Slobodan "Bobby" Despotovski (born 14 July 1971) is an Australian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who played 12 seasons in the top tier of Australian soccer. He played in

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

(NSL) for Heidelberg United and Morwell Falcons before moving to

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

where he played eight seasons in the NSL and two in the

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

Early life

Despotovski was born in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia, to a Macedonian father, Cvetko, and mother, Valentina (Saharov). Her maternal parents, Martin and Margareta Saharov were from

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, USSR. Valentina was born in

Kačarevo Kačarevo (Serbian language, Serbian and ) is a village in northern Serbia, situated in the municipality of Pančevo, South Banat District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population numbering 6,346 people ( ...

Pančevo Pančevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Панчево, ; ; ; ; ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the South Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is located on the shores of rivers Timiș (ri ...

and married Cvetko in

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...

. Only nine months after his birth his family moved to

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

because his mother was homesick. He grew up with his family in the town of

, 16 km (9.9 mi) outside the capital

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, and played junior level football with

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

. When Despotovski was 15 he had a choice to continue either

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

which he says had always played a large part in his life, or to pursue a career in professional football, eventually he chose football and was selected to play for the reserve team at his first senior club, Dinamo Pančevo.

Playing career

Club

After a stint with the

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA/; Macedonian language, Macedonian, Montenegrin language, Montenegrin and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian language, Croatian and ; , J ...

during the

Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

which ended as a result of self-inflicted injuries, Despotovski returned to his birthplace in 1992 and continued his professional career with Floreat Athena in the Western Australian Premier League. In 1994, he joined

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

in the NSL and left the club to join the now defunct NSL club Morwell Falcons in 1995. Bobby's career took off when he received a call from the then

general manager, Roger Lefort. The new club wanted Despotovski to lead their attack in the club's inaugural season and he certainly didn't disappoint scoring 14 goals in only 23 NSL games. Despotovski was in the centre of a controversy when playing against 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 ...

(a team primarily supported by

Croatian Australian Croatian Australians (), Australian Croats (''Australski Hrvati'') or Croats in Australia (''Hrvati u Australiji'') are Australian citizens of Croats, Croatian ancestry. Croatia has been a source of Human migration, migrants to Australia, parti ...

s) at the Knights Stadium on 21 May 2001 he gave a three fingered salute to the predominantly Croatian crowd which is a

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the populat ...

symbol that represents Orthodox Christianity. As the Perth team left the stadium Despotovski and Perth coach Bernd Stange were assaulted by angry Knights supporters. To avoid repetition of violence, the next Knights home fixture against Perth was played in Launceston. He was one of the most successful strikers in the now defunct Australian National Soccer League. Despotovski was with the Western Australian team Perth Glory for 10 years, and holds their all-time goal scoring record. For a couple of seasons, he formed a prolific partnership up front with Damian Mori. Following the conclusion of the 2004/2005 season of the NSL Despotovski signed with Perth Glory for the 2005/2006

season after a brief stint with the

Bonnyrigg White Eagles Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC is an Australian semi-professional association football, soccer club based in Bonnyrigg, New South Wales, Bonnyrigg, Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, currently playing in the NSW League One. The club was founded in 1968 ...

in the Vodafone Premier League in

NSW New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

. Despotovski finished the season as joint top goal scorer of the league and winner of the Johnny Warren Medal. Season 2006/2007 started without Bobby because of his re-occurring back injury but he returned to partner Stuart Young up front.

International

Despotovski played 4 games for

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 ...

, three of them at the 2002 OFC Nations Cup where he blasted four goals past the

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

goalkeeper.

Coaching career

He was the coach of Inglewood United in 2007, and the coach of Perth boys school Hale School's 1st XI Soccer side in 2008. He was variously the coach of the Perth Glory NPL U20s team and the Perth Glory's Women's team between 2015 and 2020.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results lists Australia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Houkarawa goal.''

Honours

Perth Glory * NSL Championship: 2002–03, 2003–04 Australia *

OFC Nations Cup The OFC Men's Nations Cup, known as the OFC Nations Cup before the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup, 2024 edition, is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's natio ...

: runner-up

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Individual * Johnny Warren Medal: 2005–06 with

Golden Boot: 2005–06 with

– 8 goals *

Most Glorious Player Award: 2005–06, 2003–04, 2001–02, 2000–01 *

Player's Player of the Year: 2005–06 *

Member's Player of the Year: 2002–03 * W-League Coach of the Year: 2016–17

References

External links

Oz Football profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Despotovski, Bobby 1971 births Living people Footballers from Pančevo Soccer players from Perth, Western Australia Sportsmen from Western Australia Australian people of Macedonian descent Australian people of Serbian descent Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro men's footballers Australian men's soccer players Australia men's international soccer players 2002 OFC Nations Cup players FK Dinamo Pančevo players Floreat Athena FC players Heidelberg United FC players Falcons 2000 SC players Perth Glory FC players Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC players Inglewood United FC players A-League Men players National Soccer League (Australia) players Australian soccer managers A-League Women managers