How many players did we have who started for top european clubs in the 80s and 90s

I'm curious who they were and how many there were

any clips or stories welcome too

Edited by grazorblade: 21/7/2016 09:15:39 PM

Craig Johnson, obviously...surfing for England and Liverpool. Probably our first and only at a 'blue riband' club.

We didn't have many.

Eddie Krncevic the first I remember going to Croatia, and then Brugge

Farina soon after, but I can't remember the years...Eddie went when I was at school...1980, maybe...Frankie later. Yankos had a short stint in Greece in the late 80s I think

Only a trickle until the 90's, according to my shitty memory (and not becoming fanatical about the Sooceroos and Aussie abroad until my 20's (1990s)..then there were a lot more in Europe, but I don't know what classifies as a top club. Okon killed it for a while in Belgium, but smashed by injuries by the time he was at Lazio...Ned went to 1860 for quite a few years, was a mainstay there, I think (pre-internet, don't hassle me if I'm wrong)

Edited by eldorado: 21/7/2016 09:33:22 PM

Craig Johnson
:lol:

Arnie was at a Belgian club (Brugge?) as well as playing in Japan.

Slater started in France (at Nice or Lens) before going to Blackburn and winning a premiership medal in 1995.

Interesting on the Premier League web site there is an article on Birrighitti who would be the 9th goalkeeper from Aust to play in the premier league if he makes it. Others being Schwarzer, Bosnich, Jones, Fredericci, Peterson, Kearton and Mautone.

There were a few made the move after the 1988 Olympics in which we did well (beating Yugoslavia the former champions) - we were deemed an amateur league at that stage even though some people were paid in the NSL.

Jim Patikas - AEK Athens (And first ever to play for the Roos whilst at an overseas club)
Craig Moore - Rangers
Mark Viduka - Dinamo Zagreb and Celtic
Skoko (and Steve Horvat for a tiny bit) - Hadjuk Split
Frank Farina - Club Brugge
Bosnich - Aston Villa
Aurelio Vidmar Standard Liege and Feyenoord
Robbie Slater - RC Lens, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham and Southampton
Stan Lazaridis - West Ham
Ned Zelic - Borrusia Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt, 1860 München
Tony Vidmar - Rangers
Dave Mitchell - Eintracht Frankfurt, Feyenoord

Also before Milan Ivanonvic came to Australia and played for the Socceroos, he was also a gun for Red Star Belgrade in the 80's before the Yugoslav league fell apart.

John Filan the other goalkeeper?

Paul Agostino was at 1860 Munich from 1997 although his best time there was after the 90s

Milan ivanovic would have to be one of the finest defenders I've ever seen.
Never panicked at the back, calm and composed

I always thought Paul okon would have been up there had he not suffered those bad injuries .
I thought he would have had a prolonged career had he made the change to a centre back defender.


Edited by Socawho: 22/7/2016 01:07:30 AM

Kevin Muscat played 9 games for Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
John Aloisi played in Serie A, the EPL and Belgium top flight in the 90s.

lets look at 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup squads

Europe
Name (Club) Club Elo july 1997
Mark Bosnich (Aston Villa) 1672
Stan Lazaridis (West Ham United) 1596
Ned Zelić (1860 Munich) 1731
Robbie Slater (Southampton) 1595
Craig Foster (Portsmouth) 1465
Mark Viduka (Dinamo Zagreb) 1660
Aurelio Vidmar (Tenerife) 1704
Harry Kewell (Leeds United) 1594
Tony Vidmar (Rangers) 1603
Josip Skoko (Hajduk Split) 1523
John Aloisi (Portsmouth) 1465
Kevin Muscat (Wolverhampton Wanderers) 1476

Asia
Steve Horvat (Carlton)
Milan Ivanović (Adelaide City)
Alex Tobin (Adelaide City)
Matthew Bingley (Vissel Kobe)
Robbie Hooker (Sydney United)
Paul Trimboli (South Melbourne)
Damian Mori (Adelaide City)
Ernie Tapai (Perth Glory)
Zeljko Kalac (Sydney United)

so, Mark Bosnich at a club that as good as Club Brugge today

only Ned Zelić is at what i call a Champion League side today (1860 Munich was not in 1997-98 Champion League)

Edited by adrtho: 22/7/2016 01:27:18 AM

One of the GOAT Socceroos full stop. I was coached by him as a young kid and I just couldn't believe the bloke. You could kick the ball half way to the moon and he'd catch the ball on the base of his neck.

