Branko Čulina

Infobox Football biography
playername = Branko Čulina
fullname = Branko Čulina


dateofbirth = Birth date and age|1957|10|1
cityofbirth = Zadar
countryofbirth = FPR Yugoslavia
height =
position = Manager (former Midfielder)
currentclub =
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1974-1980 1980 1981 1982-1988
clubs = Melbourne Knights Sydney United Blacktown City Demons St Albans Saints
caps(goals) =
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
manageryears = 1989 1990-1992 1992-1993 1994 1994 1994-1997 1997-1998 1998-2001 2001-2003 2007
managerclubs = St Albans Saints North Geelong Warriors Melbourne Knights Fawkner Blues St Albans Saints Sydney United Canberra Cosmos Sydney Olympic Sydney United Sydney FC

Branko Čulina [ˈtʃulina] (born October 1 1957 in Zadar, Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia) is a football (soccer) coach, and former player. He was formerly head coach of A-League club Sydney FC, and father of Socceroo Jason Culina. He is also a football analyst for SBS, regularly appearing on The World Game.

Club career

Čulina was born in Zadar, Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia and emigrated to Australia with his mother in 1968, at the age of 10, settling in Melbourne's Croatian community. [ [http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/worldcup/family-culina.shtml The World Cup Dream - Jason Culina's family] ] His senior playing career began with St. Albans Saints where he captained the senior team at the age of 15. In 1974 he transferred to Essendon Croatia, he had seven successful years at the club which included winning the Victorian State Championship in 1978 and the Victorian treble (State Champions, Dockerty Cup and the State League Cup) in 1979. In 1980 he joined sister club Sydney Croatia before moving to National Soccer League club Blacktown City Demons. After a season at each he returned to Melbourne with St Albans Saints, where he remained until retiring from playing in 1988.

Managerial career

After retiring as a player he stayed with St Albans as a coach in the Victorian Premier League for the 1989 season before taking up a role at North Geelong. In 1992, he returned to the NSL at Melbourne Knights, although it was an unfortunate year. Melbourne had finished first in the 1991-92 season (losing the Grand Final on penalties), but with Čulina they finished a disappointing 10th and he was sacked (ironically, the Knights again finished top and lost the grand final in 1993-94 after he left).

ydney United

After a short stint at Fawkner Blues and a return to St Albans, Čulina returned to the NSL at Sydney United for the 1994-95 season. His three seasons at United would be his most successful to date, winning the minor premiership and reaching the competition Grand Final in the 1996-97 season, as well as winning the Waratah Cup in 1995 and 1996. Overall he coached 133 games for Sydney United, with 62 wins, 32 draws, and 39 losses, including an Australian record of 8 consecutive victories. During this time he was also coach to his teenage son Jason who was breaking into the Sydney United first team. While some accusations of nepotism floated around Branko has said he 'didn't have to do [Jason] any favours because he didn't need any', perhaps evidenced best by Jason's later performances at the World Cup. [cite web | date = May 20, 2006 | title = No trampoline now, but he's scaled heights | url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/football/no-trampoline-now-but-hes-scaled-heights/2006/05/19/1147545528192.html | work = Michael Cockerill ]

After his successful 1996-97 season, he was signed with great promise to take over at Canberra Cosmos. A frustrating 1997-98 season saw Cosmos finish bottom of the table (for the third consecutive year) and Čulina was sacked. He was able to retain a job in the NSL, moving to Sydney Olympic. Over three seasons, he would become Olympic's longest serving coach, narrowly missing out on a finals place in his first year before pushing the team into the finals in both 1999-00 and 2000-01 NSL seasons.

In 2001, he returned to Sydney United, however the club was now less of a force in the national league. He spent the final three seasons of the competition with Sydney, the club finishing in the bottom half of the league each year. Following the demise of the NSL, Čulina had been working as Technical Director for the state governing body Soccer NSW, which included a coaching role in 2005 for the NSW State Representative Team.

ydney FC

In 2007 he returned to coaching at A-League club Sydney FC. Sydney had accepted the resignation of former coach Terry Butcher at the close of a disappointing 2006-07 season, and on 13 February 2007 appointed Čulina in an interim role, for initially six months, to guide the club in its first Asian Champions League campaign. [cite web | date = February 13, 2007 | title = Branko is Sydney's man | url = http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,,21218247-23215,00.html?from=public_rss | work = Fox Sports ] Culina then led Sydney FC to five wins in eight games, including an historic 2-1 away win against Shanghai Shenhua - the first-ever victory recorded by an Australian club the AFC Champions League. On 23 April 2007 he was confirmed as Sydney's permanent coach with a two-year contract. [ citenews|url=http://www.sydneyfc.com/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=7458&pageid=489 |title=Culina appointed full-time Sydney FC head coach|date=2007-04-23]

Despite these initial successes with his new club, Culina found the A-Leagues 2007-08 season tough going. Highly inconsistent performance and an inability to win against teams both at the top and bottom end of the league table meant that Culina’s Sydney found itself halfway through the competition in Round 9 with only two victories. Sydney FC’s managing board grew increasingly frustrated with the poor, unentertaining football played by its team, and after a 0-1 loss at home to Adelaide United (with a turnout of under 13,000 - one of the lowest in the clubs history), Culina was dismissed from his position with the club. [ citenews|url=http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,22627696-5000940,00.html |title=Culina Sacked - Fox Sports News |date=2007-10-22]

During a Round 7 clash between Sydney FC vs Melbourne Victory, he made controversial remarks about referee Mark Shield, claiming that:

"If the police need to escort you, it's not a good sign." [http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=470574&campaign=rss&source=soccernet&cc=3888]

"Don't ask me about the referee, I can't afford the fine … however, if the referee needs to be escorted by police after the game, you make your own mind up whether he's had a good game or bad game." [http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/melbourne-victory/victory-beat-10-man-sydney-97035/]

Family

Branko and his wife Nada have two sons, former Olyroo Dean Čulina and current Socceroo Jason Čulina.

Honours

Player

With Melbourne Knights:
* Victorian State Championship: 1978, 1979
* Victorian State League Cup: 1979
* Dockerty Cup: 1979Personal Honours
* Victorian Premier League Player of the Year: 1985 with St Albans Saints

Manager

With North Geelong:
* Victorian Division 1: 1991
* Victorian Premier League: 1992
* Victorian Premier League Grand Final: 1992With Sydney United:
* National Soccer League: 1996-1997
* Waratah Cup: 1995, 1996Personal Honours
* NSL Coach of the Year: 1996-1997 with Sydney United

References

External links

* [http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Players/C/CU.html Oz Football profile]