Adem Poric (born 22 April 1973) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former professional player who is the chief executive and the head coach of Gold Coast Knights SC, as well as the president of youth academy side Magic United. As a player, he was a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

from 1992 to 2002 and most notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

. He also spent time in England playing in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

with

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

and

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

as well as Australian sides

St George Saints St George FC, commonly called Saints or Budapest, is a semi-professional Australian soccer club based in the St George district in the south of Sydney. The club was founded by Hungarian immigrants in 1957 as Budapest Club and by 1965 was renam ...

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states o ...

, Northern Spirit FC and

City of Gold Coast The City of Gold Coast is the Local government in Australia, local government area spanning the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, and surrounding areas. With a population of 606,774, it is the second most populous local ...

. Born in England, he was capped twice by Australia U20.

Club career

During the 1991–92 season he had an unsuccessful trial at

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, playing in three reserve team games.

signed Poric for £60,000 from

on 1 October 1993. He found it difficult to break into the first team at Hillsborough and loan spells at

and

followed. He made just 13 league appearances in two seasons for the Owls, then a

side, under

Trevor Francis Trevor John Francis (19 April 1954 – 24 July 2023) was an English footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia. In 1979 he became Britain's first £1 million pla ...

. He eventually joined

on a free transfer on 27 March 1998. He had not appeared in a competitive game for Sheffield Wednesday for almost three years by this stage, his last appearance coming as a substitute against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in a 1–0 defeat at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

in the league on 7 May 1995.

International career

He represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at youth level.

Coaching career

Poric has returned to Australia where he is involved in running the Total Football Academy. The Academy has developed links to

with the first of an anticipated influx of academy players coming to Hillsborough in September 2008. He is the president of Magic United. He is now also the Head Coach and CEO of Gold Coast Knights SC.

Personal life

Poric was born in London, England to Australian parents of Bosnian heritage.

References

External links

* * 1973 births Living people Australian men's soccer players English men's footballers English people of Australian descent Premier League players Notts County F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Sydney Olympic FC players Men's association football midfielders English emigrants to Australia {{Australia-footy-midfielder-stub