William Vojtek (born 29 September 1943) is a retired Australian footballer. He migrated to Australia with his family as a child in 1956 and started playing for Essendon Juniors before representing Victoria from the under 13s to under 18s. Vojtek played the majority of his career with Croatia (Melbourne) and is now the coach of the

Melbourne Knights Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, the second-tier of the Australian soccer league ...

U/16 squad located in Sunshine Melbourne. In 2010 Vojtek was presented with recognition of 50 years of service to the Melbourne Knights. Vojtek was selected in the Melbourne Knights Team of the Century as the number 9, the team's other striker was Mark Viduka.

Playing career

In 1962 he changed clubs to Croatia (Melbourne) who were playing in Division One North at that time, and he was the club's top scorer and won the best and fairest award. In 1966 he represented Victoria, and played a total of 34 games and scored 12 goals for them. In 1972 Croatia (Melbourne) was expelled from the Victoria State Federation, and Vojtek moved to

Sydney Croatia 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 it ...

for the 1973 season before returning to Melbourne with (Brunswick) Juventus in June 1974. In 1975, he won the Bill Fleming Medal. In 1977, he moved to the

Essendon Lions Essendon Lions is a now defunct football (soccer) club from the Melbourne suburb of Essendon, Victoria. At the club's peak in the 1960s and 1970s it played in the Victorian State League, the top league in Victoria at the time. Honours * Victor ...

, who became known as Essendon Croatia shortly after he joined. He again changed teams to Green Gully in 1979. His career was interrupted by an

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

injury and he had spells at Western Suburbs, St Albans Dinamo and Essendon Triestina to finish his playing career. In 1983 Vojtek and Branko Culina led St Albans to their first title, the Victorian State League Division 2. Vojtek was the league's top scorer that season with 16 goals.

International career

Vojtek first represented Australia in 1967 as part of the squad that undertook an Asian tour. Between 1976 and 1971 Vojtek only missed one game for the national team. He was the only Croatian in the Australian team at the time. He also represented Australia on 44 occasions.OzFootball
/ref> He was included in the preliminary 40 man squad for the 1974 World Cup but was omitted from the final 22 man squad with suggestions it was because of differences with the coach Rale Rasic. Vojtek said that "Rasic told me I would definitely be in the World Cup squad. I had nightmares for days, you dream about it all your life. I was so close, yet so far away". He is only recognised as playing 29 FIFA matches for Australia and scoring 6 goals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vojtek, Billy 1943 births Living people Australian soccer players Melbourne Knights FC players Sydney United 58 FC players Croatian emigrants to Australia Yugoslav emigrants to Australia Men's association football forwards Australia men's international soccer players Place of birth missing (living people)