Ante Čović

Football player infobox
playername = Ante Čović
fullname = Ante Čović


height = height|m=1.93
dateofbirth = birth date and age|df=yes|1975|6|13
cityofbirth = Sydney
countryofbirth = Australia
currentclub = Newcastle Jets
clubnumber = 1
contractend = 2009
position = Goalkeeper
youthyears =
youthclubs = Hurstville ZSC
years = 1995
1996–1997
1997–1999
1999–2001
2000
2002–2006
2007–"present"
clubs = Hurstville ZSC
APIA Leichhardt
Marconi Stallions
PAOK Salonika
→ AO Kavala "(loan)"
Hammarby
Newcastle Jets
caps(goals) =
023 (0)
046 (0)
008 (0)

121 (0)
038 (0)
nationalyears = 2006–"present"
nationalteam = flagicon|Australia Australia
nationalcaps(goals) = 002 (0)
pcupdate = 19 September 2008
ntupdate = 22 June 2008

Ante Čović [IPA|ˈaːntɛ ˈtʃɔːʋitɕ] (born 13 June 1975) is an Croatian Australian soccer player. He is a goalkeeper who currently plays for Newcastle United Jets in the Australian A-League. Covic, who was a member of the Australian national squad as third-string goalkeeper in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals in Germany, is currently the No. 2 'keeper for the Socceroos.

Club career

He formerly played for Hammarby in Sweden, as well as Marconi Stallions and Sydney Olympic in Australia's old National Soccer League, PAOK Salonika and AO Kavala in Greece and Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia.

Newcastle Jets

Covic made his A-League debut in a 3-2 loss to Adelaide United in December 2006 at Hindmarsh Stadium. His performances since his return to the A-League have prompted many to question the wisdom of spending a large proportion of the team budget on a goalkeeper. Indeed, his lack of form since his return to Australia have seen him slip down the national team pecking order behind Adam Federici, Brad Jones, Michael Petković and Danny Vuković at a time when he would have hoped to have established himself as a real successor to Mark Schwarzer after Zeljko Kalac's international retirement. After his bad start, however, Covic has begun to find his form of old, keeping 4 clean sheets in his last 7 Hyundai A-League games, and with his giant figure standing in front of the Jets goal they are expected to be a very tough defensive outfit this new A-League season.During 07/08 he was in tremendous form and only narrowly missed out on goalkeeper of the year which was won by Victory keeper Michael Theokolitos although many felt either Covic or Sydney keeper Clint Bolton should have received the award.

International career

He was part of the Australian squad for the 2006 World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and was Australia's third choice goalkeeper behind Mark Schwarzer and Željko Kalac for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. He made his debut for Australia against Bahrain on 22 February 2006 in an Asian Cup qualifier. On 22 March 2008 he earned his second cap against Singapore in an international friendly and was captain for part of the second half after Harry Kewell and Jade North left the field.

Honours

With Newcastle Jets:
* A-League Championship: 2007-2008Personal Honours:
* Newcastle Jets Player's Player of the Year: 2007-2008

External links

* [http://www.newcastlejets.com.au/default.aspx?s=njfc_playerprofile_item&pid=85 Newcastle Jets profile]
* [http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/Socceroos/default.aspx?s=soc_player_profile&pid=85&tid=23 FFA - Socceroo profile]
* [http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Players/C/COM.html Oz Football profile]