Mile Sterjovski

Mile Sterjovski (Macedonian: Миле Стерјовски, born 27 May 1979) is a retired Australian football (soccer) player. Sterjovski played mainly as a right winger or as a second striker, but also played as a left winger and central midfielder.

Sterjovski played youth football with Wollongong Wolves and the AIS before making his senior debut for Wolves in the National Soccer League. After also playing for Wollongong United, Sydney United and Parramatta Power, Sterjovski moved overseas to play for French club Lille OSC. He also spent time in Switzerland (with Basel) and Turkey (with Hacettepe) before joining Derby in the English Premier League. He eventually returned to Australia to play in the A-League for Perth Glory and Central Coast Mariners, separated by a period playing for Dalian Aerbin in the Chinese Super League.

He played for the Australian national team from 2000 to 2010, making 43 appearances and scoring 8 goals, including 3 games at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and an international hat-trick against Tahiti.^[1]

Club career

Junior Club

Sterjovski began playing as a junior with the Wollongong Olympic Junior Soccer Club Lake Height Junior Football Club.

Early career

Sterjovski began his career in Australia at Wollongong Wolves and briefly played for Illawarra Lions before making a name for himself with successful spells at Sydney United and Parramatta Power.

Lille OSC

Sterjovski's performances and record of 31 goals in 68 games in three National Soccer League (NSL) seasons earned him a move to French Ligue 1 side Lille in 2000. After 4 seasons at Lille, Sterjovski moved to Swiss side FC Basel.

FC Basel

Sterjovski remained at FC Basel for three seasons. In his first season at St. Jakob-Park, he won the Swiss Super League and in his second season was part of the team that reached the UEFA Cup Quarter-finals. Sterjovski moved to Turkey in the summer of 2007.

Gençlerbirliği

On 2 September 2007, Sterjovski scored on his debut after coming off the bench for his new club Gençlerbirliği OFTAŞ (now called Hacettepe Spor Kulübü) in their match against Fenerbahçe.

Derby County

On 9 January 2008, Sterjovski announced his plan to leave Turkey for personal reasons relating to his family. He announced that he was in negotiations with Premier League side Derby County and joined them after work permit problems on 24 January 2008.^[2] He made his debut as a substitute against Tottenham in a 3–0 defeat, and was a regular in the side towards the end of the season, usually playing out on the right wing.^[3]

In the 2008–09 season, Sterjovski was largely frozen out of the Derby squad by manager Paul Jewell, his first appearance of the season coming on 21 October 2008 against Blackpool, in which he scored his first goal for Derby.^[4] However, following Jewell's departure, he produced an impressive performance against Manchester United in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final under caretaker manager David Lowe. New Derby manager Nigel Clough was watching in the stands. Following the match, Sterjovski said: "Now I am glad there is a new manager. It’s a new start for me and, hopefully, I will get more chances."^[5] Sterjovski went on to make 14 further appearances before the end of the season, scoring once and playing well in the middle of the injury-hit Derby midfield.

Return to Australia: Perth Glory

After initial speculation linking Sterjovski with a move to Gold Coast United,^[6] he moved to Perth Glory on 11 June 2009 for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract as their marquee player.^[7]

Central Coast Mariners

On 6 July 2012 it was announced he had signed one-year deal to play for Central Coast Mariners.^[8] On 5 February 2014, Sterjovski announced that he will retire at the end of the season.^[9]

International career

Sterjovski with Australia in 2007

Sterjovski made his Australian national team debut against Scotland in 2000. Sterjovski was selected to represent Australia at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. In the build-up, he made an appearance in the Australia vs. Greece friendly at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and also played against Liechtenstein, scoring the first goal for the Socceroos in a 3–1 win. In the finals he started in the games against Brazil and against Croatia.

Sterjovski was selected for the first group match in Australia's 2007 Asian Cup campaign, starting against Oman and substituted in the 46th minute, which Australia drew 1–1. Due to illness Sterjovski did not feature further in Australia's failed campaign in its first Asian Cup. Sterjovski scored against Ghana during a friendly match at the Sydney Football Stadium, but was sent off in the 85th minute after receiving a second yellow card for a tackle on Ghana's Richard Manu. He scored again on 20 August in a friendly against South Africa in which the Socceroos drew 2–2. On 10 June 2009, Sterjovski notched his 9th goal for Australia in a 2–0 win over Bahrain at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney, in his 41st appearance for his national side.

