Aurelio Vidmar
Aurelio Vidmar (/ɔːˈriːlioʊ ˈvɪdmɑːr/ aw-REEL-ee-oh VID-mar; born 3 February 1967 in Adelaide) is an Australian football coach and former player. He is a former captain of the Australian national team and former coach of the Olyroos. He is the current head coach of Lion City Sailors.[1]
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Personal information | |||
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Full name | Aurelio Vidmar | ||
Date of birth | 3 February 1967 | ||
Place of birth | Adelaide, Australia | ||
Playing position(s) | Midfielder | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1985–1991 | Adelaide City | 157 | (29) |
1991–1992 | Kortrijk | 30 | (10) |
1992–1994 | Waregem | 57 | (25) |
1994–1995 | Standard Liège | 32 | (22) |
1995–1996 | Feyenoord | 15 | (2) |
1996 | Sion | 13 | (7) |
1997–1998 | Tenerife | 25 | (1) |
1998–1999 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 24 | (6) |
1999–2003 | Adelaide City | 137 | (23) |
2001 | → Croydon Kings (loan) | 3 | (0) |
2003–2004 | Adelaide United | 27 | (2) |
Total | 520 | (127) | |
National team‡ | |||
1996 | Australia U-23 | 4 | (3) |
1991–2001 | Australia | 44 | (17) |
Teams managed | |||
2005–2006 | Adelaide United (assistant) | ||
2007–2010 | Adelaide United | ||
2010–2016 | Australia (assistant) | ||
2010–2016 | Australia U-23 | ||
2012 | Australia U-20 | ||
2013 | Australia (caretaker) | ||
2016–2017 | Bangkok Glass | ||
2019– | Lion City Sailors | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:47, 20 January 2010 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17:30, 20 January 2010 (UTC) |
In recognition of decorated national team career, and his service to Adelaide United, the southern end of Hindmarsh Stadium is named the Vidmar End.[2]
Biography
Club career
Aurelio started his professional career with local Adelaide team Adelaide City before moving to Europe in the mid-1990s to Belgium, where he was the league's top scorer in the 1994-95 season. He also played in Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands and in Japan before returning to Australia in 1999 to rejoin City. Vidmar signed with Adelaide United when they took Adelaide City's spot in the National Soccer League and was awarded the captaincy by then coach John Kosmina. Despite plans to play in the inaugural A-League season he retired in 2005[3] bringing an end to a 20-year playing career in which time he played 517 games scoring 127 goals. He is the older brother of Tony Vidmar.
International career
Vidmar was a member of the Socceroos team for 12 years and was a member of three unsuccessful FIFA World Cup qualification campaigns. He played and scored against Diego Maradona's Argentina in Australia's final qualifying ties in 1993, he played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Iran in 1997 when a 2–0 lead slipped from Australia's grasp. He also played in the match between Australia and American Samoa in 2001 and scored twice. Aurelio sometimes captained the national team between 1995 and 2001[4] when he retired for international competition accumulating 44 caps and scoring 17 goals.
Managerial career
After his retirement in 2005 he took up a role of assistant coach working under Kosmina, he was appointed as head coach on 2 May 2007. The 2007–08 A-League season was not very successful for Aurelio Vidmar, his side finishing 6th out of 8 teams on the ladder the first time Adelaide failed to make the finals. Calls for his resignation were being made and his unsuccessful Asian Champions League campaign, albeit against talented opposition, only fuelled these accusations, coming 3rd in his group with only the winner progressing to the quarter finals.
Vidmar began to regain the support of the United supporters by securing valuable acquisitions such as Cristiano and Sasa Ognenovski and built up Adelaide's defence and improved their attacking options. He created history by leading Adelaide to the 2008 AFC Champions League Final, becoming the first Australian team to achieve such a feat. This led Adelaide United CEO Sam Ciccarello to re-sign Vidmar and his assistant Phil Stubbins for another 3 years in November 2008.[5]
Vidmar was inducted into the Football Federation Australia Football Hall of Fame in the same month.[6] He is also in the Football Federation of South Australia Hall of Champions.[7] He made a controversial diatribe after the semi-final against Melbourne Victory, in which Adelaide lost 4–0, and 6–0 on aggregate.[8] Post-match, he claimed that Adelaide was a "piss-ant town", and that politics within the club was to blame for the loss. He later apologised for his remarks.[9]
However, with the start of the new season, Vidmar was unable to retain the form from the previous season with a slow start by taking only 5 of the 15 available points. He has been criticised for his use of playing a lone striker. Adelaide finished last in the 2009-10 season. As a result of comments he made at a media conference in November 2009 about "beheading his players like they would do in Saudi Arabia" if they did not perform well, Adelaide United handed Vidmar a two-match touchline ban. The club also issued Vidmar a $10,000 fine.[10][11] After leaving Adelaide United, Vidmar became the coach of the Young Socceroos.[12] Vidmar was the caretaker coach of the Socceroos team for one match in 2013, after Holger Osieck's contract was terminated.[13]
