Eugene Galekovic

Eugene Galeković

Galeković with Adelaide United in 2010
Personal information
Full name Eugen-Josip Galeković
Date of birth (1981-06-12) 12 June 1981
Place of birth Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
Adelaide United
Number 1
Youth career
1993–1997 Chelsea Hajduk
1997–1998 Bulleen
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2000 Melbourne Knights
2000–2001 Eastern Pride 11 (0)
2002–2004 South Melbourne 37 (0)
2004–2005 S.C. Beira-Mar 2 (0)
2005–2007 Melbourne Victory 15 (0)
2007– Adelaide United 250 (0)
National team
2003–2004 Australia U-23 4 (0)
2009– Australia 8 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 2 November 2014.
† Appearances (goals)

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 25 July 2013

Eugen-Josip "Eugene" Galekovic (Croatian: Eugen-Josip Galeković; Croatian pronunciation: [êuːd͡ʒin ɡalêːkoːʋit͡ɕ]; born 12 June 1981) is an Australian football (soccer) player who plays as a goalkeeper for Adelaide United in the A-League and internationally for Australia.

Biography

Club career

Galekovic's junior soccer was mostly played at Chelsea Hajduk in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs.

Galekovic played school soccer for St Bede's College.

Galekovic started his career with Morwell based National Soccer League (NSL) side Gippsland Falcons as a 19-year-old in December 2000 before signing with South Melbourne the following season. He stayed with South Melbourne until the NSL's closure in 2003–04 where at season's end he secured a place on the list of Beira Mar in Portugal on the back of holding the number one spot for Australia's Olympic soccer campaign in Athens in 2004.

The period at Beira Mar was generally unsuccessful for Galekovic, with him seeing little first team action and thus, he returned to Melbourne to sign for the city's inaugural A-League side Melbourne Victory for season 2005–06, debuting in the opening match against Sydney FC.

Galekovic played 11 matches for the season in an unusual goalkeeper rotation policy employed by Melbourne manager Ernie Merrick in which the other 10 matches saw teammate Michael Theoklitos in goal. Galekovic was second choice keeper for the Victory in the 2006–07 season but an injury to Theoklitos gave Galekovic his first start of the season in the round 13 clash against Queensland Roar at Suncorp Stadium.

Adelaide United

Galekovic warming up for Adelaide United in 2008.

On 30 October, Eugene signed for Melbourne Victory rivals Adelaide United as a replacement for injured keeper Daniel Beltrame and made his debut against the Queensland Roar at Hindmarsh Stadium.[2] On 20 January 2008, Galekovic kept his first clean sheet for Adelaide in a 2–0 win over Brisbane at Hindmarsh Stadium. On 27 December 2008 Galekovic made a string of impressive saves to ensure Adelaide kept its 1–0 advantage over Perth Glory[3] and in the process giving him his fifth clean sheet of the league season.

In February 2010, Galekovic capped off another brilliant year by winning the Adelaide United Player of the Year Award.

In the middle of the 2011–12 A-League Jon McKain resigned his role as captain at Adelaide United. It was then announced that Eugene Galekovic became captain.

On March 11th, 2016, Galekovic reached 250 appearances despite a 1 - 0 defeat to Melbourne City FC. [4]

International

Galekovic has been called up for Australia in a preliminary squad with teammates Scott Jamieson and Paul Reid after impressive performances in the A-League and the Asian Champions League. He made his first senior international soccer debut for the Socceroos on 28 January 2009 in an AFC Asian Cup qualifying match versus Indonesia. He was disappointing in his last outing against Kuwait, by letting in two poor goals after Australia conceded a 2–0 advantage. After Brad Jones left the 2010 World Cup 23-man squad to help his son battle leukaemia, he was called in as a replacement, after missing selection in the 23-man squad first time around. Eugene was selected by Holger Osieck for a 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup qualifying tournament. He started the first match against hosts Hong Kong and came up with audacious stops to save Australia from humiliation as they won 1–0 with a solo effort from Brett Emerton. The other game that Galekovic was a part of a 9–0 thrashing of Guam. After a string good performances for Adelaide United, Holger Osieck selected Eugene Galekovic as part of his 23-man squad for the decisive 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) match against Oman.

He was part of the Australia squad for the 2014 World Cup, but did not play.

Career statistics

As of 24 February 2016

CS = Clean sheets

Club Season League1 Cup International2 Total
Apps CS Apps CS Apps CS Apps CS
Eastern Pride 2000–01 111111
Total 111111
South Melbourne 2001–02 0000
2002–03 157157
2003–04 22102210
Total 37173717
Beira-Mar 2004–05 2020
Total 2020
Melbourne Victory 2005–06 11421135
2006–07 414182
2007–08 1010
Total 15572227
Adelaide United 2007–08 111111
2008–09 2210321473919
2009–10 27673349
2010–11 299299
2011–12 253106359
2012–13 258258
2013–14 288288
2014–15 26732299
2015–16 1373000167
Total 2065994311624679
Career Total 271821663116 318104

1 – includes A-League final series statistics
2 – includes FIFA Club World Cup statistics; AFC Champions League statistics are included in season commencing after group stages (i.e. 2008 ACL in 2008–09 A-League season etc.)

Honours

Club

Melbourne Victory:
Adelaide United:

National

Australia

Individual

References

  1. "Eugene Galeković". socceroos.com.au. Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  2. "Roar bore Adelaide". Football News. 11 February 2007. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
  3. "Reds take glory in tough Boxing Day clash". Adelaide United FC. 27 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
  4. "http://www.adelaideunited.com.au/photo-gallery/gallery-king-of-coopers-reaches-250-85o0sh70lcec12xg8fwlef5a4". 11 March 2016. External link in |title= (help);

External links

Awards
Preceded by
Cássio
Adelaide United Club Champion Award
2008–09, 2009–10
Succeeded by
Cássio


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, May 01, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.