Personal life

Sterjovski and his wife Sharon have two sons and a daughter. Luka, Sonny and Lily. Sterjovski is an ethnic Macedonian

A-League career statistics

As of 16 March 2014

Chinese League career statistics

(Correct as of 24 June 2012)

National team statistics

International appearances

^[10]

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	31 May 2004	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide, Australia	Tahiti	5-0	9-0	2004 OFC Nations Cup
2				6-0
3				7-0
4	7 June 2006	Donaustadion, Ulm, Germany	Liechtenstein	1-1	3-1	Friendly
5	2 June 2007	Stadium Australia, Sydney, Australia	Uruguay	1-0	1-2	Friendly
6	23 May 2008	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Australia	Ghana	1-0	1-0	Friendly
7	19 August 2008	Loftus Road, London, England	South Africa	1-1	2-2	Friendly
8	10 June 2009	Stadium Australia, Sydney, Australia	Bahrain	1-0	2-0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

Honours

Sydney United

• NSL Minor Premiership:
  • Winner (1): 1999

FC Basel

• Swiss Super League:
  • Winner (1): 2004–05
  • Runner-up (2): 2005–06, 2006–07
• Swiss Cup:
  • Winner (1): 2007
• UEFA Cup:
  • Quarter-finals (1): 2006

Derby County

• League Cup:
  • Semi-finals (1): 2009

Perth Glory

• Club Golden Boot Award: 2010

Central Coast Mariners

• A-League Championship: 2013

International

• Confederations Cup:
  • Third place (1): 2001
• Oceania Nations Cup:
  • Winner (1): 2004

References

External links

• Mile Sterjovski Interview
• OzFootball profile
• Derby County profile
• FFA – Socceroo profile
• Perth Glory profile
• Mile Sterjovski career statistics at Soccerbase
  

Australia Squads
Australia squad – 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup Third Place 1 Schwarzer 2 Muscat 3 Moore 4 Okon 5 T. Vidmar 6 Popovic 7 Skoko 8 Lazaridis 9 Aloisi 10 Emerton 11 Zdrilic 12 Bolton 13 Bresciano 14 Murphy 15 Foxe 16 Horvat 17 Corica 18 Chipperfield 19 A. Vidmar 20 Zane 21 Thompson 22 Sterjovski 23 Juric Coach: Farina Australia squad – 2004 OFC Nations Cup winners (4th title) 1 Schwarzer 2 North 3 Laybutt 4 Colosimo 5 T. Vidmar 6 Chipperfield 7 Emerton 8 Skoko 9 Aloisi 10 Cahill 11 Lazaridis 12 Brosque 13 Grella 14 Kisnorbo 15 Sterjovski 16 Tarka 17 Zdrilic 18 Kalac 19 Vieri 20 Madaschi 21 Elrich 22 Jones 23 Bresciano Coach: Farina Australia squad – 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Schwarzer 2 Muscat 3 Moore 4 Neill 5 Vidmar 6 Popovic 7 Emerton 8 Skoko 9 Viduka 10 Cahill 11 Chipperfield 12 Petkovic 13 Wilkshire 14 Colosimo 15 Aloisi 16 Zdrilic 17 McKain 18 Kalac 19 Culina 20 Milicevic 21 Elrich 22 Thompson 23 Sterjovski Coach: Farina Australia squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Schwarzer 2 Neill 3 Moore 4 Cahill 5 Culina 6 Popovic 7 Emerton 8 Skoko 9 Viduka (c) 10 Kewell 11 Lazaridis 12 Covic 13 Grella 14 Chipperfield 15 Aloisi 16 Beauchamp 17 Thompson 18 Kalac 19 Kennedy 20 Wilkshire 21 Sterjovski 22 Milligan 23 Bresciano Coach: Hiddink Australia squad – 2007 AFC Asian Cup 1 Schwarzer 2 Neill 3 Kisnorbo 4 Cahill 5 Culina 6 Beauchamp 7 Emerton 8 Wilkshire 9 Viduka 10 Kewell 11 Thompson 12 Jones 13 Grella 14 Holman 15 Aloisi 16 Thwaite 17 Valeri 18 Petkovic 19 Carle 20 Carney 21 Sterjovski 22 Milligan 23 Bresciano Coach: Arnold