I heard though with the older teenagers and adult players as a coach he could strip a few coats off the walls

Zelic played quite regularly for Dortmund when they won the Bundesliga and lost the Uefa Cup final. Think he started in the second leg of the final.

97 is a bit late. I should have been more specific maybe pre viduka since I know the golden gen quite well as well as a few standout players just before them

Edited by grazorblade: 22/7/2016 07:35:34 AM

Oops, yes re Filan. And I'm an accountant who can't count (apparently) :-" :-"

OZ Football lists all Socceroos by Cap number and date. Its a good point to start the search.

http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Socceroo/caps.shtml

People often forget Tony Dorigo because he played for England (15 caps) and not the Socceroos, although he had no family connection to England being from an Italian-Australian family. He was called up for the Socceroos but Aston Villa wouldn't release him to come back to Australia, and then he eventually was called up by England.
He played over 500 games for Aston Villa, Chelsea, Leeds, Derby and Torino in the old 1st Division, Premier League, Serie B and Championship, between 1983 and 2000.

Also Sasa Ilic with Charlton.. though he chose to play for Serbia

I def think the quality of our overseas players was much better then than now.
People have to remember that it was harder for a foreigner to make it over there back then.
Dukes , Bozza, Zelic , Kewell were top tier players compared to even our current crop now.

Yep, very much agree on the above AND despite what many think here of Craig Johnston he was one of the Pioneer's imo and got through and played his part in a Liverpool squad with many greats and wins, yep I enjoyed it all back then :)
Yep he lost the plot after his playing days but he Made it where it counts on the pitch and it opened the eyes for scouts looking at the Dukes Kewells etc.....

Edited by LFC.: 22/7/2016 12:29:59 PM

Why do you say that ? If anything the global competitiveness of football has come on in leaps and bounds since then

Here's a pearler going way back when. http://sesasport.com/?p=1591

yes I would hope so, it was just as competitive then right ?
Why would it be any different ? , you still have to compete with many others no matter the times.


Edited by LFC.: 22/7/2016 02:21:55 PM

My point was the euro clubs back then would only sign a foreigner outside of Europe if they were exceptional
And most of the imports outside of Europe were mainly African or South American .
Nigeria had a real golden generation in the early 90s and their performance in the World Cup probably enhanced the Africans reputation as a whole.
But it's bleatingly obvious though for the Aussies to try and go the extra mile to prove themselves they had to be exceptionally good since they couldn't qualify for world cups and were stuck in Oceania

Would be my first player picked on any greatest Socceroos team and he didn't even make his debut until he turned 31 and still picked up nearly 60 caps.

We might have actually qualified for 98 if he started instead of Horvat.

I recently saw an epl match from the early 90s

the standard looked much much lower. Football seems to be improving in quality very very fast

Horvat was a pretty average defender .
If the Socceroos did qualify they had a real chance of going beyond the pool group

Germany, Yugoslavia, USA, you'd back us to probably at least knock off the States and get something against Yugoslavia back then

Yep for sure.
The confederations cup where they made the final against Brazil was pretty huge, even though they got smashed 6-0 yet Dukes got sent off early on and Brazil was just about unbeatable around that time

Here's a few more-

Chris Kalantzis played many games for both Olympiacos and Panathinaikos.

Vlado Bosinoski played for Brugges, Sporting Lisbon, Ipswich amongst others.

Alan Davidson played for Nottingham Forest; was highly rated by Clough but injury cut short his time there.

Tony Vidmar played for Rangers, Middlesborough and Cardiff as well as in Holland and Belgium.

And who could forget Craig Moore with his almost 200 games for Rangers.

Lou Hristodoulou had a pretty good career at Panathinaikos, him and Kalantzis played in Greece at the same time. Both very well regarded.

John Kosmina had a very short career at Arsenal, 1 sub appearance I think before they sent him packing.

Paul Trimboli went for a trial at Rangers of all clubs back in the 90's. Not the wisest choice there.

Oscar Crino went over to Anorthosis in Cyprus to test the waters with a view to joining a big Greek club. Didn't work out.

Something a bit different but I remember Footscray JUST bringing out a player called Vlado Stosic in the mid 80's. He played here for 1 or 2 seasons before going back to join Red Star and being part of their European Cup winners team.