[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki41\/tony-popovic-wikipedia\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki41\/tony-popovic-wikipedia\/","headline":"Tony Popovic – Wikipedia","name":"Tony Popovic – Wikipedia","description":"before-content-x4 Australian association football player and manager after-content-x4 Tony Popovic (born 4 July 1973) is an Australian association football manager","datePublished":"2017-12-28","dateModified":"2017-12-28","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki41\/author\/lordneo\/#Person","name":"lordneo","url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki41\/author\/lordneo\/","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c9645c498c9701c88b89b8537773dd7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c9645c498c9701c88b89b8537773dd7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Enzyklop\u00e4die","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/wiki4\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/download.jpg","url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/wiki4\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/download.jpg","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/9\/9f\/Tony_Popovic_2.jpg\/140px-Tony_Popovic_2.jpg","url":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/9\/9f\/Tony_Popovic_2.jpg\/140px-Tony_Popovic_2.jpg","height":"204","width":"140"},"url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki41\/tony-popovic-wikipedia\/","wordCount":3053,"articleBody":"     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});before-content-x4Australian association football player and manager       (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});after-content-x4Tony 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.[2]As a player Popovic’s usual position was centre-back. Starting in 1989 at Sydney United he went on to play for Sanfrecce Hiroshima of Japan and Premier League side Crystal Palace, among other clubs. He appeared with the Australian national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where he played against reigning World Champions Brazil.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\u201313 season. His major achievements as a manager are winning the 2012\u201313 A-League Premiership and 2014 AFC Champions League with the Wanderers, the 2018\u201319 A-League Premiership with Perth Glory and an Australia Cup with Melbourne Victory in 2022.       (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});after-content-x4He is the father of Kristian and Gabriel Popovic, both of whom are also professional footballers.Table of ContentsClub career[edit]Early career[edit]Crystal Palace[edit]Sydney FC[edit]International career[edit]Coaching career[edit]Western Sydney Wanderers[edit]Karab\u00fckspor[edit]Perth Glory[edit]Xanthi FC[edit]Melbourne Victory[edit]Career statistics[edit]Club[edit]International[edit]Managerial statistics[edit]Honours[edit]Player[edit]Manager[edit]Individual[edit]References[edit]External links[edit]Club career[edit]         (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});after-content-x4Popovic playing for Sydney FC in 2008  Popovic playing for Sydney FC in 2008Early career[edit]Popovic was born in Sydney to a Croatian family,[3]and grew up in Fairfield, New South Wales.[4] He began his career with Sydney United with a one-year stint in his junior career at Fairfield Bulls. 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 Sanfrecce Hiroshima where he stayed for five years scoring 13 goals in 94 appearances.Crystal Palace[edit]Popovic signed for Crystal Palace on a free transfer in August 2001 from Sanfrecce Hiroshima. He became an integral part of the Palace defence, eventually becoming club captain. He played more than 120 matches for Crystal Palace. In his last season he played for Crystal Palace in 21 Premier League matches. In total he made more than 120 appearances for the club.[5]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[edit]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 also announcing him the club’s captain.[6] Popovic scored his first goal on 28 October 2007 from a corner to beat the Mariners 3\u20132 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.[7]International career[edit]Popovic competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics 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 2006 FIFA World Cup 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. The tall defender was named in the competing squad and made his World Cup debut against Brazil on 18 June. He suffered a calf injury 40 minutes into the game and was replaced by Mark Bresciano for the second half.[7] 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.[8]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\u20130 in a game that finished 1\u20131.[7]Coaching career[edit]  After retiring, Popovic moved into an assistant coach’s role with Sydney FC,[9] where he remained until February 2011, when he returned to England and to Crystal Palace as first team coach,[10] after former teammate Dougie Freedman was appointed manager.[11]Western Sydney Wanderers[edit]On 17 May 2012, Popovic was announced as inaugural manager of A-League club Western Sydney Wanderers.[12] 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.[12] In Wanderers’ first season, Popovic was named A-League Coach of the Year after finishing first in the league.[13] In the 2013\u201314 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.[14] With poor recruiting, the loss of assistant coach Ante Milicic, and a gruelling schedule of matches, the 2014\u201315 season saw Popovic’s team finish ninth in the league and eliminated from the group stage of the 2015 AFC Champions League. 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.[15]Karab\u00fckspor[edit]On 1 October 2017, Popovic made a shock announcement that he had resigned from Western Sydney Wanderers to coach Turkish S\u00fcper Lig club Karab\u00fckspor. It came less than a week out from the start of the 2017\u201318 A-League season.[16] 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.[17]Perth Glory[edit]On 11 May 2018, Popovic was confirmed as Perth Glory’s new manager following the dismissal of Kenny Lowe at the end of the 2017\u201318 season.[18] His first game in charge was a pre-season friendly against Chelsea which the Glory lost 0\u20131.[19] Under Popovic’s management, Perth won the 2018\u201319 A-League premiership.Xanthi FC[edit]On 26 August 2020, shortly after coaching Perth to a 2\u20130 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, 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 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.[20][21]Melbourne Victory[edit]On 21 April 2021, Melbourne Victory 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.[22] 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[edit]Club[edit]Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[23]ClubSeasonLeagueNational cup[a]League cup[b]TotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsSydney United[c]1989\u201390National Soccer League1301301990\u2013911711711991\u2013922012011992\u2013932422421993\u201394National Soccer League2722721994\u2013952532531995\u2013962942941996\u2013977272Total1621516215Sanfrecce Hiroshima1997J1 League1100060170199825431213061999236501029620002132032265200170000070Total871310112310917Crystal Palace2001\u201302First Division202102122002\u201303364304042003\u201304301103112004\u201305Premier League2302302005\u201306League Championship1202010150Total1197501197Al-Arabi2006\u201307Qatar Stars League172172Sydney FC2007\u201308A-League2012012008\u2013097070Total271271Career total4123815112343942International[edit]Appearances and goals by national team and yearNational teamYearAppsGoalsAustralia19958019961001997201998201999002000712001105200200200321200450200580200641Total588Scores and results list Australia’s goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Popovic goal.Managerial statistics[edit]As of 20 January 2023[24]Honours[edit]Player[edit]AustraliaManager[edit]Western Sydney WanderersPerth GloryA-League Men: Premiers 2018\u201319A-League Men Finals runner-up: 2019Melbourne VictoryIndividual[edit]References[edit]External links[edit]     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});after-content-x4"},{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki41\/#breadcrumbitem","name":"Enzyklop\u00e4die"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki41\/tony-popovic-wikipedia\/#breadcrumbitem","name":"Tony Popovic – Wikipedia"}}]}]