Tony Popovic (born 4 July 1973) is an Australian association football manager and former player. He is the current manager of A-League club

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), Victor ...

. As a player Popovic's usual position was centre-back. Starting in 1989 at

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 ...

he went on to play for

Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sanfrecce Hiroshima ( ja, サンフレッチェ広島, translit=''Sanfuretche Hiroshima'') is a Japanese professional football club based in Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the co ...

of Japan and

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 Fo ...

side

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

, among other clubs. He appeared with the Australian national team at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

, where he played against reigning World Champions

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Popovic started his coaching career in 2008 with Sydney FC. After a brief stint as assistant manager at Crystal Palace he was chosen as the inaugural manager of Western Sydney Wanderers at the start of the 2012–13 season. His major achievements as a manager are winning the

2012–13 A-League The 2012–13 A-League was the 36th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the eighth season of the Australian A-League since its establishment in 2004. The 2012–13 season saw the introduction of a new Western Sydney-based team, the r ...

Premiership and

2014 AFC Champions League The 2014 AFC Champions League was the 33rd edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 12th under the current AFC Champions League title. Guangzhou Evergrande were the defen ...

with the Wanderers and the

2018–19 A-League The 2018–19 A-League was the 42nd season of national level soccer in Australia, and the 14th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The regular season commenced on 19 October 2018 and concluded on 28 April 2019. The play-offs began ...

Premiership with Perth Glory. He is the father of Kristian and

Gabriel Popovic Gabriel Popovic (born 28 July 2003) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Italian club Catania. Club career On 7 August 2019, he made his professional debut against Western Sydney Wanderers in the 2019 FFA Cup. ...

, both of whom are also professional footballers.

Club career

Early career

Popovic was born in Sydney to a Croatian family, and grew up in Fairfield, New South Wales. He began his career with

with a one-year stint in his junior career at

Fairfield Bulls Fairfield Bulls Football Club is an Australian amateur (formerly semi-professional until 2012) football club based in Fairfield, New South Wales. The club is currently playing in the Southern Districts Football Association. Fairfield Bulls have ...

. He rose through the youth ranks, making 162 appearances in seven years for the first team, before moving to play in the J1 League. Popovic signed with

where he stayed for five years scoring 13 goals in 94 appearances.

Crystal Palace

Popovic signed for

on a free transfer in August 2001 from

. He became an integral part of the Palace defence, eventually becoming

club captain The team captain of an association football team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavi ...

. He played more than 120 matches for Crystal Palace. In his last season he played for Crystal Palace in 21

matches. In total he made more than 120 appearances for the club. Popovic's contract with Palace expired at the end of June 2006, and he decided against accepting the club's offer of a new contract. He instead moved to Qatar club, Al-Arabi.

Sydney FC

In 2007, with the growth of the A-League and slight homesickness, Popovic moved to Sydney FC, signing a two-year deal, with coach

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 ...

also announcing him the club's captain. Popovic scored his first goal on 28 October 2007 from a corner to beat the Mariners 3–2 in front of his home crowd of 17,850. Popovic announced his retirement on 11 November 2008 after nearly 20 years as a professional footballer.

International career

Popovic competed 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 for the Australia U23 team. He began his full international career in 1995 with the Australia national team. Over the next eleven years Popovic made 58 appearances for the Socceroos, scoring 8 goals. The highlight of Popovic's career came in 2006 when the Australian national team qualified for the

under the management of Guus Hiddink. He took part in both legs in the qualifying match against Uruguay. Being replaced in the first half of the second leg, due to injury, by

Harry Kewell Harry Kewell (born 22 September 1978) is an Australian association football coach, manager and former player. His most recent role as a club manager was at English National League side Barnet, and he is currently a first team coach at Celtic F ...

. The tall defender was named in the competing squad and made his World Cup debut against

on 18 June. He suffered a calf injury 40 minutes into the game and was replaced by

Mark Bresciano Mark Bresciano ( ; ; born 11 February 1980) is an Australian former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. Born in Melbourne, Bresciano played youth football for Bulleen Lions, before moving into the National Soccer League w ...

for the second half. His injury ruled him out of Australia's last match in the group stage, against Croatia, and their second round loss against eventual winners, Italy. On 4 October 2006, Popovic announced his retirement from the Socceroos. His final game was a friendly against Paraguay that month. He scored his eighth international goal, from a Mark Bresciano free kick, in his final minute on field to put Australia ahead, 1–0 in a game that finished 1–1.

Coaching career

After retiring, Popovic moved into an assistant coach's role with Sydney FC, where he remained until February 2011, when he returned to England and to

as first team coach, after former teammate

Dougie Freedman Douglas Alan Freedman (born 25 May 1974) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is the current sporting director of Crystal Palace. Freedman played as a striker, primarily for Crystal Palace and also had spells as ...

was appointed manager.

