

Central Coast Mariners

Vukovic has previously played for Bonnyrigg White Eagles and

Parramatta Power Parramatta Power Soccer Club were a professional association football club who were based in the Western Sydney city of Parramatta. They played in the National Soccer League from season 1999-00 until the league folded in 2004. The Power were ...

. Vukovic made his A-League debut for the

in September 2005 against

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), Victory e ...

after the team's first-choice keeper John Crawley suffered a season-ending hip injury. They lost the game 2–1, however Vukovic saved an Archie Thompson penalty and was widely praised for his debut effort. He went on to play 19 more games for the Mariners in the 2005–06 season, achieving five clean sheets, and also saved a penalty from

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 ...

's star player, Dwight Yorke. Like many Mariners players, Vukovic spends time in schools and at local junior football games, encouraging football at a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

level. It was known that Vukovic had desires to play overseas, and it was revealed on 29 June he has signed with

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...

club Konyaspor. During the third

Grand Final on 24 February 2008, Vukovic received a

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or d ...

for slapping referee Mark Shield's hand following an alleged handball by Newcastle Jets player James Holland. On the day after the Grand Final, Football Federation Australia (FFA) gave Vukovic a 15-month ban (with 6 months suspended), meaning he would not be able to play in the A-League until 24 November 2008. On 4 March 2008, this ban was reduced on appeal to 12 months (with 3 months suspended), meaning that if Vukovic re-offended in the following year, the 3-month suspended sentence would be activated. The ban extended to national team duty, which precluded him from competing in the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

with the Australian U-23 team, the

Olyroos The Australia national under-23 soccer team represents Australia in international under-23 soccer and at the Olympic Games. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia (FA), which is currently a membe ...

, which he represented in all Olympic qualifiers for Beijing and had captained on occasion. Vukovic's ban was appealed a second time and on 22 April 2008 Football Federation Australia announced that the appeals committee had settled on a split suspension; up to 24 June 2008 and then from 29 August through to 5 October 2008. Vukovic was also fined $10,000 and will have a further part of his sentence suspended from 6 October 2008 through to 25 January 2009. Although Vukovic will be ineligible to play for the Mariners in the early rounds of the

2008–09 A-League The 2008–09 A-League was the 32nd season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the fourth season of the A-League competition since its establishment in 2004. Two new clubs, North Queensland Thunder and Gold Coast Galaxy had received tentativ ...

season, the decision means he will be eligible for selection for the Australian Olympic team competing in Beijing. But in June,

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

re-stated that his ban from International Competition did include a ban on competing in the Olympic Games with the Olyroos. He is banned from International football till 6 October, when the ban is suspended till 25 January 2009 subject to no further infringement up to, and including, 25 January 2009. Vukovic's 9 month ban remains the longest suspension in A-League history.

Konyaspor

Vukovic signed for the Turkish club on a 2-year deal, but was released on 13 August 2010 after the club found that they had too many overseas players on their books.

Wellington Phoenix

After being released by Konyaspor, Vukovic signed a one-year deal for the remainder of the 2010–11 season with the Wellington outfit, largely due to an injury suffered by back-up goalkeeper

Reece Crowther Reece Crowther (born 28 November 1988) is an Australian goalkeeper. Club career Crowther played all his junior football at Mulgoa who play in the Nepean Competition in Sydney before moving onto Representative football with the Marconi Stallion ...

. He initially backed-up regular custodian

Mark Paston Mark Nelson Paston (born 13 December 1976) is a New Zealand former Goalkeeper (association football), football goalkeeper who most recently played for the Wellington Phoenix FC, Wellington Phoenix in the A-League before announcing his retireme ...

with occasional appearances, and eventually became first-choice when Paston suffered a season ending knee injury. On 13 February, he scored the first goal of his career and the first for any keeper in the

for the Phoenix with a 93rd-minute penalty in the final round clash against the

North Queensland Fury Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from t ...

Perth Glory

Vukovic signed a 3-year deal beginning in the 2011–12 season with

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 ...

. Vukovic was the number one goalkeeper at Perth and enjoyed a successful season as the club made it to their first A-League grand final, losing to Brisbane Roar.

Vegalta Sendai

Vukovic joined Japanese side

Vegalta Sendai is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in J2 League. The team is located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. History Founded in 1988 as ''Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club'', Vegalta joined the J-League in 1999 after p ...

on a 5-month loan deal. Vukovic but did not make an official appearance for the club, but was on the bench on numerous occasions.

