Alexander John Kosmina (born 17 August 1956), known as John Kosmina, is an Australian former

football (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 and manager, most recently being the Senior Head Coach of

Brisbane Strikers Brisbane Strikers Football Club is an Australian semi-professional football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in 1991 as Brisbane United, the club competed in the National Soccer League until the 2003–04 season and was one of tw ...

. He is a member of the

Football Federation Australia Football Hall of Fame The aims of the Football Australia Hall of Fame are to celebrate and highlight the achievements of retired players and other participants who have contributed significantly to the game. These are made up of either Australian and/or non-Austral ...

Club career

Kosmina is of Polish Australian ethnicity. He played for Polonia and then West Adelaide, before signing for English side

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in February 1978. However, he only played one first-team league game for the Gunners (as a substitute against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

on 19 August 1978), along with 3 appearances (2 as a substitute) in that season's UEFA cup. He was the first Australian to play for Arsenal. He returned to Australia in May 1979. On his return, he went on to become one of 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 ...

's most prolific scorers, with stints at

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 ...

, West Adelaide (for a second time), Sydney City,

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- ...

and

A.P.I.A. Leichhardt Tigers APIA Leichhardt Football Club, also known simply as APIA (Associazione Poli-sportiva Italo Australiana), is a semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of Leichhardt in Sydney, Australia. The club was formed in 1954 as APIA Leichhardt, ...

before retiring in 1989. The most successful of these was with Sydney City, being part of their 1981 and 1982 championship winning teams, as well as being the league's top scorer in 1982.

Managerial career

After retiring, he began coaching the Warringah Dolphins in the New South Wales state leagues, before coaching NSL side Newcastle Breakers, followed by a stint at the

. Both stints were largely unsuccessful, his sides reaching the finals only once.

Adelaide United

In 2003, he became the inaugural coach of

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional Association Football, soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under North American professional sports league organization#Systems ar ...

. Kosmina coached United to an impressive 3rd in the final season of the NSL. Maintaining his job for the inaugural season of 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 ...

, Kosmina led his side to the Minor Premiership but a poor finals series saw them finish 3rd overall. The next season saw mixed results for Kosmina and Adelaide United. Finishing 2nd on the table behind

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 ...

, Adelaide managed to reach the grand final, only to be thrashed 6–0. Kosmina's criticism of the refereeing of that match, coupled with the devastating loss and a touchline ban earlier during the season for a scuffle with Victory captain

Kevin Muscat Kevin Vincent Muscat (born 7 August 1973) is an Australian former association football player and the current manager of Yokohama F. Marinos. As a player, he represented the Australia national team at international level winning 46 caps and sco ...

, saw him forced to resign by the Adelaide board. He was then appointed by

Socceroos The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated with ...

coach Graham Arnold as his assistant for the 2007 Asian Cup.

Sydney FC

After the sacking of

Branko Culina Branko Culina (; born 1 October 1957 in Zadar, Socialist Republic of Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia) is a football (soccer) coach and former player. He previously managed Sydney FC and the Newcastle Jets in the A-League. Club career Culina was born i ...

by the Sydney Football Club Board, Kosmina was confirmed on 24 October 2007 as the new Sydney FC coach. Since signing with

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 ...

Kosmina made an immediate impact; winning his first game with Sydney 3–2 against rivals

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 ...

at the

Sydney Football Stadium The Sydney Football Stadium, commercially known as Allianz Stadium and previously Aussie Stadium, was a football stadium in Moore Park, Sydney, Australia. Built in 1988 next to the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stadium was Sydney's premier rect ...

. Sydney FC beat the

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

5–3 at Sydney's

Telstra Stadium Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney, Australia. The stadium, which in Australia is sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Stadi ...

in a friendly, and also won a thrilling 5–4 victory against the

Bluetongue Stadium Central Coast Stadium (known originally as Grahame Park), known commercially as Industree Group Stadium is a sports venue in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. The stadium is home to the Central Coast Mariners asso ...

. Following Sydney FC's poor run in the 2008/2009 season (missing the finals for the first time), John Kosmina had his contract terminated in late January 2009.

