Nedjeljko Zelic (born 4 July 1971), commonly known as Ned Zelic, is an Australian former

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 ...

who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

defensive 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 ...

Club career

Zelic started his career in the old Australian

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 ...

, where he played with clubs

Sydney Croatia 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 ...

and

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 his junior years he played for Croatia Deakin. Zelic spent most of the 1990s playing in Europe, most notably for

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

where he reached the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

Final in his first season with the club, losing to

Juventus Turin )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnell ...

of Italy and won the German

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 ...

title in 1995. He had a brief stint in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for

QPR Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus R ...

, moving for a club record £1.25 million, which was beset by injury and discontent. After just 4

games for the West London club, he departed to

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

in Germany. After only a few months he signed for

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or simply Auxerre (), is a French football club based in the commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club was founded in 1905 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division o ...

of France. At Auxerre, he replaced

Laurent Blanc Laurent Robert Blanc (born 19 November 1965) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back, and is currently the manager of Ligue 1 club Lyon. He has the nickname ''Le Président'', which was given to him ...

who moved to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

, and participated 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 July 1996, Zelic was selected to play for a World All Star team vs. Brazil at

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands or The Swamp) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and it primarily hosted sp ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The All Star team was coached by

Euro 92 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

winner with Denmark, Richard Moller Nielsen and consisted of such players as

Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Klinsmann (, born 30 July 1964) is a German professional football manager and former player. Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bayern Munich. He ...

George Weah George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah (; born 1 October 1966) is a Liberian politician and former professional footballer who is the incumbent president of Liberia, in office since 2018. Prior to his election to the presidency, Weah served a ...

Marcel Desailly Marcel Desailly (born Odenke Abbey; 7 September 1968) is a French former professional footballer, widely considered to be among the greatest centre-backs and defensive midfielders to ever play football. During a successful career at club level, l ...

Lothar Matthäus Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German association football, football pundit and former professional player and manager. After captaining Germany national football team, West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup whe ...

David Ginola David Ginola-Ceze (born 25 January 1967) is a French former professional footballer who has also worked as an actor, model and football pundit. A former forward, Ginola played football for ten seasons in France before moving from Paris Saint-Ger ...

and

Fernando Redondo Fernando Carlos Redondo Neri (; born 6 June 1969) is an Argentine retired footballer. A defensive midfielder with the ability to contribute offensively and creatively, he turned professional playing for Argentinos Juniors and played one full ...

. In 1998, Zelic decided to move back to Germany and went on to make 102 appearances for

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members of ...

in the Bundesliga. In 2002, he moved to Japan to play in the

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

where he stayed for two years and played under Dutch coaches

Hans Ooft Marius Johan ("Hans") Ooft (born 1947) is a Dutch former football player and manager who became the first foreigner to head the Japanese football team. Under Ooft, Japan won the Asian Championship for the first time in 1992 but was fired a year ...

and

Wim Jansen Wilhelmus Marinus Antonius Jansen (; 28 October 1946 – 25 January 2022) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a midfielder or defender, he spent most of his career at Feyenoord, winning honours including the European Cup ...

, winning the Japanese Cup with his club

Urawa Red Diamonds , colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, is a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J ...

. Zelic signed for

FC Wacker Tirol FC Wacker Innsbruck is an Austrian association football club from Innsbruck. The club was formed in June 2002 as ''FC Wacker Tirol'', and plays their home games at Tivoli-Neu. The club regard themselves as the spiritual continuation of the te ...

of Austria in July 2004 and stayed there for one season.

A-League

In 2005, Ned Zelic agreed terms to a two-year deal as a marquee to captain the

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

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 ...

, where he played out the whole season from central defence. The Jets finished fourth on the league table and lost to the

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 ...

2–1 on aggregate over two legs in the Minor Semi-final. Zelic underwent

arthroscopic surgery Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the jo ...

on his knee after the semi-finals. Several months later he decided to move back overseas and it was not certain if he would continue his career.

Europe

After being granted a work permit, he signed a one-year deal with Dutch side

Helmond Sport Helmond Sport is a professional association football club based in the city of Helmond, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. The club was founded on 27 June 1967, as ...

in August 2006, working again with his former 1860 Munich teammate

Gerald Vanenburg Gerald Mervin Vanenburg (born 5 March 1964) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a right winger. He amassed Eredivisie totals of 372 games and 112 goals for Ajax and PSV combined, winning fifteen major titles between the two ...

, who was coach there. However, he left Helmond after only two months due to knee problems and considered retirement. In January 2007, Zelic joined

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

n club

FC Dinamo Tbilisi FC Dinamo Tbilisi ( ka, დინამო თბილისი, ) is a Georgian professional football club based in Tbilisi, Georgia, that competes in the Erovnuli Liga, the top flight of Georgian football. Dinamo Tbilisi was one of the mo ...

on a free transfer, where he played under former Czech National Team coach Dusan Uhrin. He announced his retirement from football in May 2008, after winning the Georgian Championship with Dinamo Tbilisi. He was selected in ''

Four Four Two ''FourFourTwo'' is a football magazine published by Future. Issued monthly, it published its 300th edition in May 2019. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4-4-2. In 2008, it was announced that ''FourFourTwo'' had e ...

'' magazine's Top 25 Australian Footballers of All-Time.

International career

He has played for the Australia youth, Olympic and senior teams, but made himself unavailable in November 1999 after disagreements with coach

Frank Farina Frank Farina OAM (born 5 September 1964) is an Australian football (soccer) coach and former player who played as a forward. His playing career spanned Australia, Belgium, France, Italy and England, and was a major player for the Australian ...

. Zelic was captain of the Australian team that competed and finished 4th at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

in Barcelona.

Personal life

Ned Zelic attended Wanniassa High School in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, ACT. Zelic is the older brother of former footballer turned actor

Ivan Zelic Ivan Zelic (born 24 February 1978) is an Australian former international footballer and current writer, film-maker, and actor. Club career Ivan Zelic was born to Croatian parents and started to play football at the age of 7 for club side Canbe ...

and presenter Lucy Zelic.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Australia *

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

: runners-up

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

Dinamo Tbilisi *

Umaglesi Liga The Erovnuli Liga ( ka, ეროვნული ლიგა - lit. National League) is the top division of professional football in Georgia. Since 1990, it has been organized by the Professional Football League of Georgia and Georgian Football F ...

: 2007–2008 Urawa Reds *

J.League Cup The is a Japanese football (soccer) competition organized by J.League. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since its inception in 1992. It is also known as the or (Levain is one of YB ...

: 2003 Borussia Dortmund *

: 1994–1995 *

: runners-up 1992–93

References

External links

*
OzFootball profile

FIFA World All Star Team
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zelic, Ned 1971 births Living people Soccer players from Sydney Association football defenders Association football midfielders Australian people of Croatian descent A-League Men players Australian expatriate soccer players Australia international soccer players Olympic soccer players of Australia Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players National Soccer League (Australia) players Sydney United 58 FC players Sydney Olympic FC players Borussia Dortmund players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Eintracht Frankfurt players AJ Auxerre players Expatriate footballers in France TSV 1860 Munich players Kyoto Sanga FC players Urawa Red Diamonds players Newcastle Jets FC players Helmond Sport players FC Dinamo Tbilisi players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Japan Expatriate footballers in Austria Premier League players Ligue 1 players Bundesliga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Australian television presenters J1 League players Eerste Divisie players Erovnuli Liga players Expatriate footballers in Georgia (country) Australian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Australian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Australian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Marquee players (A-League Men) Australian soccer players