Western Sydney Wanderers

On 17 May 2012, Popovic was announced as inaugural manager of A-League club

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

. He joined the club on a four seasons deal after requesting to be released from the final year of his contracted role as assistant manager of Crystal Palace. In Wanderers' first season, Popovic was named A-League Coach of the Year after finishing first in the league. In the 2013–14 season Popovic led Wanderers to the 2014 AFC Champions League Final in the club's first attempt in the competition. They defeated Al-Hilal in the final, becoming the first Australian team to win the tournament. As a result of this achievement, Popovic was named as the 2014 AFC Coach of the Year. With poor recruiting, the loss of assistant coach

Ante Milicic Ante Milicic ( ; hr, Ante Miličić ; (born 4 April 1974) is an Australian soccer manager and former professional player. Personal life The son of Croatian immigrants, Milicic grew up in Strathfield, a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney. Mi ...

, and a gruelling schedule of matches, the 2014–15 season saw Popovic's team finish ninth in the league and eliminated from the group stage of the

2015 AFC Champions League The 2015 AFC Champions League was the 34th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 13th under the current AFC Champions League title. Guangzhou Evergrande won the tournament ...

. Despite an unfavorable season Popovic signed a new three-season deal with Western Sydney Wanderers, which would keep him at the club helm until 2018.

Karabükspor

On 1 October 2017, Popovic made a shock announcement that he had resigned from

to coach Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club Karabükspor. It came less than a week out from the start of the

2017–18 A-League The 2017–18 A-League was the 41st season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the 13th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season began on 6 October 2017 and ended with the Grand Final on 5 May 2018. Sydney FC won the A- ...

season. After nine games, on 15 December 2017, he was sacked by the club and was owed AUD$1.4M compensation. The club's entire boardroom quit during his time at the club and after he left, the club went into financial administration and continue to be relegated every season.

Perth Glory

On 11 May 2018, Popovic was confirmed as Perth Glory's new manager following the dismissal of

Kenny Lowe Kenny Lowe (born 6 November 1961) is an English association football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Australian side Perth RedStar. Kenny played for ten clubs in England, and had a stint in Australia also. He later mana ...

at the end of the 2017–18 season. His first game in charge was a pre-season friendly against Chelsea which the Glory lost 0–1. Under Popovic's management, Perth won the

premiership.

Xanthi FC

On 26 August 2020, shortly after coaching Perth to a 2–0 loss to Sydney FC in the A-League semi finals, Popovic activated a contractual clause allowing him to leave the club for a European team, after signing with Greek Super League side

Xanthi FC Xanthi Football Club ( el, Α.Ο. Ξάνθη Π.Α.Ε.) is a Greek professional football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace and plays at Xanthi FC Arena. The club resigned from the Super League 2 due to financial issues. Founded in 1967, X ...

, that was bought by Greek-Australian business tycoon Bill Papas. He lasted five months, being sacked with the club in 5th place and four points from the top. Goalkeeping coach

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& ...

stated later that Popovic was sabotaged and fired due to the owners wanting more control over decisions. Papas would later be accused by Australian banking authorities over an alleged loan fraud scheme that cost multiple banks over $500 million AUD in total.

Melbourne Victory

On 21 April 2021,

appointed Popovic head coach on a three year contract to replace Grant Brebner and Steve Kean, who coached the team to last place in the previous season. Popovic had early success, bringing the club back to the top of the A-League table after eight games and winning the 2021 FFA Cup on 5 February 2022.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Australia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Popovic goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

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,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, 2004

Manager

Western Sydney Wanderers *

A-League Men 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 competit ...

: Premiers

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

; runner-up 2013–14, 2015–16 * A-League Men Finals runner-up:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

* AFC Champions League:

Perth Glory * A-League Men: Premiers 2018–19 * A-League Men Finals runner-up:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Melbourne Victory * A-League Men runner-up: 2021–22 * Australia Cup:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Individual

* A-League Men Coach of the Year:

, 2018–19, 2021–22 * PFA A-League Manager of the Season:

, 2018–19 *

AFC Coach of the Year The National Football League Coach of the Year Award is presented annually by various news and sports organizations to the National Football League (NFL) head coach who has done the most outstanding job of working with the talent he has at his disp ...

: 2014

References

External links

* * *
Player profile – Tony Popovic
Sydney FC

Oz Football {{DEFAULTSORT:Popovic, Tony 1973 births Living people Sydney United 58 FC players Sanfrecce Hiroshima players Crystal Palace F.C. players Sydney FC players Premier League players Al-Arabi SC (Qatar) players A-League Men players J1 League players National Soccer League (Australia) players Crystal Palace F.C. non-playing staff A-League Men managers Western Sydney Wanderers FC managers Kardemir Karabükspor managers Qatar Stars League players Australian people of Croatian descent Australia international soccer players Olympic soccer players of Australia Australian expatriate soccer players Australian expatriate soccer coaches Expatriate footballers in Japan Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Australian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Soccer players from Sydney Association football defenders Australian soccer coaches Australian soccer players Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics 1996 OFC Nations Cup players 2000 OFC Nations Cup players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players