Robert Zabica (born 9 April 1964 in

Spearwood, Western Australia Spearwood is a southern suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Cockburn. This suburb derives its name from the Spearwood bush which is a common shrub in the area. History Settlement appears to have begun in Spearwood in ...

) is an Australian former

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Zabica represented the Australian national team 28 times in 'A' international matches and also represented

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Playing career

Zabica started his career with Cockburn City before joining

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 ...

for seven seasons, winning National Soccer League (NSL) championships in 1992 and 1994. He played for Australia in the qualifiers for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

finals, losing narrowly to Argentina. A nagging knee injury forced his international retirement, but he made a comeback in 1995 with Dalmatinac with whom he won the D'Orsogna Cup. He made his State debut at the age of 31, captaining the side that beat

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

in 1995, and went on to play a further five times for Western Australia. He returned to national league level in 1997, making seven appearances for Perth Glory and taking his career tally to 202 games. He had a three-match spell in England with

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

in late 1997 and returned to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

to play for Bayswater City SC, Inglewood United and Fremantle City. Zabica made his international debut for Australia in 1990.

Honours

Adelaide City * National Soccer League Championship: 1991–92, 1993–94 *

National Cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League. For most of the competition's history, the draw has ...

: 1991–92 Individual * National Soccer League Goalkeeper of the Year: 1991–92 *

Football Federation Australia 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 ...

inductee: 2006

References

External links

OzFootball profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zabica, Robert 1964 births Living people Soccer players from Perth, Western Australia Australian soccer players Australian expatriate soccer players Australia international soccer players National Soccer League (Australia) players Adelaide City FC players Bradford City A.F.C. players Perth Glory FC players Australian people of Croatian descent Stirling Macedonia FC players Association football goalkeepers Expatriate footballers in England English Football League players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England