Ivan Zelic (born 24 February 1978) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

former international

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 ...

and current

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

film-maker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

, and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Club career

Ivan Zelic was born to Croatian parents and started to play

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 ...

at the age of 7 for club side

Canberra FC Canberra Croatia Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of Deakin in the south of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Founded in 1958 the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Capi ...

, a club known as a breeding ground for Australian Croatian footballing talent, with the likes of older brother, Australian international

Ned Zelic Nedjeljko Zelic (born 4 July 1971), commonly known as Ned Zelic, is an Australian former footballer who played as a centre-back or defensive midfielder. Club career Zelic started his career in the old Australian National Soccer League, where he ...

, and Croatian international

Josip Simunic Josip () is a male given name found among Croats and Slovenes, a cognate of Joseph. In Croatia, the name Josip was the second most common masculine given name in the decades up to 1959, and has stayed among the top ten most common ones throughout 2 ...

also coming through the same ranks. He won a scholarship at the illustrious

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

(A.I.S) at the age of 16. It was here that Zelic was picked out by

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 the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

(NSL), where he began to ply his trade in the professional league at the age of 17, cementing a spot as a defender in

David Ratcliffe David Ratcliffe (born 9 March 1957) is a former professional footballer. Born in England, he represented Australia at international level. Career Born in Dewsbury, Ratcliffe joined Bradford City as an amateur in July 1972,Frost, p. 405 joini ...

's side of 1995–96. After two seasons, he then signed for

Canberra Cosmos Canberra Cosmos Football Club was an Australian soccer club based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. It participated in the National Soccer League from the 1995/96 season until the end of the 2000/01 season, after which it folded, primar ...

, and in his second year there was to become one of the National Soccer League's youngest ever captains at the age of 21. He then signed for

Adelaide City Adelaide City Football Club is a soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club was known historically as Juventus — the original name given to the club by its founders in Adelaide's Italian community. Adelaide City is one of Aust ...

on a two-year deal, eventually leaving halfway through the second season to join the

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 ...

. After finishing the season, Zelic returned home to play for

, being a stand out for the local side as a left sided midfielder as they won the minor premiershi

It was at his next NSL side,

Sydney United Sydney United 58 Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club and current NSW NPL Champions based in Edensor Park, Sydney, New South Wales Australia. The club was formed as Sydney Croatia in 1958, by Croatian Australians in the area, but it ...

, that Zelic suffered a

Lisfranc fracture A Lisfranc injury, also known as Lisfranc fracture, is an injury of the foot in which one or more of the metatarsal bones are displaced from the tarsus. The injury is named after Jacques Lisfranc de St. Martin, a French surgeon and gynecologi ...

, which involved breaking two metatarsals and tearing the ligaments in his right foot whilst playing in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

against the Auckland Kingz in the NSL. He was to eventually recover, and after a 9-month lay off through injury, signed for Malaysian club

Johor FC Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club or simply JDT is a professional football club based in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. The club was founded in 1972 as PKENJ FC and currently competes in the top division of Malaysian football, the Malaysia Supe ...

, where he spent a season. Upon returning to Australia, he signed for

NSW premier league The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, the organising body in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Leagues Northern ...

sides St. George Saints and

Blacktown City Demons Blacktown City Football Club is an Australian semi-professional football club based in Blacktown, New South Wales. Founded in 1953, the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW. Blacktown City's home ground is Blacktown City ...

, and was in possibly the best form of his career, leading Blacktown to a minor premiership playing as an attacking left sided

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

International career

Zelic was a regular of the Australian Under 20s, or Young Socceroos, starting 11 in the lead up to, and in the World Youth Cup, which was held in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

in 1997. After the World Youth Cup was over, he furthered his international career by becoming the captain of the Australian Olympic team or

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 ...

in their lead-up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics but was to eventually fall out of favor with Australian Olympic team coach

Raul Blanco Raúl Blanco (born 4 December 1941) is an Argentine-born Australian Association football coach and former player. Blanco was born in Buenos Aires. He is well known for coaching the Socceroos from March 1998 to June 1999. He was also coaching t ...

. Blanco eventually invited Zelic to be part of the Olympic squad for the 2000

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in Sydney, but Zelic declined the offer in a storm of controversy, instead opting to concentrate on his club football with

Acting career

Zelic has played guest starring roles in hit Australian shows such as '' All Saints'', ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip ...

'' and ''

Packed to the Rafters ''Packed to the Rafters'' was an Australian family-oriented comedy drama television program which premiered on the Seven Network on Tuesday 26 August 2008 at 8:30 pm. The show continued on Tuesdays in this timeslot for its entire run. The d ...

''. In 2015, he played the lead role in "Colt 13", a short film directed by Luke A. McKay, which went on to play at numerous film festivals and which earned Zelic a best actor award at the Sydney Indie Film Festival.

Directing career

In 2008, Zelic wrote and directed his first short film, '' The Sin Bleeder'', with cinematographer Marc Windon. Zelic's style in ''The Sin Bleeder'' became known for its long takes and smooth camera movements, the short film eventually going on to play at numerous short film festivals, as well as appearing at the Bondi Short Film Festival. His follow-up, '' Ruthless Days'', a gritty crime story, also went on to appear at a number of short film festivals across Australia, one of them being the

Melbourne Underground Film Festival The Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) is an Austalian independent film festival featuring mostly genre, controversial, transgressive and avant garde material. History The Melbourne Underground Film Festival was formed out of disagreeme ...

Personal life

Zelic is the younger brother of former Australian international footballer

Ned Zelić Nedjeljko Zelic (born 4 July 1971), commonly known as Ned Zelic, is an Australian former footballer who played as a centre-back or defensive midfielder. Club career Zelic started his career in the old Australian National Soccer League, where he ...

and the older brother of former SBS football presenter Lucy Zelic.

References

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...