 Popovic as Western Sydney Wanderers manager in 2013 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Tony Popovic[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1973-07-04)4 July 1973 (age 52) | ||
| Place of birth | Sydney, Australia | ||
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||
| Position | Centre-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Australia (head coach) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Sydney United | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1989–1997 | Sydney United | 162 | (14) |
| 1994 | →Canberra FC (loan) | 5 | (1) |
| 1997–2001 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 87 | (13) |
| 2001–2006 | Crystal Palace | 123 | (6) |
| 2006–2007 | Al-Arabi | 17 | (2) |
| 2007–2008 | Sydney FC | 27 | (1) |
| Total | 421 | (37) | |
| International career | |||
| 1988–1989 | Australia U17 | 7 | (2) |
| 1990–1991 | Australia U20 | 9 | (1) |
| 1992 | Australia U23 | 4 | (0) |
| 1995–2006 | Australia | 58 | (8) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2009 | Sydney FC (caretaker) | ||
| 2012–2017 | Western Sydney Wanderers | ||
| 2017 | Karabükspor | ||
| 2018–2020 | Perth Glory | ||
| 2020–2021 | Xanthi | ||
| 2021–2024 | Melbourne Victory | ||
| 2024– | Australia | ||
Medal record | |||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Tony Popovic (Croatian:[pǒpovit͡ɕ]; born 4 July 1973) is an Australianassociation football manager and former player who currently serves as head coach of theAustralia national team.
Popovic played as acentre-back. Starting his career forSydney United 58, he moved toSanfrecce Hiroshima of Japan and then flourished atPremier League sideCrystal Palace. He also represented Australia at the2006 FIFA World Cup, twoFIFA Confederations Cups and the1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Popovic started his coaching career in 2008 withSydney FC. After a brief stint as assistant manager at Crystal Palace, he was chosen as the inaugural manager of theWestern Sydney Wanderers at the start of the2012–13 season. His major managerial achievements are winning the2012–13 A-League Premiership and2014 AFC Champions League with the Wanderers, the2018–19 A-League Premiership withPerth Glory and an Australia Cup with Melbourne Victory in2022.
ReplacingGraham Arnold in 2024, Popovic helped the Socceroos qualify for the2026 FIFA World Cup, twenty years after his only playing appearance on international football's biggest stage. His sonsKristian andGabriel are also professional footballers.
Born in Sydney to a Croatian family,[2] Popovic grew up inFairfield, New South Wales.[3] He began his career withSydney United 58, making 162 appearances in seven years for the first team before moving to play in theJ1 League. Popovic signed withSanfrecce Hiroshima where he stayed for five years scoring 13 goals in 94 appearances.
Popovic signed forCrystal Palace on a free transfer in August 2001 fromSanfrecce Hiroshima. He became an integral part of the Palace defence, eventually becomingclub captain. He played more than 120 matches for Crystal Palace. In his last season he played for Crystal Palace in 21Premier League matches. In total he made more than 120 appearances for the club.[4]
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.
In 2007, with the growth of the A-League and slight homesickness, Popovic moved toSydney FC, signing a two-year deal, with coachBranko Culina also announcing him the club's captain.[5] Popovic scored his first goal on 28 October 2007 from a corner to beat the Mariners 3–2 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.[6]
Popovic competed at the1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona for the Australia U23 team. He began his full international career in 1995 with theAustralia 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 the2006 FIFA World Cup under the management ofGuus Hiddink. He took part in both legs inthe qualifying match against Uruguay. Being replaced in the first half of the second leg, due to injury, byHarry Kewell. The tall defender was named in the competing squad and made his World Cup debut againstBrazil on 18 June. He suffered a calf injury 40 minutes into the game and was replaced byMark Bresciano for the second half.[6] 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.[7]
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, 1–0 in a game that finished 1–1.[6]
After retiring, Popovic moved into an assistant coach's role withSydney FC,[8] where he remained until February 2011, when he returned to England and toCrystal Palace as first team coach,[9] after former teammateDougie Freedman was appointed manager.[10]
On 17 May 2012, Popovic was announced as inaugural manager of A-League clubWestern Sydney Wanderers.[11] 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.[11] In Wanderers' first season, Popovic was named A-League Coach of the Year after finishing first in the league.[12] In the 2013–14 season Popovic led Wanderers to the2014 AFC Champions League Final in the club's first attempt in the competition. They defeatedAl-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.[13] With poor recruiting, the loss of assistant coachAnte Milicic, and a gruelling schedule of matches, the 2014–15 season saw Popovic's team finish ninth in the league and eliminated from the group stage of the2015 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.[14]
On 1 October 2017, Popovic made a shock announcement that he had resigned fromWestern Sydney Wanderers to coach TurkishSüper Lig clubKarabükspor. It came less than a week out from the start of the2017–18 A-League season.[15] 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, began a relegation freefall and were ultimately dissolved in late 2022.[16]
On 11 May 2018, Popovic was confirmed asPerth Glory's new manager following the dismissal ofKenny Lowe at the end of the 2017–18 season.[17] His first game in charge was a pre-season friendly against Chelsea which the Glory lost 0–1.[18] Under Popovic's management, Perth won the2018–19 A-League premiership.
