Ernie Tapai (born 14 February 1967) is an Australian former professional

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 spent the majority of his career in the Australian

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). He also had stints in England, Portugal and Singapore. Tapai played 52 times 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 ...

, including 37 times in full international matches.

Early life

Tapai was born in

Subotica Subotica (, ; , , ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city in Central Europe and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, contemporary Sub ...

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 ...

(now in Serbia). He migrated to Australia with his parents as a young child.

Club career

After playing as a junior for Melbourne Hungaria, Tapai signed for

Footscray JUST Footscray Jugoslav United Soccer Team, commonly referred to as J.U.S.T, Footscray or simply JUST, was an association football club from Melbourne, Australia, Melbourne, Australia. The club was established by Yugoslavs, Yugoslav migrants in 1950, ...

ahead of the 1985 National Soccer League season. He made at age 18 in the

. After playing with Sunshine George Cross and

Adelaide City Adelaide City Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club based in Oakden, a north-eastern suburb of Adelaide. The club was a founding member of the now-defunct National Soccer League (NSL) and currently competes in the National Premier ...

Tapai moved to Europe to play for English side

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

. He never got much of a chance at Stoke making just once appearance for the club which came as a substitute in a 2–2 draw with

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

on 6 January 1993. Tapai then signed with Portuguese club

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...

, participating in the

1993–94 Primeira Divisão The 1993–94 Primeira Divisão was the 60th edition of top flight of Portuguese football. It started on 22 August 1993 with a match between Estoril-Praia and Beira-Mar, and ended on 2 June 1994. The league was contested by 18 clubs with Porto ...

season, where he scored his only goal against Benfica, but moved back to play in Australia. He went on to play for Gippsland Falcons and

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 ...

before playing for three years in Singapore with

Home United Lion City Sailors Football Club, commonly referred to as the Sailors or LCS, is a Singaporean professional football club based in Bishan. It competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of the Singapore football league system. Founded ...

and Clementi Khalsa and retired after the 2002 season with Westgate. After ending his playing career Tapai went into coaching.

International career

Tapai played 52 games (37 'A' games) for the Australia national team between 1986 and 1998. He was part of the Australia squad that claimed 2nd place at the

1997 FIFA Confederations Cup The 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup was the first FIFA Confederations Cup, Confederations Cup to be organized by FIFA. The tournament had previously been played in 1992 King Fahd Cup, 1992 and 1995 King Fahd Cup, 1995 as the King Fahd Cup. This editi ...

. Australian manager Terry Venables received criticism for bringing on Tapai in the 1997 World Cup Qualifier against Iran. Australia needed a goal and Tapai was not the man many viewed as being a viable attacking option.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Australia *

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...

: runner-up,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

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 ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

; runner-up,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tapai, Ernie 1967 births Living people Australian men's soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australia men's international soccer players Adelaide City FC players Footscray JUST players Perth Glory FC players Stoke City F.C. players Caroline Springs George Cross FC players National Soccer League (Australia) players Australian people of Hungarian descent Lion City Sailors FC players Balestier Khalsa FC players Singapore Premier League players Collingwood Warriors SC players Westgate FC players G.D. Estoril Praia players Primeira Liga players Men's association football midfielders Falcons 2000 SC players 1996 OFC Nations Cup players OFC Nations Cup–winning players 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1998 OFC Nations Cup players Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Singapore Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Australian expatriate sportspeople in Singapore Sportspeople from Subotica 20th-century Australian sportsmen