Eduvard "Eddie" Krncevic ( ; ; born 14 August 1960) is an Australian retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Club career

After playing his first four years of professional football in Australia, Krncevic moved to the land of his parents in 1981, joining Croatian side

NK Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

, where he had relative individual success, besides helping the side win one

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

and one

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

. Krnčević then played four months in the German second division with

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jer ...

, after which he embarked on his most successful spell, ten and a half years in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

– with one

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

in France with

FC Mulhouse Football Club de Mulhouse (; commonly referred to as FCM or simply Mulhouse) is a Football in France, French association football club based in Mulhouse. The club was founded in 1893 and currently play in the Championnat National 3, the fifth le ...

in between – where he represented Cercle Brugge KSV, Royal Charleroi,

R.S.C. Anderlecht Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, commonly abbreviated to RSC Anderlecht (, , ) or RSCA (, , ), is a Belgian professional football club based in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital-Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian First Division A and is the mos ...

R.F.C. de Liège The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC supp ...

and K.S.C. Eendracht Aalst; he became the first Australian-born player to be crowned top scorer in a European league. Even though silverware was hard to come even at Anderlecht, in 1988–89 Krnčević was crowned the

's top scorer at 23 goals, and helped the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

side to the domestic cup – in that competition, he scored in all three finals he won, the first being with Cercle. In 1996, aged 36, Krncevic returned to Australia and played one final season with the

Gippsland Falcons Falcons 2000 Soccer Club (formerly Morwell Falcons, Gippsland Falcons and Eastern Pride) is an Australian semi-professional association football, soccer club based in the regional Victoria, Australia, Victorian city of Morwell in Latrobe Valley, G ...

. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he had a coaching career, with all the clubs hailing from his homeland, 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 ...

. Internationally, he opted to represent his birth country, scoring every other match in 35

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

s, and helping the country to win the

1980 OFC Nations Cup The 1980 OFC Nations Cup was held in Nouméa, New Caledonia. The eight participating teams were Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Tahiti. Australia defeated Tahiti 4-2 in the fi ...

International career

Krncevic was captain of the Australia team that won the

1980 Oceania Cup The 1980 OFC Nations Cup was held in Nouméa, New Caledonia. The eight participating teams were Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia national football team, New Caledonia, Vanuatu national football team, New Hebrides, New Zealand national football tea ...

, of which only one match, an 11–2 defeat of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, counted as a full international match.

Honours

Essendon Croatia *Victorian Champions: 1978 *Victorian State League Cup: 1978 *Ampol Cup: 1977, 1978 *Armstrong Cup: 1977 Marconi *

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

NSL Cup The National Soccer League Cup (known most commonly as the NSL Cup) was an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic Australian soccer organised by the Australian Soccer Federation between 1977 and 1997. History The NSL Cup was or ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

Dinamo Zagreb * Yugoslav League: 1981–82 *

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

: 1982–83 Cercle Brugge *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 1984–85; runner-up 1985–86 Anderlecht *

Belgian League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

: 1986–87 *Belgian Cup: 1987–88, 1988–89 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

Australia *

OFC Nations Cup The OFC Men's Nations Cup, known as the OFC Nations Cup before the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup, 2024 edition, is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's natio ...

Individual *

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

(OAM) – 2021 * FFA Hall of Champions Inductee – 2000 *

: Top scorer 1988–89 * NSL: Papasavas Medal (U-21) 1979

References

External links

FFA – Hall of Fame profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Krncevic, Eddie 1960 births Living people Sportspeople from Geelong Soccer players from Victoria (state) Australian people of Croatian descent Men's association football forwards Australian men's soccer players National Soccer League (Australia) players Marconi Stallions FC players Sydney United 58 FC players Melbourne Knights FC players Yugoslav First League players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players 2. Bundesliga players MSV Duisburg players Belgian Pro League players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players R.S.C. Anderlecht players RFC Liège players Royal Charleroi S.C. players S.C. Eendracht Aalst players Ligue 1 players FC Mulhouse players Australia men's international soccer players Australian soccer managers South Melbourne FC managers Falcons 2000 SC players Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia 1980 Oceania Cup players OFC Nations Cup–winning players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Yugoslavia Expatriate men's footballers in France Australian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Australian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Australian expatriate sportspeople in Yugoslavia Australian expatriate sportspeople in France National Soccer League (Australia) managers 20th-century Australian sportsmen