On 26 August 2020, shortly after coaching Perth to a 2–0 loss toSydney 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 sideXanthi 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 coachZeljko 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.[19][20]
On 21 April 2021,Melbourne Victory appointed Popovic head coach on a three-year contract to replaceGrant Brebner andSteve Kean, who coached the team to last place in the previous season.[21] Popovic had early success, bringing the club back to the top of the A-League table after eight games and winning the2021 FFA Cup on 5 February 2022.
After guiding Melbourne Victory to the2024 A-League Grand Final, which they lost to theCentral Coast Mariners,[22] Popovic left Melbourne Victory at the end of the season.[23]
Popovic was named as the head coach of theAustralian national team on 23 September 2024.[24]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Sydney United[c] | 1989–90 | National Soccer League | 13 | 0 | 13 | 0 | ||||
| 1990–91 | 17 | 1 | 17 | 1 | ||||||
| 1991–92 | 20 | 1 | 20 | 1 | ||||||
| 1992–93 | 24 | 2 | 24 | 2 | ||||||
| 1993–94 | National Soccer League | 27 | 2 | 27 | 2 | |||||
| 1994–95 | 25 | 3 | 25 | 3 | ||||||
| 1995–96 | 29 | 4 | 29 | 4 | ||||||
| 1996–97 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 2 | ||||||
| Total | 162 | 15 | 162 | 15 | ||||||
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 1997 | J1 League | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| 1998 | 25 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 30 | 6 | ||
| 1999 | 23 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 6 | ||
| 2000 | 21 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 26 | 5 | ||
| 2001 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | ||
| Total | 87 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 109 | 17 | ||
| Crystal Palace | 2001–02 | First Division | 20 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 2 | ||
| 2002–03 | 36 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 40 | 4 | ||||
| 2003–04 | 30 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 1 | ||||
| 2004–05 | Premier League | 23 | 0 | 23 | 0 | |||||
| 2005–06 | League Championship | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 0 | |
| Total | 119 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 119 | 7 | ||||
| Al-Arabi | 2006–07 | Qatar Stars League | 17 | 2 | 17 | 2 | ||||
| Sydney FC | 2007–08 | A-League | 20 | 1 | 20 | 1 | ||||
| 2008–09 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | ||||||
| Total | 27 | 1 | 27 | 1 | ||||||
| Career total | 412 | 38 | 15 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 439 | 42 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 1995 | 8 | 0 |
| 1996 | 10 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1998 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1999 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 7 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 10 | 5 | |
| 2002 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 2 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 4 | 1 | |
| Total | 58 | 8 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 June 2000 | Papeete, Tahiti |  Cook Islands | 10–0 | 17–0 | OFC Nations Cup |
| 2 | 9 April 2001 | BCU International Stadium, Australia |  Tonga | 15–0 | 22–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 3 | 11 April 2001 | BCU International Stadium, Australia |  American Samoa | 5–0 | 31–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 4 | 6–0 | |||||
| 5 | 16 April 2001 | BCU International Stadium, Australia |  Samoa | 5–0 | 11–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 6 | 11–0 | |||||
| 7 | 12 February 2003 | Boleyn Ground, London, England |  England | 1–0 | 3–1 | Friendly |
| 8 | 7 September 2006 | Suncorp Stadium,Brisbane, Australia |  Paraguay | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||
 Western Sydney Wanderers | 17 May 2012 | 1 October 2017 | 180 | 77 | 40 | 63 | 042.78 |
 Karabükspor | 1 October 2017 | 15 December 2017 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 027.27 |
| Perth Glory | 11 May 2018 | 2 September 2020 | 60 | 30 | 13 | 17 | 050.00 |
 Xanthi | 2 September 2020 | 22 February 2021 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 044.44 |
| Melbourne Victory | 21 April 2021 | 12 June 2024 | 94 | 40 | 26 | 28 | 042.55 |
| Australia | 23 September 2024 | Present | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 057.14 |
| Total | 368 | 162 | 85 | 121 | 044.02 | ||
Australia
Western Sydney Wanderers
Perth Glory
Melbourne Victory
Assistant Coach forSydney FC
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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