- Ned Zelić
-
Ned Zelic Personal information Full name Nedjeljko Zelić Date of birth 4 July 1971 Place of birth Sydney, Australia Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Playing position Centre Back / Defensive Midfielder (Retired) Youth career 1981–1987 Canberra FC 1988 AIS Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1989–1991 Sydney Croatia 36 (0) 1991–1992 Sydney Olympic 16 (1) 1992–1995 Borussia Dortmund 72 (1) 1995 Queens Park Rangers 11 (0) 1996 Eintracht Frankfurt 20 (4) 1996–1997 AJ Auxerre 18 (4) 1997–2001 1860 München 102 (3) 2002 Kyoto Purple Sanga 1 (0) 2002–2003 Urawa Red Diamonds 23 (2) 2004–2005 Wacker Tirol 22 (0) 2005–2006 Newcastle United Jets 21 (1) 2006 Helmond Sport 7 (0) 2006-2008 Dinamo Tbilisi 34 (0) Total 372 (16) National team‡ 1989 Australia U-20 8 (2) 1990–1992 Australia U-23 16 (4) 1991–1997 Australia 34 (3) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:47, 25 February 2010 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17:30, 25 February 2010 (UTC)Nedijeljko "Ned" Zelić (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈzɛːlitɕ]) (born 4 July 1971) is a former Australian football (soccer) player.
Contents
Club career
Zelic started his career in the old Australian National Soccer League,where he played with clubs Sydney Croatia and Sydney Olympic. In his junior years he played for Croatia Deakin.
Zelic spent most of the 1990s playing in Europe, most notably for Borussia Dortmund where he reached the UEFA Cup Final in his first season with the club, losing to Juventus Turin of Italy and won the German Bundesliga title in 1995. He had a small stint in the Premier League for QPR, moving for £1.25 million, which was beset by injury and discontent. After just 11 Premier League games for the West London club, he departed to Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany.[1]
After only a few months he signed for AJ Auxerre of France. At Auxerre, he replaced Laurent Blanc who moved to FC Barcelona, and participated in the UEFA Champions League. In July 1996, Zelic was selected to play for a World All Star team vs. Brazil at Giants Stadium New York. The All Star team was coached by Euro 92 winner with Denmark, Richard Moller Nielsen and consisted of such players as Jürgen Klinsmann, George Weah, Marcel Desailly, Lothar Matthaus, David Ginola and Fernando Redondo. In 1998, Zelic decided to move back to Germany and went on to make 102 appearances for 1860 Munich in the Bundesliga.
In 2002, Zelic moved to Japan to play in the J-League, where he stayed for two years and played under Dutch coaches Hans Ooft and Wim Jansen, winning the Japanese Cup with his club Urawa Red Diamonds. Zelic signed for FC Wacker Tirol of Austria in July 2004 and stayed there for one season.
A-League
In 2005, Ned Zelic agreed terms to a two year deal to captain the Newcastle Jets in the Hyundai A-League, where he played out the whole season from central defence. The Jets finished fourth on the league table and lost to the Central Coast Mariners 2-1 on aggregate over two legs in the Minor Semi-Final.
Several weeks before the Hyundai A-League season was to commence, it was reported that Zelic required knee surgery which would sideline him for up to three months. Zelic underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee after the semi-finals. Several months later he decided to move back overseas and it was not certain if he would continue his career.
Back Overseas
After being granted a work permit, he signed a one-year deal with Dutch side Helmond Sport in August 2006, working again with his former 1860 Munich team mate Gerald Vanenburg, who was coach there. However, he left Helmond after only two months due to knee problems and considered retirement.
In January 2007, Zelic joined Georgian club FC Dinamo Tbilisi on a free transfer, where he played under former Czech National Team coach Dusan Uhrin.
He announced his retirement from football in May 2008, after winning the Georgian Championship with Dinamo Tbilisi.[2]
International career
He has played for the Australian youth, Olympic and senior teams,but made himself unavailable in November 1999, in controversial circumstances after disagreements with coach Frank Farina. Upon announcing his retirement, Zelic was quoted as saying, "I love playing for the Socceroos, but I refuse to play for coach Frank Farina". Zelic was captain of the Australian team that competed and finished 4th at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
Despite discussion in The Age newspaper that Zelic was up for a recall to the Australian national side around October 2005, Zelic did not make a return to the side and took up a career in the media. He first appeared as a football analyst on Australian television channel SBS during the World Cup play-off against Uruguay, and continued this role (alongside Andrew Orsatti) during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
In 2008, Zelic continued as an analyst for SBS Television at the EURO 2008 final, alongside English football commentator Martin Tyler. He also made appearances for SBS at the World Club Cup in Japan, December 2008 and South Africa 2010.
