Zoran Matić OAM (; born 25 December 1944) is a Serbian former

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 ...

and coach.

Biography

Playing career

After arriving in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

1973 from

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

Matić played for Beograd Woodville (White City) before moving to

Adelaide City Adelaide City Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club based in Oakden, a north-eastern suburb of Adelaide. The club was a founding member of the now-defunct National Soccer League (NSL) and currently competes in the National Premier ...

. While playing for Adelaide City he represented the State of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

four times.

Coaching career

Matić is best known for coaching

in 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 ...

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 ...

. He coached Adelaide City to three championships (1986, 1991/1992 and 1993/1994) and was the first NSL coach to have won 200 matches. Matić was NSL coach of the year for the 1990/1991 and 1994/1995 seasons. Matić is a member of the Football Federation Australia Football Hall of Fame and the

Football Federation of South Australia Football South Australia (FSA) is the governing body of soccer in the state of South Australia. It was established in 2006 under the name Football Federation South Australia (FFSA), which succeeded the former organisation, the South Australian ...

Hall of Fame.

Retirement

After retiring from coaching Matić began working in the construction industry. In 2006 as a result of an industrial accident involving a six-metre fall from a roof, Matić was hospitalised with multiple injuries including a broken neck, broken arm, shattered knee cap and facial injuries.

References

External links

Oz Football profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matic, Zoran 1944 births Living people Sportspeople from Adelaide Australian people of Serbian descent Men's association football defenders Yugoslav men's footballers Australian men's soccer players FK Beograd (Australia) players Adelaide City FC players National Soccer League (Australia) players Australian soccer managers Adelaide City FC managers Collingwood Warriors SC managers Marconi Stallions FC managers 20th-century Australian sportsmen