Mile Sterjovski

Australian soccer player (born 1979)

Mile Sterjovski (born 27 May 1979) is an Australian former professional soccer player. He played predominantly as a right winger or as a second striker, but also played as a left winger and central midfielder. Sterjovski is the current head coach of A League club Macarthur FC. 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 then returned to the A league to win the championship with the Central Coast Mariners. He played for the Australia national team from 2000 to 2010, making 43 appearances and scoring 8 goals, including three games at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and an international hat trick against Tahiti.

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

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.

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 four seasons at Lille, Sterjovski moved to Swiss side FC Basel.

On 14 May 2004, it was announced that Sterjovski had signed a three year contract with FC Basel. He joined Basel's first team during their 2004–05 season under head coach Christian Gross. After playing in five test games Sterjovski played his domestic league debut for his new club in the home game in the St. Jakob Park on 17 July as Basel won 6–0 against Aarau. As reigning Swiss champions, Basel entered the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League in the third qualifying round and their aim was to reach the group stage. However, they were drawn against Internazionale. Sterjovski scored his first goal for his new club on 24 August in the away game in the San Siro, Milan, as Basel were defeated 4–1 by Inter and Inter won the qualifier 5–2 on aggregate. Basel subsequently dropped into the 2004–05 UEFA Cup. Beating Terek Grozny in the first round, Basel qualified for the group stage. A 1–1 draw away against Schalke 04 was followed by a home defeat against Hearts. But with two victories, 2–1 away against Ferencvárosi TC and 1–0 at home against Feyenoord, saw Basel rise to third place in the group table and advance to the knock out stage. In the round of 32 in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup, a home game in the St. Jakob Park on 17 February 2005, Basel played a goalless draw against Sterjovski's former club, Lille OSC, but in the return leg Basel were defeated 2–0 and were eliminated. Sterjovski scored his first domestic league goal with his team in the home game on 7 November. It was the first goal of the game as Basel won 2–1 against Young Boys. Basel completed all the 2004–05 Super League season's seventeen home games undefeated, winning thirteen and drawing four. They ended the season as Swiss champions with ten points advantage over second placed Thun. In the first round of the 2004–05 Swiss Cup Basel played away against local amateur club FC Oberdorf. Sterjovski scored his first cup goal for the club in this match and Basel went on to win 4–0. In the second round they beat lower league team Meyrin 3–1. But in round three they faced Thun. Following a 1–1 draw after extra time. It required a penalty shoot out. Sterjovski's spot kick was held by Thun keeper Fabio Coltorti and Thun won the shoot out 4–3. As Swiss champions, Basel entered the 2005–06 Champions League third qualifying round. However, they were drawn against Bundesliga club Werder Bremen and they lost 4–2 on aggregate. Subsequently Basel dropped into the 2005–06 UEFA Cup, where against Široki Brijeg in the first round, they sealed a 6–0 aggregate win to qualify for the Group stage. Here Basel were then drawn into Group E, alongside Strasbourg, Roma, Red Star Belgrade and Tromsø. Basel qualified for the knock out stage and in the round of 32 Basel were drawn against AS Monaco, this was won 2–1 on aggregate. In the round of 16 Basel were drawn against Strasbourgh winning 4–2 on aggregate. In the quarter finals, drawn against Middlesbrough they won the first leg 2–0, but Middlesbrough fought back to win the return match 4–1 and the tie 4–3 on aggregate. Sterjovski played in 11 of these 12 matches. Basel started into the 2005–06 Super League season well and led the championship right until the last day of the league campaign. On the final day of the league season Basel played at home against Zürich. Mladen Petrić had scored an equaliser after FCZ had taken an early lead. But then a last minute goal from Zürich's Iulian Filipescu meant the final score was 2–1 in favour of the away team and it gave FCZ their first national championship since 1980–81. The title for Basel was lost on goal difference. The last minute loss of the Championship and the subsequent riots, the so called Basel Hooligan Incident, meant that the club would suffer the consequences. In the first round of the 2005–06 Swiss Cup Basel played away against lower league team Solothurn and won this 4–1. In round two they played away against local lower league team Old Boys. In this game Sterjovski scored four goals and Basel won 6–1. However, Basel were defeated in the third round home tie against FC Zürich 3–4. At the end of the 2006–07 Super League season Basel were runners up, one point behind championship winners Zürich. In the Swiss Cup Basel advanced to the final, beating FC Liestal in the first round, Lugano, FC Baulmes, Aarau and Wil in the semi final. In the final they played Luzern and won this 1–0 thanks to a penalty goal in the third minute of added time. Sterjovski’s contract was not renewed and so he left the club. During his time with them, Sterjovski played a total of 171 games for Basel scoring a total of 38 goals. 93 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, 11 in the Swiss Cup, 30 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and UEFA Cup) and 37 were friendly games. He scored 15 goals in the domestic league, seven in the cup, three in the European games and the other 13 were scored during the test games.

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.

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. 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. 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. 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." 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.

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

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

Sterjovski made his Australia 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.

Sterjovski and his wife Sharon have two sons and a daughter Luka, Sonny and Lilly.