Some 83 different nations have been represented in the A-League.
While players from countries like Brazil, England and the Netherlands have traditionally struggled in the A-League, the recent views of an A-League coach have eyes fixated on a region that has had plenty of success in the A-League: the Balkans.
The Balkans are made up of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia.
This is what Brisbane Roar coach Warren Moon said in a recent interview upon singing Juan Lescano from Russian club Yenisey Krasnoyarsk.
“I needed a striker that had a high work rate, with a nice frame on them and I’m thinking about where (Besart) Berisha is from. Those leagues are physical, they’re tough. It’s hard to play in those leagues because it’s so physical… So that’s why I was looking in the Eastern Bloc, and looked at leagues in Croatia, Serbia, Russia, places like that.”
Players from this part of the world will regularly be over six foot tall in height, have chiselled physiques, be strong in a tackle and have fiery tempers – but their ability with the ball is generally sublime.
Albania has had one representative in Migjen Basha, who was a mainstay in a Melbourne Victory team that finished bottom last year.
There have been no players from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria or Montenegro yet in the A-League.
Players from Croatia have been solid but without the flair. Mateo Poljak was a good servant for two A-League clubs and Dino Kresinger became a cult favourite at the Wanderers.
Josip Tadić and Goran Paracki had respectable seasons at the Heart and Phoenix while the less said about Dario Bodrušić and Krunoslav Lovrek’s time in Adelaide and Sydney the better.
Kosovo has been represented by the A-League’s greatest ever goal scorer Besart Berisha.
(Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
North Macedonia has got serial trophy winner Daniel Georgievski. His countryman Mensur Kurtiši’s time in Brisbane wasn’t so lucky.
Lucian Goian was the sole representative from Romania. He had a short stint in Perth as an injury replacement player.
Serbian players in particular have been famed for their technical skills, so much so that the nickname ‘the Brazilians of Europe’ given by their South American counterparts has stuck around for decades.
Sydney FC has been the A-League club to benefit the most from Serbian players.
Strong centre back Nikola Petković, striker Ranko Despotović as well as midfield maestro Miloš Dimitrijević and possibly the A-League’s greatest ever attacking midfielder Miloš Ninković have enjoyed great success.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Perth Glory can also boast success stories in Branko Jelic, Milan Jovanic, Milan Smiljanić and the supremely talented Nebojša Marinković among their ranks over the years.
Milan Đurić, Andrija Kaluđerović, Miloš Trifunović and Matija Ljujić can also count their single-season stints with Central Coast, Brisbane, Newcastle and Wellington as positives.
Robert Koren has been the most successful player from Slovenia after his two-season stint in Melbourne.
Denis Kramar and Tomislav Mišura were two forgettable names at Perth and Newcastle, while Džengis Čavušević’s career ended in Adelaide when he tore his ACL and subsequently retired.
It’s not all one-way traffic though. Australian players from the Balkans are regularly being watched by their lineage overseas. An Altona Magic player from the Victorian NPL is currently on trial with European glamour club Crvena Zvezda in Europe.
There are currently 14 young Australians in the Balkans playing football, let alone the many that are on trial due to family links.
Many children’s grandparents migrated to Australia after World War Two and then generations later whole families migrated here after the war in the ’90s.
What we have seen since is an incredible production line of players and coaches across all levels of Australian football that have gone on to represent the Socceroos and massive teams in Europe.
Warrens Moon’s recent comments will hopefully once again have clubs looking at the region that produces the best technical players in Europe, the Balkans.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
I know, I know, but it did sound like quite the achievement.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
there has been a level of respect between brazil and serbia since the 60's red stars stadium was known as the marakana before the name change to one of the greatest striker the club has ever seen
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Your better off with taking a recommendation off a trusted person. Arnie seems to have some of the best contacts in Europe. His recruitment from Europe top of the range, I think he got the recommendation of Zwanjsikk directly from one of the ex Socceroos coaching staff from Holland. His contact in Serbia must be top of the class as well.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
obvious typo, it was meant to be the same age as i was back then lol
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
"my son is the same age as i am" Wow, you started young! :silly:
Peter
Guest
So where and who exactly said 'serbians were the Brazilians of Europe' I'm intrigued. As far as I remember years ago it was the 'yugoslavian' team that was dubbed that. That team included players from all/most of the Balkan countries. Nice try though.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I liked the Hungarians the year before, harder working. .
jbinnie
Guest
Stevo - Pity you hadn't taken your findings a bit further and gave us the birthplaces of the Socceroo squad, all 22 of them. For the interested we had 7 Aussies, 6 Englishmen, 4 Yugoslavs, 3 Scots, 1 German, 1 Hungarian, Interestingly ,the team that ran on for the final game consisted of 3 Englishmen,3 Scots,2 Yugoslavs,2 Aussies, 1 German, Of course in those days these "immigrant " players were all classed as Australians therefore they could represent the country at the World Cup .Cheers jb..
