 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Eugen-Josip Galeković | ||
| Date of birth | 12 June 1981 | ||
| Place of birth | Melbourne, Australia | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Adelaide United | ||
| Number | 1 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1993–1997 | Chelsea Hajduk | ||
| 1997–1998 | Bulleen | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2000–2001 | Eastern Pride | 11 | (0) |
| 2002–2004 | South Melbourne | 34 | (0) |
| 2004–2005 | S.C. Beira-Mar | 2 | (0) |
| 2005–2007 | Melbourne Victory | 15 | (0) |
| 2007– | Adelaide United | 179 | (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 22:47, 25 March 2012 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 25 July 2013 | |||
Eugen-Josip "Eugene" Galeković (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈêuːdʒinˈgalêːkoːʋitɕ]) (born 12 June 1981) is an Australian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Adelaide United in the A-League and internationally forAustralia.
Biography
Club career
Galeković'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.
Galeković 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. Galeković has been second choice keeper for the Victory in the 2006–07 season but an injury to Theoklitos gave Galeković his first start of the season in the round 13 clash against Queensland Roar atSuncorp Stadium.
Adelaide United
On 30 October, Eugene signed for Melbourne Victory arch-rivals Adelaide United as a replacement for injured keeper Daniel Beltrame and made his debut against the formally known, Queensland Roar atHindmarsh Stadium.[1] On 20 January 2008, Galeković kept his first clean sheet for Adelaide in a 2–0 win over Brisbane at Hindmarsh Stadium. On 27 December 2008 Galeković made a string of impressive saves to ensure Adelaide kept its 1–0 advantage over Perth Glory[2] 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 Life FM Player of the Year Award sponsored by Payneham Road Chemplus Compounding Pharmacy.
In the middle of the 2011/2012 A-league Jon McKain gave up his role as captain at Adelaide united. It was then announced that Eugene Galeković became captain at Adelaide united.
International
Galeković 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 byHolger 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 Galeković was a part of a 9-0 thrashing ofGuam. After a string good performances for Adelaide United, Holger Osieck selected Eugene Galeković as part of his 23-Man Squad for the decisive 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) match against Oman.
