Tony Popovic facts for kids
Popovic as Western Sydney Wanderers manager in 2013
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Tony Popovic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 4 July 1973 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Sydney, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.93 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing position | Centre-back | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current club | 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) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1988–1989 | Australia U17 | 7 | (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | Australia U20 | 9 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1992 | Australia U23 | 4 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1995–2006 | Australia | 58 | (8) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams managed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | Sydney FC (caretaker) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2012–2017 | Western Sydney Wanderers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | Karabükspor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2018–2020 | Perth Glory | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2020–2021 | Xanthi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021–2024 | Melbourne Victory | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Honours
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Tony Popovic (born 4 July 1973) is a famous Australian association football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of the Australia national football team.
As a player, Popovic was known for playing as a centre-back (a defender). He started his career in 1989 at Sydney United. He also played for teams like Sanfrecce Hiroshima in Japan and Premier League club Crystal Palace. Tony Popovic played for the Australian national team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. There, he even played against the champions at the time, Brazil.
Popovic began his coaching journey in 2008 with Sydney FC. He later became the first manager of Western Sydney Wanderers in 2012. As a coach, he has achieved great success. He won the 2012–13 A-League Premiership and the 2014 AFC Champions League with the Wanderers. He also led Perth Glory to win the 2018–19 A-League Premiership and won an Australia Cup with Melbourne Victory in 2022. He holds the record for coaching the most A-League Grand Final losses, with 5 up to the end of the 2023/2024 season.
Tony Popovic is also a father to Kristian and Gabriel Popovic. Both of his sons are professional football players too!
Contents
Playing Career Highlights
Tony Popovic was born in Sydney, Australia, into a Croatian family. He grew up in Fairfield, New South Wales. He started his football journey at Sydney United. He played for their first team for seven years, appearing in 162 matches. After that, he moved to Japan to play in the J1 League. Popovic joined Sanfrecce Hiroshima and played there for five years, scoring 13 goals in 94 games.
Time at Crystal Palace
In August 2001, Popovic joined Crystal Palace in England. He quickly became a key player in their defence and later became the team's captain. He played over 120 matches for Crystal Palace. In his last season with the club, he played 21 matches in the Premier League, which is England's top football league.
His contract with Crystal Palace ended in June 2006. Popovic decided to move to a club in Qatar called Al-Arabi.
Playing for Sydney FC
In 2007, Tony Popovic returned to Australia and joined Sydney FC. He signed a two-year deal and was also named the team's captain. On 28 October 2007, he scored his first goal for Sydney FC. It was from a corner kick, helping his team win 3–2 against the Mariners.
Tony Popovic announced he was retiring from playing football on 11 November 2008. He had been a professional footballer for almost 20 years.
International Football for Australia
Tony Popovic represented Australia at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. He played for the Australia Under-23 team. His full international career with the Australia national team began in 1995. Over the next eleven years, Popovic played 58 games for the Socceroos (Australia's national team) and scored 8 goals.
A big moment in Popovic's career was in 2006. The Australian national team qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup under coach Guus Hiddink. Popovic played in the important qualifying matches against Uruguay. He made his World Cup debut against Brazil on 18 June. Unfortunately, he got a calf injury during that game and had to leave the field. This injury meant he couldn't play in Australia's other matches in the tournament.
On 4 October 2006, Popovic announced he was retiring from playing for the Socceroos. His last game was a friendly match against Paraguay that same month. He scored his eighth international goal in that game, which ended in a 1–1 draw.
Coaching Career Journey
After he stopped playing, Tony Popovic became an assistant coach for Sydney FC. He stayed there until February 2011. Then, he went back to England to join Crystal Palace as a first team coach. This happened after his former teammate Dougie Freedman became the manager there.
Leading Western Sydney Wanderers
On 17 May 2012, Tony Popovic was announced as the very first manager of the new A-League club, Western Sydney Wanderers. He signed a four-year deal with the club. In the Wanderers' first season, Popovic was named A-League Coach of the Year because his team finished first in the league.
