Frank Juric ( hr, Frank Jurić, ; born 28 October 1973) is an Australian former goalkeeper.

Club career

Born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Juric began his professional career in the former Australian national league with

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 ...

, where he won two league titles, before moving to the newly formed

Collingwood Warriors Collingwood Warriors Soccer Club was an Australian semi-professional association football (soccer) club based in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford. It participated in the National Soccer League in 1996–97, lasting only a solitary sea ...

(also based in

). The club struggled financially though and was unable to go on beyond this solitary season, in which they finished second bottom. The goalkeeper took this as his cue to move to Europe, although the transfer was a protracted affair, as Collingwood Warriors – no longer technically in existence – still demanded a fee from

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

. Eventually, this was resolved by the German club paying $30,000 and Juric was free to move for the 1997–98 season. His first season in Germany was relatively successful as Fortuna Düsseldorf finished seventh in the 2. Bundesliga. However, the following year they suffered relegation to the Regionalliga-West. However, Juric had been spotted by

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

team

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

and he signed for the high-flying club in summer 1999. Juric was used as a backup keeper here, behind the likes of Adam Matysek and

Hans-Jörg Butt Hans-Jörg Butt (; born 28 May 1974) is a German former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Known for taking penalty kicks, and for often running into the opposing penalty box in an attempt to find a winner whenever his team were trailing, h ...

but still managed 11

appearances as the club enjoyed a series of strong performances both domestically, and notably in the 2002 Champions League, where they reached the final. Juric himself appeared twice in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

in 2002–03, against

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. In June 2004, he joined fellow Bundesliga side

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

as second choice keeper behind

Robert Enke Robert Enke (24 August 1977 – 10 November 2009) was a German professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Mönchengladbach, Benfica, and Barcelona, but made the majority of his appearances for Bundesliga side Hannover 96 ...

. His time with the Reds has been blighted by persistent

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

problems, limiting to just a single appearance in his first three seasons there, playing in a 2–2 draw with

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

on 6 May 2006. In May 2008, it was announced that Juric was to return to his native Australia for the 2008–09

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 ...

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 ...

. He competed for the number one jersey alongside Olyroo

Tando Velaphi Tando Yuji Velaphi (born 17 April 1987) is an Australian professional football player who plays as a goalkeeper for Kochi United. Club career Early playing career Velaphi trained at the AIS in Canberra on a football scholarship. Perth SC (20 ...

, while

Jason Petkovic Jason Petkovic (born 7 December 1972 in Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian football (soccer) player. He is the brother of Michael Petkovic. Club career He played as a goalkeeper for the Australian A-League club Perth Glory where he ...

was retained as a backup and advisor to the youth team. Juric's poor run of form led to the goalkeeping position given to Tando Velaphi. In May 2009, Juric retired as a player and joined Glory as goalkeeping coach, when they signed

Aleks Vrteski Aleksandar "Aleks" Vrteski ( mk, Александар Вртески) (born 28 September 1988 in Karratha, Western Australia) is a football goalkeeper who plays for Stirling Lions. Born in Australia, Vrteski represented Australia international ...

as the club's second goalkeeper.

International career

Juric made two full appearances for the Australian national team, making his debut on 10 November 1995 in a

1996 OFC Nations Cup The 1996 OFC Nations Cup was not held as a cohesive tournament, but consisted of semi-finals and a final played on a two-legged basis, stretched out between November 1995 and November 1996. The four participating teams were Australia and New Zea ...

match against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

which finished goalless, and also appearing on 10 February 1996 in a 1–4 friendly defeat to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. He also competed in the

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in the football competition and was an unused squad member in the

2001 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup was the fifth FIFA Confederations Cup and the third to be organised by FIFA. It was also the first in which the original hosts, Saudi Arabia, did not participate (they were the nation who founded the tournament, pr ...

, where they achieved third place. However, the likes of

Mark Schwarzer Mark Schwarzer (; born 6 October 1972) is an Australian former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. He represented Australia at international level from 1993 to 2013, and was selected for both the 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cups ...

Zeljko Kalac Zeljko Kalac (born 16 December 1972) is an Australian former soccer goalkeeper, who is currently the manager of NK Urania Baška Voda, who play in the Croatian third division. Nicknamed "Spider" due to his tall, gangly figure, standing at 2.02& ...

and

Mark Bosnich Mark John Bosnich (born 13 January 1972) is an Australian former professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper, and sports pundit. He played in England for Premier League clubs Aston Villa, Manchester United and Chelsea. He also played in ...

had severely limited his hopes of international football.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Melbourne Knights * NSL: 1994–95, 1995–96 * NSL Premiers: 1991–92, 1993–94, 1994–95 Bayer Leverkusen *

: Runner-up 1999–2000 and 2001–02 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

: Runner-up 2001–02 *

Runner-up: 2001–02

International

Australia *

OFC Nations Cup The OFC Nations Cup is an international association football tournament held among the OFC member nations. It was held every two years from 1996 to 2004; before 1996 there were two other tournaments held at irregular intervals, under the name ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

References

External links

Oz Football profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Juric, Frank 1973 births Living people Australian people of Croatian descent Association football goalkeepers Australian soccer players Australian expatriate soccer players Australia international soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Olympic soccer players of Australia A-League Men players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Bayer 04 Leverkusen II players Fortuna Düsseldorf players Hannover 96 players Melbourne Knights FC players Perth Glory FC players National Soccer League (Australia) players Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Collingwood Warriors S.C. players 1996 OFC Nations Cup players Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players