He was appointed in 2018 as Director of Football for Adelaide United FC.[14] After five months, the club announced on 6 February 2019, that Vidmar had resigned from his role.[15]
Club statistics
Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
Australia | League | Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||||
1985 | Adelaide City | National Soccer League | 10 | 2 | 10 | 2 | ||||
1986 | 26 | 2 | 26 | 2 | ||||||
1987 | 23 | 2 | 23 | 2 | ||||||
1988 | 22 | 5 | 22 | 5 | ||||||
1989 | 25 | 5 | 25 | 5 | ||||||
1989/90 | 23 | 9 | 23 | 9 | ||||||
1990/91 | 28 | 4 | 28 | 4 | ||||||
Belgium | League | Belgian Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||||
1991/92 | Kortrijk | First Division | 30 | 10 | 30 | 10 | ||||
1992/93 | Waregem | First Division | 32 | 18 | 32 | 18 | ||||
1993/94 | 25 | 7 | 25 | 7 | ||||||
1994/95 | Standard Liège | First Division | 32 | 22 | 32 | 22 | ||||
Netherlands | League | KNVB Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||||
1995/96 | Feyenoord | Eredivisie | 15 | 2 | 15 | 2 | ||||
Switzerland | League | Schweizer Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||||
1995/96 | Sion | Nationalliga A | 14 | 7 | 14 | 7 | ||||
Spain | League | Copa del Rey | Copa de la Liga | Total | ||||||
1996/97 | Tenerife | La Liga | 25 | 1 | 25 | 1 | ||||
1997/98 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
Japan | League | Emperor's Cup | J.League Cup | Total | ||||||
1998 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | J1 League | 15 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 5 |
1999 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 3 | ||
Australia | League | Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||||
1999/00 | Adelaide City | National Soccer League | 34 | 8 | 34 | 8 | ||||
2000/01 | 21 | 4 | 21 | 4 | ||||||
2001/02 | 23 | 3 | 23 | 3 | ||||||
2002/03 | 32 | 6 | 32 | 6 | ||||||
2003/04 | Adelaide United | National Soccer League | 27 | 2 | 27 | 2 | ||||
Country | Australia | 294 | 52 | 294 | 52 | |||||
Belgium | 119 | 57 | 119 | 57 | ||||||
Netherlands | 15 | 2 | 15 | 2 | ||||||
Switzerland | 14 | 7 | 14 | 7 | ||||||
Spain | 25 | 1 | 25 | 1 | ||||||
Japan | 24 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 29 | 8 | ||
Total | 491 | 125 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 496 | 127 |
National team statistics
Australia national team | ||
---|---|---|
Year | Apps | Goals |
1991 | 6 | 1 |
1992 | 2 | 0 |
1993 | 5 | 2 |
1994 | 4 | 2 |
1995 | 1 | 0 |
1996 | 1 | 0 |
1997 | 16 | 8 |
1998 | 0 | 0 |
1999 | 0 | 0 |
2000 | 5 | 0 |
2001 | 4 | 4 |
Total | 44 | 17 |
Managerial statistics
- As of 31 August 2017
Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
2 May 2007 | 3 June 2010 | 94 | 35 | 26 | 33 | 113 | 74 | +39 | 37.23 | |
13 August 2016 | 10 July 2017 | 30 | 16 | 6 | 8 | 66 | 41 | +25 | 53.33 | |
18 December 2019 | Present | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | — | |
Career totals | 124 | 51 | 32 | 41 | 179 | 116 | +63 | 41.13 |
1 Results from penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws in this table.
Honours
With Australia:
- FIFA Confederations Cup: 1997 (Runners-Up)
- OFC Nations Cup: 2000
With Adelaide City:
- NSL Championship: 1986
Personal honours:
- Belgian League Top Scorer: 1994-1995 with Standard Liège - 22 goals
- Oceania Footballer of the Year: 1994
- Football Federation of South Australia Hall of Champions: 2008
- Football Federation Australia Hall of Fame: 2008
- A-League Coach of the Year: 2008-2009
- South Australia Sports Hall Of Fame 2019
References
- Ganesan, Deepanraj (19 December 2019). "Former Socceroos skipper Aurelio Vidmar gets new Home". The New Paper. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- "Pickard and Vidmar Ends". Adelaide United FC. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
- Veteran Vidmar announces retirement
- Socceroo Captains
- "Adelaide re-sign Vidmar & Stubbins for three years". Archived from the original on 14 April 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2008.
- FFA honours Aurelio Vidmar, Peter Desira
- FFSA ANNOUNCES 2008 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
- http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/96390,vidmars-astonishing-adelaide-rant.aspx
- http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/96395,sorry-viddy-clears-the-air.aspx
- Adelaide United Ban Aurelio Vidmar For Two Matches For Saudi Arabia Slur
- "Vidmar absence will not affect Adelaide players". Archived from the original on 4 January 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
- http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/news-display/aurelio-vidmar-and-paul-okon-to-coach-national-youth-sides/46788
- http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/news-display/Holger-Osiecks-contract-terminated/77026
- "Reds legend Vidmar returns as Director of Football". Football Federation Australia. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- Adelaide United Club Statement: Aurelio Vidmar, adelaideunited.com.au, 6 February 2019
- "Aurelio Vidmar". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aurelio Vidmar. |
- Aurelio Vidmar on Twitter
- Aurelio Vidmar at National-Football-Teams.com
- Aurelio Vidmar at J.League (in Japanese)
- Adelaide United profile
Awards | ||
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Preceded by Gary van Egmond |
Hyundai A-League Coach of the Year 2008/09 |
Succeeded by Ernie Merrick |