Damian Mori (born 30 September 1970) is an Australian former football player who is an assistant coach for

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...

. He won two

Johnny Warren John Norman Warren, Order of the British Empire, MBE, Order of Australia, OAM (17 May 1943 – 6 November 2004) was an Australian association football, soccer player, coach, administrator, writer and broadcaster. He was known as ''Captain Soccer ...

Medals, awarded to the best player in the Australian league and was top scorer on 5 occasions. He established a reputation as a pacy, poaching goalscorer, which is notable for a player who started his career as a defender.

Early and personal life

Mori was born in

Box Hill North, Victoria Box Hill North is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 14 km east from Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Whitehorse local government area. Box Hill North recorded a population of 12,337 at the 2021 ...

in 1970. His father, Joseph Mori, was a footballer who emigrated from

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. His paternal grandfather was of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

ancestry.

Club career

Mori was successful at club level – mainly in the Australian domestic league. After developing into

Adelaide City Adelaide City Football Club is a soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club was known historically as Juventus — the original name given to the club by its founders in Adelaide's Italian community. Adelaide City is one of Aust ...

's most important and best player, he spent a single season (1996–97) overseas in Germany with Borussia Mönchengladbach. This move was characterised only by frustration. He appeared in only six games, and never played more than half a match. In those six games, he didn't score once. Mori returned home to become NSL Top Goalscorer the following season. In 1996, Mori held the world record for the fastest goal after he scored for City in just 3.69 seconds, straight from the kick-off, in a 2–2 draw with

Sydney United Sydney United 58 Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club and current NSW NPL Champions based in Edensor Park, Sydney, New South Wales Australia. The club was formed as Sydney Croatia in 1958, by Croatian Australians in the area, but ...

. In 2000, Mori transferred to Perth Glory and enjoyed great success. The striking partnership with

Bobby Despotovski Slobodan "Bobby" Despotovski (born 14 July 1971) is an Australian soccer player who played 12 seasons in the top tier of Australian soccer. He played in National Soccer League (NSL) for Heidelberg United and Morwell Falcons before moving to Pe ...

was renowned as one of the most potent in the competition. Mori won the NSL championship in 2002–03, scoring in the Grand Final. He was also part of the 2003–04 Perth Glory championship side. Following the end of the National Soccer League in 2004 he moved back to Adelaide City to play and coach in the South Australian Premier League. He was extremely successful here, winning the "Coach of the Year" award. However, many were surprised at the fact that the NSL all-time top goalscorer was not on the shortlist of any A-League club. It later emerged that a major stumbling block was Mori's desire for a part-time contract to allow him to manage business interests in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. Prior to round four of the A-League season, it was announced that Perth Glory had signed Mori on a short-term contract to replace injured defender

David Tarka David Tarka (born 11 February 1983 in Perth, Western Australia) is a retired Australian association footballer, who played two games for the national team. Club career Tarka was an Australian youth international and was an Australian schoolboy ...

. Mori subsequently came on as a substitute in the Glory's 1 – 0 away win over the

New Zealand Knights New Zealand Knights Football Club (formed from the Football Kingz Football Club in 2004) were the only professional association football club in New Zealand before they became defunct. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, they played in the A-Leagu ...

on 22 September 2005. After some excellent displays, particularly a brace against Newcastle United Jets and a hat-trick against

, the club strongly desired a permanent deal. After some wrangling with Adelaide City chairman Bob D'Ottavi, Mori agreed to a one-year deal. On 9 December 2005, it was announced that Mori would be appointed as assistant manager at Perth Glory. This appointment followed the elevation of

Alan Vest Alan Vest (born 5 September 1939) is an English-born New Zealand former football player and manager from Barnsley, England. He currently resides in Perth, Australia. Biography Vest had a notable playing career, scoring on his full internatio ...

to Manager after the departure of

Steve McMahon Stephen Joseph McMahon (born 20 August 1961) is an English football manager, former professional footballer and current television pundit. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1979 to 1998, most notably playing for Liverpool in the late 1980s. ...

. After the completion of the 2005–06 A-League season, Mori returned to Adelaide City as

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

. On 27 September 2006, Mori signed with the

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional association football, soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League, A-League Men, under ...

on a short-term deal to cover the loss of

Nik Mrdja Nikola "Nik" Mrdja (born 30 November 1978) is an Australian former soccer player, who played as a striker. Mrdja had a career spanning several National Soccer League (NSL) and A-League clubs from 1998 to 2011, as well as a brief spell in Swede ...

which was extended once. After the short-term contract with the Mariners had expired, the FFA did not allow Central Coast to re-sign him. On 21 November 2006, he was approached by new

Queensland Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat. Brisb ...

manager

Frank Farina Frank Farina OAM (born 5 September 1964) is an Australian football (soccer) coach and former player who played as a forward. His playing career spanned Australia, Belgium, France, Italy and England, and was a major player for the Australia ...

and signed the following day on a short-term "until the end of the season" contract. After the Roar failed to make the playoffs, Mori returned to SA to be the player-coach once again of defending South Australian champions Adelaide City.

International career

Mori made his international debut against

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

on 4 September 1992. In an international career that spanned over the next ten years, he was

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

ped 45 times and scored 29 goals. International goals

Career statistics

Club

Notes

International

Honours

With Australia: * FIFA Confederations Cup:

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

(Runners-up) *

OFC Nations Cup The OFC Nations Cup is an international association football tournament held among the OFC member nations. It was held every two years from 1996 to 2004; before 1996 there were two other tournaments held at irregular intervals, under the name ...

: 1996 With Perth Glory: * NSL Championship: 2002–2003, 2003–2004 With

: * NSL Championship: 1993–1994 With

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at ...

: * NSL Cup: 1989–1990 Personal honours: *

Johnny Warren Medal The Johnny Warren Medal is awarded to the best player of the Australian national soccer club competition. It was first awarded in the National Soccer League in 1990, and upon the NSL's demise in November 2004, was carried forward into the new nat ...

: 1995–1996 with

: 2002–2003 with Perth Glory * NSL Top Scorer: 1995–1996 with

– 31 goals * NSL Top Scorer: 1997–1998 with

– 19 goals * NSL Top Scorer: 1999–2000 with

– 22 goals * NSL Top Scorer: 2001–2002 with Perth Glory – 17 goals * NSL Top Scorer: 2002–2003 with Perth Glory – 24 goals

References

External links

Oz Football profile

at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mori, Damian 1970 births Living people Soccer players from Melbourne Australian people of Italian descent Australian people of Slovenian descent Australian expatriate soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Australia international soccer players Australian soccer coaches Olympic soccer players of Australia A-League Men players FFSA Super League players Adelaide City FC players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Central Coast Mariners FC players Melbourne Knights FC players Perth Glory FC players Brisbane Roar FC players South Melbourne FC players National Soccer League (Australia) players Caroline Springs George Cross FC players Bundesliga players Association football forwards Australian soccer players Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics 1996 OFC Nations Cup players 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1998 OFC Nations Cup players 2002 OFC Nations Cup players FK Beograd (Australia) managers