Adelaide Raiders

He was announced the manager of the Adelaide Raiders, a semi-professional club playing in the

FFSA Super League The FFSA Super League was the highest state-level soccer competition in South Australia between 2006 and 2012. Prior to the 2006 season, the highest level competition in South Australia was the SASF Premier League. Due to the manifestation of a n ...

. On 1 September 2011, it was announced he had signed as senior coach of

club

Croydon Kings Croydon FC, formerly known as Croydon Kings, is an Australian semi-professional soccer club in Adelaide, South Australia. Croydon FC currently competes in the National Premier Leagues South Australia. They play home games at Polonia Reserve at C ...

after more than 35 years away from the club. It was announced on 18 December 2011 that Croydon Kings had agreed to released Kosmina from his coaching contract so he could accept the Adelaide United manager position.

Return to Adelaide United

On 18 December 2011 he signed as caretaker coach with

for the remainder of the 2011–12 A-League season. On 22 March 2012 it was announced he had signed a one-year contract with the club to stay on for the 2012–13 A-League season. On 28 January 2013 he stood down as manager of Adelaide United, citing a lack of trust at the club.

Brisbane City

In August 2015, Kosmina was appointed senior coach and football leader at

National Premier Leagues Queensland The National Premier League Queensland, run by Football Queensland, is the top tier state-level football (soccer) competition in Queensland. The conference is a sub division of the National Premier Leagues. The inaugural season kicked off in Marc ...

club Brisbane City, signing a three-year contract. In November 2018, it was announced that he would join the coaching staff at St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace, taking responsibility for the Open First and Second XI teams, as well as the Year 10 and 11 teams, as part of a partnership between the college and Brisbane City.

Brisbane Strikers

In November 2020,

announced that Kosmina would return to the club as senior coach, 17 years after he last coached the side. After a string of shocking results Kosmina was sacked by the club on Monday 24 May On 24 May 2021, it was announced via a club statement on the club website that the

and Kosmina would be parting ways. This decision came after a poor run of form which saw the Strikers not take a single point from their first ten games in the 2021 NPL Queensland Season.

Media

He occasionally appears on

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

as a commentator and football analyst. Kosmina co-hosts a weekly Internet television show about football on

Australia Live TV Australia Live TV is an Australia-based online television network run from Chapel Lane Studios in Hindmarsh, South Australia, Adelaide The company started with one sports Internet television show ''KG and the General'' but now hosts several shows ...

with

Ross Aloisi Ross Aloisi (born 17 April 1973) is a former Australian soccer player who was the captain of Adelaide United in the Hyundai A-League – a team he guided to a minor premiership, a pre-season cup and two Asian Champions League campaigns. After ...

, Two Up Front and the episodes are o
AustraliaLiveTV.com

International goals

:''Scores and results list goal tally first.''

Honours

Player

; Sydney City * NSL Championship:

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, 1982 * NSL Cup: 1986

Individual

* FFA Hall of Fame: 1999 * NSL Top Scorer: 1982 * NSL Under 21 Player of the Year: 1977

Manager

;

* A-League Premiership: 2005–2006 Kosmina Street in the Sydney suburb of Glenwood is named for him.

John Kosmina Medal

The award given to the player of the match in the

National Premier Leagues The National Premier Leagues (NPL) is a national association football competition in Australia which acts as the second tier of the sport in the country below the A-League. The NPL consists of the highest level state league in each state-based ...

Grand Final each year is named in his honour.

References

External links

FFA – Hall of Fame profile

Sydney FC profile

Two Up Front
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosmina, John 1956 births Living people Soccer players from Adelaide Australian people of Polish descent Australian soccer players Australian expatriate soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australia international soccer players Olympic soccer players of Australia Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Australian soccer coaches Croydon Kings players West Adelaide SC players Arsenal F.C. players Sydney Olympic FC players Adelaide United FC managers Sydney FC managers National Soccer League (Australia) players Sutherland Sharks FC players A-League Men managers Association football forwards Hakoah Sydney City East FC players Brisbane Strikers coaches