Aurelio Vidmar

Aurelio Vidmar (/ɔːˈrli 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]

Aurelio Vidmar
Personal information
Full name Aurelio Vidmar
Date of birth (1967-02-03) 3 February 1967
Place of birth Adelaide, Australia
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)
2001Croydon 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

[16]

Club performance League Cup League Cup Total
Season Club League AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Australia League Cup League Cup Total
1985Adelaide CityNational Soccer League102102
1986262262
1987232232
1988225225
1989255255
1989/90239239
1990/91284284
Belgium League Belgian Cup League Cup Total
1991/92KortrijkFirst Division30103010
1992/93WaregemFirst Division32183218
1993/94257257
1994/95Standard LiègeFirst Division32223222
Netherlands League KNVB Cup League Cup Total
1995/96FeyenoordEredivisie152152
Switzerland League Schweizer Cup League Cup Total
1995/96SionNationalliga A147147
Spain League Copa del Rey Copa de la Liga Total
1996/97TenerifeLa Liga251251
1997/980000
Japan League Emperor's Cup J.League Cup Total
1998Sanfrecce HiroshimaJ1 League1543100185
1999920021113
Australia League Cup League Cup Total
1999/00Adelaide CityNational Soccer League348348
2000/01214214
2001/02233233
2002/03326326
2003/04Adelaide UnitedNational Soccer League272272
CountryAustralia 2945229452
Belgium 1195711957
Netherlands 152152
Switzerland 147147
Spain 251251
Japan 2463121298
Total 4911253121496127

National team statistics

Australia national team
YearAppsGoals
199161
199220
199352
199442
199510
199610
1997168
199800
199900
200050
200144
Total4417

Managerial statistics

As of 31 August 2017
Team From To Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Adelaide United 2 May 2007 3 June 2010 94 35 26 33 113 74 +39 037.23
Bangkok Glass 13 August 2016 10 July 2017 30 16 6 8 66 41 +25 053.33
Home United 18 December 2019 Present 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0 !
Career totals 124 51 32 41 179 116 +63 041.13

1 Results from penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws in this table.

Honours

With Australia:

With Adelaide City:

Personal honours:

References

Awards
Preceded by
Gary van Egmond
Hyundai A-League Coach of the Year
2008/09
Succeeded by
Ernie Merrick


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