Žarko Odžakov (;born 11 November 1955) is a retired

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who played as a midfielder. Born in Yugoslavia, he played for the Australia national team 13 times. Former Australia coach Rale Rasic in 2006 picked Odžakov in his greatest Socceroo team.

Playing career

Club career

FK Vardar

Odžakov played 109 matches over eight years for

FK Vardar FK Vardar () is a professional Association football, football club based in Skopje, North Macedonia, which competes in the Macedonian First Football League, Macedonian First League. They are the most successful football club in Football in Maced ...

in the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

, scoring nine goals.

Preston

In 1982, he emigrated to Australia where he played for Preston Makedonia 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 ...

Sydney Croatia

From 1985 until 1987 he played at NSL club

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 ...

. It was at Croatia that he took the notice of the Australian selectors.

Blacktown City

After two years at Croatia, he moved to

Blacktown City Blacktown City Council is a local government area in Western Sydney, situated on the Cumberland Plain, approximately west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1906 as the Blacktow ...

where he played two years, playing 55 NSL matches.

International career

Outdoor football

In 1985 Odžakov played his first international match for the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. In all he played 13 full international matches for the Socceroos, playing his last match in 1987.

Futsal

Odžakov played three matches for the

Australia national futsal team The Australia national futsal team, nicknamed the Futsalroos, represents Australia in men's international futsal. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of both the ...

at the

1989 FIFA Futsal World Championship The 1989 FIFA Futsal World Championship was the first FIFA Futsal World Championship, the quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was held between 5 and 15 January ...

Coaching career

Soon after retiring Odžakov returned to his native

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. He soon received his coaching accreditation in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

. After a string of assistant coaching roles Odžakov had stint managing

, where he managed to place Vardar in the top half of the

Macedonian First League The Macedonian First Football League (), also called Macedonian First League, 1. MFL, and Prva Liga, is the highest professional football competition in Macedonia. It is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of t ...

. Odžakov managed various

youth teams, including the

North Macedonia national under-21 football team The North Macedonia national under-21 football team is a youth association football national team which represents North Macedonia at this age level and is a feeder team for the North Macedonia national football team. It was formerly known as the ...

Zarko Odzakov Cup

The Zarko Odzakov Cup is named in honour of Odžakov. It is contested by Sydney United (formerly Sydney Croatia) and Bankstown City (a team representing the Macedonian-Australian community).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Odzakov, Zarko 1955 births Living people Footballers from Skopje Yugoslav emigrants to Australia Naturalised soccer players of Australia Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav men's footballers Macedonian men's footballers Australian men's soccer players Australia men's international soccer players FK Vardar players Preston Lions FC players Sydney United 58 FC players Blacktown City FC players Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav Second League players National Soccer League (Australia) players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Macedonian expatriate men's footballers Australian men's futsal players Macedonian football managers Australian soccer managers FK Vardar managers North Macedonia national under-21 football team managers 20th-century Australian sportsmen