Robert Zabica (born 9 April 1964 in

Spearwood, Western Australia Spearwood is a southern suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Cockburn. This suburb derives its name from the Spearwood bush which is a common shrub in the area. History Settlement appears to have begun in Spearwood in ...

) is an Australian former

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. Zabica represented the Australian national team 28 times in 'A' international matches and also represented

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Playing career

Zabica started his career with Cockburn City before joining

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 ...

for seven seasons, winning

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) championships in 1992 and 1994. He played 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 ...

in the qualifiers for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

finals, losing narrowly to Argentina. A nagging knee injury forced his international retirement, but he made a comeback in 1995 with Dalmatinac with whom he won the D'Orsogna Cup. He made his State debut at the age of 31, captaining the side that beat

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

in 1995, and went on to play a further five times for Western Australia. He returned to national league level in 1997, making seven appearances for

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 ...

and taking his career tally to 202 games. He had a three-match spell in England with

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

in late 1997 and returned to

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 ...

to play for

Bayswater City SC Bayswater City Soccer Club is a soccer club based in Bayswater, Western Australia. They currently compete in the National Premier Leagues Western Australia. History The club in its current form was formed as a result of a merger in 1980 betw ...

, Inglewood United and Fremantle City. Zabica made his international debut for Australia in 1990.

Honours

Adelaide City *

Championship: 1991–92, 1993–94 *

National Cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League (England), National Basketball League. For most of th ...

: 1991–92 Individual *

Goalkeeper of the Year: 1991–92 *

Football Federation Australia Hall of Fame The aims of the Football Australia Hall of Fame (founded in 1999 as the Soccer Hall of Fame) are to celebrate and highlight the achievements of retired players and other participants who have contributed significantly to the game. These are ma ...

inductee: 2006

References

External links

OzFootball profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zabica, Robert 1964 births Living people Soccer players from Perth, Western Australia Australian men's soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australia men's international soccer players National Soccer League (Australia) players Adelaide City FC players Bradford City A.F.C. players Perth Glory FC players Australian people of Croatian descent Stirling Macedonia FC players Men's association football goalkeepers Expatriate men's footballers in England English Football League players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England 20th-century Australian sportsmen