Eugen Josip Galekovic ( ; , ; born 12 June 1981) is an Australian former professional

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 lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

. He is the current goalkeeper and assistant coach for

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation, u ...

. Having played over 250 games in the

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

, 238 of those for

, he is considered one of the greatest A-League goalkeepers of all time, and one of

's greatest players.

Biography

Club career

Galekovic's junior football was mostly played at Chelsea Hajduk in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs. Galekovic played school football for St Bede's College. Galekovic started his career with Morwell based

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 ...

(NSL) side

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 ...

as a 19-year-old in December 2000 before signing with Australian powerhouse

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at the 2021 ...

the following season.

South Melbourne FC

Galekovic was second choice keeper in his early seasons at South playing behind Socceroos keeper Dean Anastasiadis. He made his debut in 2002 against rivals Melbourne Knights at Lakeside Stadium. After a string of impressive performances for his age, Galekovic claimed his spot as South's number 1 for the 2002 season ahead of

Michael Theo Michael Theo ( Theoklitos) (born 11 February 1981) is an Australian goalkeeper who is the goalkeeping coach at A-League club Western United, Western United FC. Career Early career Theoklitos began his football journey through the junior ranks ...

. At his time at South, Galekovic made 37 appearances and kept 17 clean sheets in the process. Following his performances for the club, he received a maiden Olyroos selection. He stayed with South Melbourne until the NSL's closure in 2003–04 where at season's end he secured a place on the list of Beira Mar in Portugal on the back of holding the number one spot for Australia's Olympic football campaign in Athens in 2004. Galekovic was South's keeper in their last ever national league game in 2004 when South Melbourne Lost 2-1 to Adelaide United in an elimination final by golden goal.

Melbourne Victory

The period at Beira Mar was generally unsuccessful for Galekovic, with him seeing little first team action and thus, he returned to Melbourne to sign for the city's inaugural A-League side

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), Victory ...

for season 2005–06, debuting in the opening match against

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

. Galekovic played 11 matches for the season in an unusual goalkeeper rotation policy employed by Melbourne manager

Ernie Merrick Ernest Merrick Order of Australia, OAM (born 15 January 1953) is a Scottish-Australian coach, who last managed A-League soccer club Newcastle Jets FC, Newcastle Jets. He was released on 6 January 2020. He was the former head coach of the Hong Ko ...

in which the other 10 matches saw teammate and former South Melbourne compatriot

Michael Theoklitos Michael Theo ( Theoklitos) (born 11 February 1981) is an Australian goalkeeper who is the goalkeeping coach at A-League club Western United FC. Career Early career Theoklitos began his football journey through the junior ranks at now defunct ...

in goal. Galekovic was second choice keeper for the Victory in the 2006–07 season but an injury to Theoklitos gave Galekovic his first start of the season in the round 13 clash against

Queensland Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional Association football, soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's Australian soccer league system ...

Suncorp Stadium Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Queensland, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rect ...

Adelaide United

On 30 October, Eugene signed for Melbourne Victory rivals Adelaide United as a replacement for injured keeper Daniel Beltrame and made his debut against the

Hindmarsh Stadium Hindmarsh Stadium (also known as Coopers Brewery, Coopers Stadium under naming rights) is a multi-purpose stadium in Hindmarsh, South Australia, Hindmarsh, an inner western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is the home of the Australian ...

. On 20 January 2008, Galekovic kept his first clean sheet for Adelaide in a 2–0 win over Brisbane at Hindmarsh Stadium. On 27 December 2008 Galekovic made a string of impressive saves to ensure Adelaide kept its 1–0 advantage over

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

and in the process giving him his fifth clean sheet of the league season. In February 2010, Galekovic capped off another brilliant year by winning the

Player of the Year Award. In the middle of the 2011–12 A-League Jon McKain resigned his role as captain at Adelaide United. It was then announced that Eugene Galekovic became captain. On 11 March 2016 Galekovic reached 250 appearances despite a 1–0 defeat to

Melbourne City FC Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region, South-Eastern region of Melbourne, Victoria. They compete in the A-League Men, the Australian soccer ...

