Franko Mičić (born 29 October 1940) is a former

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. Mičić played the majority of his senior career in the

Victorian State League The Victorian State League, known as VETO Sports State League for sponsorship purposes is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 1958 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of five divisions (separated by ...

for Footscray J.U.S.T. with short stints with South Melbourne Hellas and St Kilda Hakoah. He played a single season with J.U.S.T. in the

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). Born in Yugoslavia, he played in six international matches for the

Australia national soccer team Australia national soccer team most commonly refers to: * Australia men's national soccer team * Australia women's national soccer team The Australia women's national soccer team is overseen by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Foot ...

Early life

Mičić was born in

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

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 ...

, modern-day

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. As a teenager, his family left to migrate to the United States. Mičić only made it as far as Italy where he played local football. At the age of 19, he migrated from Italy to Australia.

Playing career

Club career

On arriving in Australia, Mičić joined J.U.S.T. making his debut in the

in 1959 after two reserve grade appearances. Mičić joined

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 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 the 2021 ...

ahead of the 1968 season, with the ''Hellas'' paying for his services. He returned to J.U.S.T. for the 1969 season. After playing in Footscray J.U.S.T.'s first season in the National Soccer League, Mičić transferred to St Kilda Hakoah for the 1978 Victorian State League season as a playing coach. Mičić was replaced as Hakoah coach in mid-1979.

State career

He played 55 games for the state team of Victoria, captaining the team for six years.

International career

Mičić played six full international matches 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 ...

, scoring once.

Honours

Footscray J.U.S.T. *Victorian State League Champion: 1963, 1969, 1971, 1973 *Dockerty Cup: 1963, 1976 *Ampol Cup: 1960, 1966, 1975 *State League Cup: 1974, 1975, 1976 Individual *Bill Fleming Medal: 1964, 1967, 1973 *Football Victoria Hall of Fame: 2022

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Micic, Frank 1940 births Living people Australian men's soccer players Australia men's international soccer players National Soccer League (Australia) players Men's association football midfielders Sportspeople from Zadar 20th-century Australian sportsmen