Melbourne Victory

On 4 June 2015, it was confirmed that Vukovic had signed a three-year deal with A-League champions & premiers

, being a major replacement for departing keepers

Nathan Coe Nathan Coe (born 1 June 1984) is an English–Australian goalkeeper who currently plays for Australian club Bentleigh Greens. Club career The son of former National Soccer League and Australian under 23 goalkeeper Martin Coe, he was educa ...

and Michael Turnbull. Vukovic revealed that a factor of signing the deal with the Melbourne club was that he & his wife Kristy wanted to live on the Eastern coast of Australia so that their new born child (expected in July 2015) would be raised closer to their respective families from Sydney. Vukovic agreed to end his contract with Victory after one season on compassionate grounds in July 2016.

Sydney FC

On the day Vukovic parted ways with

, he signed with

on a two-year deal, stating that he made the move to be closer to his family for the sake of his son's health.

Genk

On 21 June 2017, Vukovic transferred to Genk with

receiving a club-record transfer fee of almost $1,000,000. On 4 August 2017, he made his debut in a 2–1 loss to Standard Liège. Vukovic made 45 appearances in all competitions during Genk's 2017–18 season and was the surprise recipient of the fan-voted Golden Shoe award for player of the season. On 20 March 2021, it was announced that a contract termination was agreed, to allow Vukovic to return to Australia to support his heavily pregnant wife.

NEC Nijmegen

In June 2021, Vukovic joined

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

club

NEC Nijmegen NEC Nijmegen (''Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie''), commonly known as NEC (), is a professional Dutch association football club based in Nijmegen. The club currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, following promotion fr ...

on a two-year contract.

Return to Central Coast Mariners

Vukovic returned to

in August 2022. He was named captain of the Mariners in October 2022.

International career

Vukovic played in the

Young Socceroos The Australia national under-20 soccer team, known colloquially as the Young Socceroos, represents Australia in international under-20 soccer. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia (FA), which ...

team which won the

2005 OFC U-20 Championship The 2005 OFC U-20 Championship was the fifteenth contested. It was won by Australia who qualified for the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup after a 3–0 victory against the Solomon Islands played at Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara, Solomon Islands. The fi ...

. He played several matches for the

, however missed the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

through suspension. Vukovic made his debut for the senior team on his 33rd birthday, coming on as a substitute for Brad Jones at half-time against

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. He gave away but then saved a penalty in the 86th minute to keep the game to a scoreless draw. In May 2018 he was named in Australia's 23-man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Vukovic was also named in the Australian squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

Personal life

Vukovic was born on 27 March 1985 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

to a

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

family. During an interview with Fox Sports regarding his new deal with

Vukovic revealed that he and his wife Kristy were expecting their first child in July 2015, stating that they wanted their child to be raised on the eastern coast of Australia, so they could be closer to their respective families, which contributed to the signing the deal with the Melbourne club. His son was diagnosed with

biliary atresia Biliary atresia, also known as extrahepatic ductopenia and progressive obliterative cholangiopathy, is a childhood disease of the liver in which one or more bile ducts are abnormally narrow, blocked, or absent. It can be congenital or acquired. I ...

soon after birth, and required a liver transplant. This was a contributing factor towards moving to Sydney FC, where he would be closer to their family as well as medical support.

Club statistics

¹ – includes

final series statistics
² –

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

statistics are included in season commencing during group stages (i.e. ACL 2009 and A-League season 2008–09 etc.)

International

:''Statistics accurate as of match played 7 June 2021.''

Honours

Central Coast Mariners * A-League Premiership: 2007–08 *

A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup The A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup competition was an annual soccer tournament held for all A-League clubs in July and August in the lead up to the start of the A-League season. The competition featured a group stage and a knockout stage. Co ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Melbourne Victory * FFA Cup:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Sydney * A-League Premiership: 2016–17 *

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 ...

: 2016–17 Genk * Belgian First Division: 2018–19 * Belgian Super Cup:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Australia * OFC U-20 Championship:

Individual * Mariners Medal:

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

* PFA A-League Team of the Season: 2009–10, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17 *

A-League Goalkeeper of the Year The A-League Men Goalkeeper of the Year is an annual soccer award presented to the best goalkeeper in the A-League Men. The award is determined by a panel of experts. The A-League was founded in 2005 to replace the semi-professional National Socc ...

: 2016–17 * K.R.C. Genk Player of the Year: 2017–18

References

External links

* *
Profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vukovic, Danny 1985 births Living people Soccer players from Sydney Australian people of Serbian descent Australia youth international soccer players Australia under-20 international soccer players Parramatta Power players Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC players Central Coast Mariners FC players Wellington Phoenix FC players Perth Glory FC players Melbourne Victory FC players Sydney FC players A-League Men players Konyaspor footballers J1 League players Vegalta Sendai players Belgian Pro League players K.R.C. Genk players NEC Nijmegen players Australian expatriate soccer players Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Japan Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Australian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Australian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Australian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players Association football goalkeepers 2018 FIFA World Cup players Australia international soccer players 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Australian soccer players 2022 FIFA World Cup players