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
100%, then you've got to factor in coaches as well and for a country of its size they produce quality football players. its how their brought up thats the difference - i made reference to my son being the same as i was when i came to australia and the training Australian kids are getting compared to what i got, its light years apart the curriculum needs to be changed in australia
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
you could be surprised by the end of european qualifying thats all im going to say, 2 team are likely to qualify as group winners (croatia and serbia) the other 4 teams are in positions where they all could go to the playoffs and will fancy thier chances if the draw is favourable. the next world cup could see half of europes representatives from the balkans
At work
Roar Rookie
This backs up your article nicely: https://youtu.be/H8Mznsq8_qY Interestingly Serbia are the 4th highest exporter of talent around the world.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
wonderful player but was poorly advised to go to england, his style of play was not suitable for english football - would've been better suited in spain and italy he was part of that goal scoring tandem at PSV known as "batman & robben' with arjen robben
jbinnie
Guest
Andy -Sure the countries I mentioned have bigger budgets than the countries you mention but we are not discussing dollars here we are discussing the standard of football player from certain countries.. If you concede that Germany, France, Italy , Spain, Portugal and even England, are "regulars" at reaching the last 8 in the WC you have to admit it is these countries, with their home grown players, that are consistently disproving what you have written in this article. Theer are some superb players have emanated from the Balkans, one that jumps to mind is Luka Modric, but with the political upheavals that have taken place in recent years in the host of "new" countries it is doubtful if there has been enough tome for a "team", (like Yugoslavia),to once again "mix it" with the "big boys" of European football. Enjoyed your article nevertheless, showed a lot of investigation had gone into it. Cheers jb.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The three best Greek players of the 80's went to Greece and played there. So add Patikas, Kalantzis and Hristodoulou to all the others it was the Greek era, Yankos and Katholos went to Greece and were let go. With all three and Dorigo in 1989 it could have been quite a team. After the 80's though hardly anyone why is a mystery. Avram Papadopoulos played a lot for Greece from Melbourne.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I was trying to find an appropriate place to mention the Serbian player Kezman but can't find a suitable spot so this might be overlooked. I really enjoyed watching him when he was at Chelsea but it finished badly from what I remember - nevertheless very skillful player and could score too.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
Smiljanic was not a goal scoring midfielder, he did his job down to the T for the majority of time with perth He wouldve remained with the club if his agent hadnt given him the idea to try to terminate his contract for more dollars in china
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Good topic! Not sure why I did this but it's something to feel good about during this pandemic. 1974 WC Socceroos squad. Black&White TV, early hours of the morning :happy: D.O.B. CLUB 1 GK Jack Reilly 27 Aug 1945 Hakoah St.Kilda 2 DF Doug Utjesenovic 08 Oct 1946 St.George-Budapest 3 DF Peter Wilson 15 Sep 1947 Safeway United 4 DF Manfred Schaefer 12 Feb 1943 St.George-Budapest 5 DF Colin Curran 21 Aug 1947 Western Suburbs SC 6 MD Ray Richards 18 May 1946 Marconi Fairfield 7 MD Jimmy Rooney 10 Dec 1945 APIA Leichardt 8 MD Jimmy Mackay 19 Dec 1943 Hakoah Eastern Suburbs 9 FW Johnny Warren 17 May 1943 St.George-Budapest 10 FW Gary Manuel 20 Feb 1950 Pan Hellenic 11 FW Attila Abonyi 16 Aug 1946 St.George-Budapest 12 FW Adrian Alston 06 Feb 1949 Safeway United 13 FW Peter Ollerton 20 May 1951 APIA Leichardt 14 FW Max Tolson 18 Jul 1945 Safeway United 15 DF Harry Williams 07 May 1951 St.George-Budapest 16 DF Ivo Rudic 24 Jan 1942 Pan Hellenic 17 MD David Harding 14 Aug 1946 Pan Hellenic 18 DF John Watkiss 28 Mar 1941 Hakoah Eastern Suburbs 19 FW Ernie Campbell 20 Oct 1949 Marconi Fairfield 20 FW Branko Buljevic 06 Sep 1947 Footscray JUST 21 GK Jim Milisavljevic 15 Apr 1951 Footscray JUST 22 GK Allan Maher 21 Jul 1950 Sutherland Shire Coach: Rale Rasic 26 Dec 1935
Popavalium Andropoff
Guest
Milan Smiljanic wasn't a success, but Glory have had a number of great players over the years with Serbian heritage, and that was the case long before the A-League. Eg Bobby Despotovski, Ivan Ergic, Danny Milosevic, Danny Vukovic, Branko Jelic, Nebo Marinkovic etc
AGO74
Guest
Bobo - strangest name. Best striker!
AGO74
Guest
Awesome! What an experience! Good on you Punter!