Mate Dugandzic ( hr, Mate Dugandžić; born 22 October 1989) is a retired Australian
football player. He is known for being the first player to make a direct switch between both Melbourne clubs in the A-League when he moved from
Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victo ...
to join
Melbourne Heart
Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the south–eastern Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne East, that plays in the A-League, the top level of Australian soccer, under licence from Australian Profess ...
in 2011. He was also part of the
Adelaide United
Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...
squad that went on to win both the
2015–16 A-League Premiers Plate and the
2016 A-League Grand Final.
Club career
Melbourne Knights
Dugandzic debuted for 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 ...
as a 16-year-old in 2006. In 2007, he played an important role in helping the club secure second spot in the
Victorian Premier League
The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer l ...
. After an impressing performance throughout the 2007 play-off series, where which Melbourne Knights had finished in third place, Dugandzic's performance had attracted the attention of
A-League
A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competit ...
clubs,
A.S. Roma
' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...
, and the
Australian Institute of Sport
The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of th ...
. The
Croatian Football Federation
The Croatian Football Federation ( hr, Hrvatski nogometni savez, HNS) is the governing body of association football in Croatia. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of Zagreb. The organisation is a member of both FIF ...
also expressed their interest.
[Knights' young guns step up for a shot at European glory](_blank)
Consequently, Melbourne Knights him organised a trial with
Dinamo Zagreb
Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinam ...
and colleague
Daniel Visevic
Daniel Visevic (born 30 November 1988) is an Australian footballer who plays as a midfielder.
Visevic was born in Melbourne and played youth football for St Albans Saints, Essendon Royals and the Victorian Institute of Sport before starting hi ...
. Dugandzic himself had stated that he would have rather signed for Dinamo Zagreb instead of AS Roma. Mate then underwent a three-week trial with the Dinamo Zagreb's first-team in December 2007.
Lokomotiva Zagreb
Despite the interest of other clubs, Dinamo Zagreb were favourites to land a deal with Dugandzic because of his Croatian background. After he had completed his trial Dugandzic was offered a five-year contract. He was considered a European player due to his Croatian citizenship. Until July 2008, Dugandzic had been a part of the reserve team of Dinamo before he was loaned out to
Second Division outfit
Lokomotiva. Dugandzic failed to break into the first-team at Dinamo Zagreb and therefore returned to Melbourne Knights in January for the 2009 Victorian Premier League season.
Melbourne Victory
On 10 September 2009 Dugandzic was signed to a two-year contract with
Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victo ...
.
[Melbourne Victory bolsters squad swiftly](_blank)
He was initially signed as a youth team player but impressed the coaching staff enough to earn a senior contract.
On 26 September 2009, he made his senior debut for Victory as a substitute, in a 3–2 win against
Gold Coast United
Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first era of Gold Coast Unit ...
. On 24 October 2009, he made his starting debut, scoring two goals, in the 18th and 56th minute, in a 3–1 win against
Adelaide United
Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...
. On 7 August 2010, Dugandzic started for the Melbourne Victory against rivals
Sydney FC
Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was ...
in a grand final rematch. He was very influential in this game and scored one goal, as well as an assist. On 26 January 2011, he was again impressive, scoring two goals in four minutes for Melbourne Victory in their away match win against
North Queensland Fury
Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from th ...
.
Melbourne Heart/City
It was reported on 26 February 2011, that Dugandzic had agreed to terms with recently promoted
Belgian Pro League
The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...
side
K.A.S. Eupen on a free transfer from A-League club
Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victo ...
. Manager
Albert Cartier
Albert Cartier (born 22 November 1960) is a French professional football manager and former player.
Coaching career
Cartier was fired by FC Brussels in January 2008 for bad results and did not reach a new agreement with RAEC Mons.
On 12 Janua ...
spoke of his delight in securing the potential signature of the highly rated midfielder to French language newspaper
La Libre Belgique
''La Libre Belgique'' (; literally ''The Free Belgium''), currently sold under the name ''La Libre'', is a major daily newspaper in Belgium. Together with ''Le Soir'', it is one of the country's major French language newspapers and is popular in ...
, believing that Dugandzic would help to rectify the club's problems in midfield this season. However, on 28 February 2011 it was announced that he had opted to stay in Australia and signed for cross town rival
Melbourne Heart
Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the south–eastern Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne East, that plays in the A-League, the top level of Australian soccer, under licence from Australian Profess ...
.
Aziz Behich
Aziz Eraltay Behich ( tr, Aziz Eraltay, ; born 16 December 1990) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a left back and left winger for Scottish club Dundee United and the Australia national team.
Club career Youth career
Behic ...
and
Kristian Sarkies
Kristian Ronald Sarkies (born 25 October 1986 in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian footballer who plays for Beaumaris SC in the Victorian State League 1. He grew up in Dingley Village, a suburb in Melbourne's South-East 10 kilometres f ...
were the only other players to play for both Heart and Victory, but neither were direct transfers, making Dugandzic the first to properly switch between the clubs. Dugandzic said that it was the club philosophy at Heart that secured his decision to move.
[Dugandzic Drawn By Heart Philosophy](_blank)
Retrieved 2 March 2011.
Dugandzic rose to the occasion on his debut for the Heart, scoring twice in the opening round clash against
Newcastle Jets
Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...
in
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
, however the Heart lost 3–2. He scored again six weeks later, also against the Jets, and this time Heart were victorious with a 3–0 win. He also scored the only goal of the game in a 1–0 win over
Wellington Phoenix
Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...
three weeks after that.
On 13 May, Melbourne City released a statement announcing that Dugandzic, along with four other City players including
Damien Duff
Damien Anthony Duff (born 2 March 1979) is an Irish professional football manager and former player who played predominantly as a winger. He has been the manager of League of Ireland club Shelbourne F.C. since November 2021.
He began his pro ...
, would not be receiving a contract extension following the conclusion of the team's finals campaign.
Adelaide United
On 16 August 2015, Dugandzic joined
Adelaide United
Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...
on a one-year deal. He left the club at the end of his contract.
International career
In September 2010 Dugandzic was called up to the Australian under-23 side by coach
Aurelio Vidmar
Aurelio Vidmar ( ; born 3 February 1967) is an Australian association football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Thai League 1 club Bangkok United.
He is a former captain of the Australia national team and former coach ...
for a Four Nations Tournament held in
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...
. Dugandzic made his under 23 international debut for Australia against North Korea as a substitute on 20 September 2010. On 7 April 2011, Dugandzic was named as part of a 31-man Olyroos/Socceroos training camp.
A-League statistics
1 – AFC Champions League
The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...
statistics are included in season commencing during group stages (i.e. ACL 2010 and A-League season 2009–2010 etc.)
See also
*
Croatian Australian
Honours
Adelaide United
*
A-League Premiership: 2015-16
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dugandzic, Mate
1989 births
Living people
Australian people of Croatian descent
Australian men's soccer players
Australian expatriate men's soccer players
A-League Men players
Adelaide United FC players
Melbourne City FC players
Melbourne Knights FC players
Melbourne Victory FC players
NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players
Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia
Men's association football forwards
Soccer players from Melbourne
Australian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia
Australia men's under-23 international soccer players