Robert Hooker (born 6 March 1967) is an Australian former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player and coach. He played for and later became assistant coach of the Australian national team.

Playing career

Hooker started his playing career with Mount Colah Soccer Club and was a graduate of the

Australian Institute of Sport Football Program The FFA Centre of Excellence (formerly the Australian Institute of Sport Football Program) was a football talent identification and player development program run by Football Federation Australia (FFA) and was based at the Australian Institute o ...

, granted a scholarship in 1984 and 1985. This led to selection in the Australia U20 side for the

1985 FIFA World Youth Championship The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

finals. Through his playing career, Hooker played in the NSL for Sydney City,

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football, soccer club, based in Belmore, New South Wales, Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales, that plays in the National Premier Leagues NSW. The Club was founded as Pan- ...

, West Adelaide,

Sydney United 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 ...

, Marconi,

Canberra Cosmos Canberra Cosmos Football Club was an Australian soccer club based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. It participated in the National Soccer League from the 1995/96 season until the end of the 2000/01 season, after which it folded, primar ...

and

Auckland Kingz The Football Kingz were New Zealand's first professional football club. They played in the Australian National Soccer League from 1999 until their disestablishment in 2004, when they were replaced by the New Zealand Knights as an inaugural parti ...

. He later finished his career in the

NSW Premier League The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, the organising body in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Leagues Northern ...

with APIA Leichhardt and

Belconnen Blue Devils Belconnen United Football Club (formerly ''Belconnen Blue Devils'') is an Australian semi-professional association football club based in the northern Canberra region of Belconnen, ACT. The women's First Grade team currently competes in the Nat ...

. He was first selected for the

Socceroos The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated with ...

in 1990, coming on as a substitute against touring club side

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

. He would make his first appearance in an 'A' international later that year away to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. From 1995 to 1998 he was a regular selection in the national team, including inclusion in the

1997 FIFA Confederations Cup The 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup was the first Confederations Cup to be organised by FIFA. The tournament had previously been played in 1992 and 1995 as the King Fahd Cup. This edition of the tournament was hosted by Saudi Arabia, as with the previ ...

squad.

Coaching

After his playing career, he took up coaching in women's football, first in the United States before returning to Australia. In 2008/2009, Hooker joined W-League club,

Canberra United Canberra United Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the southern Canberra suburb of Wanniassa, Australian Capital Territory. Founded in 2008 by Capital Football, the club was an inaugural member of the W-League and t ...

as its inaugural coach. He only stayed on as manager of United for one season. In 2010, following the appointment of

Holger Osieck Holger Osieck (born 31 August 1948) is a German football manager who last managed the Australia national team. Prior to the Australian role, he most recently managed J. League club Urawa Red Diamonds, where he won the 2007 AFC Champions League ...

as Socceroos head coach, Hooker and

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 ...

were employed as assistants.

References

External links

Canberra United – Coach profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooker, Robbie 1967 births Living people Australian soccer players Australia international soccer players National Soccer League (Australia) players APIA Leichhardt FC players Canberra Cosmos FC players Football Kingz F.C. players Marconi Stallions FC players Sydney Olympic FC players Sydney United 58 FC players West Adelaide SC players 1996 OFC Nations Cup players 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Association football defenders