| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nedjeljko Zelic | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1971-07-04)4 July 1971 (age 53) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Sydney, Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Centre-back,defensive midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| 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) | ||||||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | Queens Park Rangers | 4 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1996 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 20 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 1996–1997 | Auxerre | 18 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 1997–2001 | 1860 Munich | 102 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 2002 | Kyoto Purple Sanga | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2002–2003 | Urawa Reds | 23 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2004–2005 | Wacker Tirol | 22 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2005–2006 | Newcastle Jets | 21 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Helmond Sport | 7 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2007–2008 | Dinamo Tbilisi | 34 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 372 | (16) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1989 | Australia U-20 | 8 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 1990–1992 | Australia U-23 | 16 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 1991–1997 | Australia | 34 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Nedjeljko Zelic (born 4 July 1971), commonly known asNed Zelic, is an Australian formerfootballer who played as acentre-back ordefensive midfielder.
Zelic started his career in the old AustralianNational Soccer League, where he played with clubsSydney Croatia andSydney Olympic. In his junior years he played for Croatia Deakin.
Zelic spent most of the 1990s playing in Europe, most notably forBorussia Dortmund where he reached theUEFA Cup Final in his first season with the club, losing toJuventus of Italy and won the GermanBundesliga title in 1995. He had a brief stint in thePremier League forQPR, moving for a club record £1.25 million,[1] which was beset by injury and discontent. After just 4Premier League games for the West London club, he departed toEintracht Frankfurt in Germany.[2]
After only a few months he signed forAJ Auxerre of France. At Auxerre, he replacedLaurent Blanc who moved toFC Barcelona, and participated in theUEFA Champions League. In July 1996, Zelic was selected to play for a World All Star team v Brazil atGiants Stadium,New York City. The All Star team was coached byEuro 92 winner with Denmark,Richard Moller Nielsen and consisted of such players asJürgen Klinsmann,George Weah,Marcel Desailly,Lothar Matthäus,David Ginola andFernando Redondo. In 1998, Zelic decided to move back to Germany and went on to make 102 appearances for1860 Munich in the Bundesliga.
In 2002, he moved to Japan to play in theJ1 League where he stayed for two years and played under Dutch coachesHans Ooft andWim Jansen, winning the Japanese Cup with his clubUrawa Red Diamonds. Zelic signed forFC Wacker Tirol of Austria in July 2004 and stayed there for one season.
In 2005, Ned Zelic agreed terms to a two-year deal as a marquee to captain theNewcastle Jets in theA-League,[3] where he played out the whole season from central defence. The Jets finished fourth on the league table and lost to theCentral Coast Mariners 2–1 on aggregate over two legs in the Minor Semi-final.
Zelic underwentarthroscopic 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.[4]
After being granted a work permit, he signed a one-year deal with Dutch sideHelmond Sport in August 2006, working again with his former 1860 Munich teammateGerald Vanenburg, who was coach there. However, he left Helmond after only two months due to knee problems and considered retirement.
In January 2007, Zelic joinedGeorgian clubFC Dinamo Tbilisi on a free transfer, where he played under former Czech National Team coachDusan Uhrin. He announced his retirement from football in May 2008, after winning the Georgian Championship with Dinamo Tbilisi.[5]
He was selected inFour Four Two magazine's Top 25 Australian Footballers of All-Time.
He has played for the Australia youth, Olympic and senior teams, but made himself unavailable in November 1999 after disagreements with coachFrank Farina. Zelic was captain of the Australian team that competed and finished 4th at the1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
Ned Zelic attended Wanniassa High School inCanberra,ACT. Zelic is the older brother of former footballer turned actorIvan Zelic and presenterLucy Zelic.[6]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Sydney Croatia | 1989 | National Soccer League | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | ||||
| 1989–90 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| 1990–91 | 26 | 0 | 26 | 0 | ||||||
| Total | 36 | 0 | 36 | 0 | ||||||
| Sydney Olympic | 1991–92 | National Soccer League | 16 | 1 | 16 | 1 | ||||
| Borussia Dortmund | 1992–93 | Bundesliga | 19 | 0 | 19 | 0 | ||||
| 1993–94 | 18 | 1 | 18 | 1 | ||||||
| 1994–95 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||||||
| Total | 41 | 1 | 41 | 1 | ||||||
| Queens Park Rangers | 1995–96 | Premier League | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||||
| Eintracht Frankfurt | 1995–96 | Bundesliga | 17 | 1 | 17 | 1 | ||||
| Auxerre | 1996–97 | Division 1 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 0 | ||||
| 1860 Munich | 1997–98 | Bundesliga | 13 | 0 | 13 | 0 | ||||
| 1998–99 | 33 | 1 | 33 | 1 | ||||||
| 1999–2000 | 23 | 2 | 23 | 2 | ||||||
| 2000–01 | 27 | 0 | 27 | 0 | ||||||
| 2001–02 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | ||||||
| Total | 102 | 3 | 102 | 3 | ||||||
| Kyoto Purple Sanga | 2002 | J1 League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Urawa Reds | 2002 | J1 League | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2003 | 22 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 30 | 2 | ||
| Total | 23 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 32 | 2 | ||
| Wacker Tirol | 2004–05 | Austrian Bundesliga | 22 | 0 | 22 | 0 | ||||
| Newcastle United Jets | 2005–06 | A-League | 21 | 1 | 21 | 1 | ||||
| Helmond Sport | 2006–07 | Eerste Divisie | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | ||||
| Dinamo Tbilisi | 2006–07 | Umaglesi Liga | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0 | ||||
| Career total | 313 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 322 | 9 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 1991 | 3 | 0 |
| 1992 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1993 | 5 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1995 | 3 | 0 | |
| 1996 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 14 | 2 | |
| Total | 32 | 3 | |
Dinamo Tbilisi
Urawa Reds
Borussia Dortmund
Australia
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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