Zelic was selected in Four Four Two magazine's Top 25 Australian Footballers of All-Time.
Statistics
Club performance League Cup League Cup Total Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Australia League Cup League Cup Total 1989 Sydney Croatia National Soccer League 8 0 8 0 1989/90 2 0 2 0 1990/91 26 0 26 0 1991/92 Sydney Olympic National Soccer League 16 1 16 1 Germany League DFB-Pokal DFB Ligapokal Total 1992/93 Borussia Dortmund Bundesliga 19 0 19 0 1993/94 18 1 18 1 1994/95 4 0 4 0 England League FA Cup League Cup Total 1995/96 Queens Park Rangers Premier League 4 0 4 0 Germany League DFB-Pokal DFB Ligapokal Total 1995/96 Eintracht Frankfurt Bundesliga 17 1 17 1 France League Coupe de France Coupe de la Ligue Total 1996/97 Auxerre Division 1 12 0 12 0 Germany League DFB-Pokal DFB Ligapokal Total 1997/98 1860 München Bundesliga 13 0 13 0 1998/99 33 1 33 1 1999/00 23 2 23 2 2000/01 27 0 27 0 2001/02 6 0 6 0 Japan League Emperor's Cup J. League Cup Total 2002 Kyoto Purple Sanga J. League 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2002 Urawa Red Diamonds J. League 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 2003 22 2 1 0 7 0 30 2 Austria League Austrian Cup League Cup Total 2004/05 Wacker Tirol Bundesliga 22 0 22 0 Australia League Cup League Cup Total 2005/06 Newcastle United Jets A-League 21 1 21 1 Netherlands League KNVB Cup League Cup Total 2006/07 Helmond Sport Eerste Divisie 7 0 7 0 Georgia League Georgian Cup League Cup Total 2006/07 Dinamo Tbilisi Umaglesi Liga 11 0 11 0 Country Australia 73 2 73 2 Germany 160 5 160 5 England 4 0 4 0 France 12 0 12 0 Japan 24 2 2 0 7 0 33 2 Austria 22 0 22 0 Netherlands 7 0 7 0 Georgia 11 0 11 0 Total 313 9 2 0 7 0 322 9 Australia national team Year Apps Goals 1991 3 0 1992 5 0 1993 5 1 1994 2 0 1995 3 0 1996 0 0 1997 14 2 Total 32 3 Honours
With Australia:
- FIFA Confederations Cup: 1997 (Runners-Up)
With Dinamo Tbilisi:
Umaglesi Liga: 2007-2008 (Champions)
With Urawa Reds:
J. League Cup: 2003 (Cup Winners)
With Borussia Dortmund:
Bundesliga: 1994-1995 (Champions), UEFA Cup 1992-93 (Runners-Up)
References
External links
Australia squad – 1992 Summer Olympics Fourth Place 
Australia squad – 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup Runners-up Categories:- 1971 births
- Living people
- Sportspeople from Sydney
- Australian people of Croatian descent
- A-League players
- Australian soccer players
- Australian expatriate soccer players
- Australia international soccer players
- Olympic soccer players of Australia
- Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players
- National Soccer League (Australia) players
- Sydney United players
- Sydney Olympic players
- Borussia Dortmund players
- Queens Park Rangers F.C. players
- Eintracht Frankfurt players
- AJ Auxerre players
- Expatriate footballers in France
- TSV 1860 München players
- Kyoto Sanga F.C. players
- Urawa Red Diamonds players
- Newcastle United Jets players
- Helmond Sport players
- FC Dinamo Tbilisi players
- Expatriate footballers in England
- Expatriate footballers in Germany
- Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands
- Expatriate footballers in Japan
- Expatriate footballers in Austria
- Premier League players
- Ligue 1 players
- Fußball-Bundesliga players
- Austrian Football Bundesliga players
- Australian television presenters
- J. League players
- Expatriate footballers in Georgia (country)
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