Melbourne City

On 16 June 2017 Galekovic signed a two-year deal with

. He played 35 league games for Melbourne City before then announcing his retirement at the end of the 2018/19 season.

Return to Adelaide United

Following the conclusion of his contract with Melbourne City, Galekovic returned to Adelaide United to commence a role as the club's Goalkeeping Coach in 2019.

International

Galekovic has been called up for

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 a preliminary squad with teammates

Scott Jamieson Scott Alexander Jamieson (born 13 October 1988) is an Australian retired soccer player who played as a left back. Club career Blacktown City Jamieson was born in Auburn, Sydney. He has previously played for the Blacktown City in the New S ...

and Paul Reid after impressive performances in the

and the

Asian Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious cl ...

. He made his first senior international football debut for

on 28 January 2009 in an AFC Asian Cup qualifying match versus

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. He was disappointing in his last outing against

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

, by letting in two poor goals after

conceded a 2–0 advantage. After Brad Jones left the

2010 World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

23-man squad to help his son battle leukaemia, he was called in as a replacement, after missing selection in the 23-man squad first time around. Eugene was selected by Holger Osieck for a

2013 EAFF East Asian Cup The 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup was the 5th edition of this regional competition, the football championship of East Asia. Two preliminary competitions were held during 2012. Mongolia were suspended from the EAFF and could not compete in any EAFF c ...

qualifying tournament. He started the first match against hosts

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and came up with audacious stops to save Australia from humiliation as they won 1–0 with a solo effort from

Brett Emerton Brett Michael Emerton (born 22 February 1979) is an Australian former professional Association football, footballer who played for Sydney Olympic FC, Sydney Olympic, Sydney FC, Feyenoord Rotterdam, Blackburn Rovers F.C., Blackburn Rovers and the ...

. The other game that Galekovic was a part of a 9–0 thrashing of

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

. After a string good performances for Adelaide United, Holger Osieck selected Eugene Galekovic as part of his 23-man squad for the decisive

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) section of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification saw 43 teams competing for 4 or 5 berths in the final tournament in Brazil. As in recent tournaments the AFC had four direct qualifiers for the finals tourna ...

match against

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

. He was part of the Australia squad for the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

, but did not play.

Career statistics

''CS = Clean sheets ¹ – includes

final series statistics
² – includes

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

statistics;

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

statistics are included in season commencing after group stages (i.e. 2008 ACL in 2008–09 A-League season etc.)

Honours

Player

Melbourne Victory * A-League Championship: 2006–07 * A-League Premiership: 2006–07 Adelaide United *

FFA Cup The Australia Cup (currently known as the Hahn Australia Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia (known as Football Federation Austra ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* A-League Premiership: 2015–16 * A-League Championship: 2015–16 Australia *

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second-oldest c ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Individual

* A-League Goalkeeper of the Year: 2008–09, 2009–10, 2013–14, 2014–15 *

Club Champion: 2008–2009, 2009–10 *

Player's Player of the Year: 2008–2009, 2009–10, 2011–12 * A-League PFA Team of the Season: 2008–09, 2009–10, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 * A-League All Stars: 2014 * PFA A-League Team of the Decade: 2005–15 Individual Records * Most Goalkeeper of the Year Awards: 4

References

External links

Adelaide United profile

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Galekovic, Eugene 1981 births Australian people of Croatian descent Australia men's international soccer players Men's association football goalkeepers Olympic soccer players for Australia Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics A-League Men players A-League Men All-Stars National Soccer League (Australia) players Adelaide United FC players Melbourne City FC players Falcons 2000 SC players Melbourne Knights FC players Melbourne Victory FC players S.C. Beira-Mar players F.C. Marco players South Melbourne FC players 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 AFC Asian Cup players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Soccer players from Melbourne Living people AFC Asian Cup–winning players Marquee players (A-League Men) Australian men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Association football goalkeeping coaches People educated at St Bede's College (Mentone) 21st-century Australian sportsmen