In the 2013–14 season, Popovic led the Wanderers to the 2014 AFC Champions League Final. This was amazing because it was the club's first time in the competition! They won against Al-Hilal, becoming the first Australian team ever to win this big Asian tournament. Because of this huge success, Popovic was named the 2014 AFC Coach of the Year. He signed a new three-year deal with the Wanderers, staying until 2018.
Coaching in Turkey and Greece
On 1 October 2017, Popovic surprisingly left Western Sydney Wanderers to coach a Turkish club called Karabükspor. This was just before the start of the 2017–18 A-League season. However, after only nine games, he was sacked by the club on 15 December 2017.
On 11 May 2018, Popovic became the new manager for Perth Glory. Under his leadership, Perth Glory won the 2018–19 A-League premiership.
On 26 August 2020, Popovic left Perth Glory to join a Greek team, Xanthi FC. He coached there for five months before being sacked.
Melbourne Victory and Australia National Team
On 21 April 2021, Melbourne Victory appointed Popovic as their head coach. He signed a three-year contract. He quickly brought the club back to success, leading them to the top of the A-League table after eight games. He also won the 2021 FFA Cup with them on 5 February 2022.
After guiding Melbourne Victory to the 2024 A-League Grand Final, which they lost, Popovic left the club at the end of the season.
On 23 September 2024, Tony Popovic was named the head coach of the Australian national team.
Career Statistics
Club Appearances and Goals
| Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Sydney United | 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 | ||
International Appearances and Goals
| 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 | |
- Scores and results list Australia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Popovic goal.
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 June 2000 | Papeete, Tahiti |  Cook Islands |
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17–0 | OFC Nations Cup |
| 2 | 9 April 2001 | BCU International Stadium, Australia |  Tonga |
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22–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 3 | 11 April 2001 | BCU International Stadium, Australia |  American Samoa |
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31–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 4 |
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| 5 | 16 April 2001 | BCU International Stadium, Australia |  Samoa |
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11–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 6 |
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| 7 | 12 February 2003 | Boleyn Ground, London, England |  England |
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3–1 | Friendly |
| 8 | 7 September 2006 | Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia |  Paraguay |
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1–1 | Friendly |
Managerial Statistics
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||
 Western Sydney Wanderers |
17 May 2012 | 1 October 2017 | 180 | 77 | 40 | 63 | 42.78 |
 Karabükspor |
1 October 2017 | 15 December 2017 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 27.27 |
| Perth Glory |
11 May 2018 | 2 September 2020 | 60 | 30 | 13 | 17 | 50.00 |
 Xanthi |
2 September 2020 | 22 February 2021 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 44.44 |
| Melbourne Victory |
21 April 2021 | 12 June 2024 | 94 | 40 | 26 | 28 | 42.55 |
| Australia |
23 September 2024 | Present | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Total | 358 | 155 | 85 | 118 | 43.30 | ||
Awards and Achievements
Player Honours
Australia
- FIFA Confederations Cup: 3rd place, 2001
- OFC Nations Cup: 1996, 2000
Manager Honours
Western Sydney Wanderers
- A-League Men: Premiers 2012–13; runner-up 2013–14, 2015–16
- A-League Men Finals runner-up: 2013, 2014, 2016
- AFC Champions League: 2014
Perth Glory
- A-League Men: Premiers 2018–19
- A-League Men Finals runner-up: 2019
Melbourne Victory
- A-League Men Regular Season runner-up: 2021–22
- A-League Men Finals runner-up: 2024
- Australia Cup: 2021
Individual Awards
- A-League Men Coach of the Year: 2012–13, 2018–19, 2021–22
- PFA A-League Manager of the Season: 2012–13, 2018–19
- AFC Coach of the Year: 2014
Images for kids
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Popovic playing for Sydney FC in 2008
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Popovic playing for Sydney FC in 2008
See also
In Spanish: Tony Popovic para niños
