Adelaide City, Adelaide United and Socceroos legend Aurelio Vidmar cannot believe he is worthy of SA Sport Hall of Fame honour
Adelaide City, Adelaide United and Socceroos legend Aurelio Vidmar thought someone was “taking the mickey” when told he was to be inducted into the SA Sport Hall of Fame.
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Adelaide-born Aurelio Vidmar’s romance with soccer may have never kicked on if it wasn’t for his primary school mates telling him to stop playing Aussie rules.
Vidmar was drawn to the indigenous game because his older brother Andrew played it, before a change of heart saw the now 52-year-old join the now defunct Veneto club Woodville City’s under-10s.
The junior Peckers outfit had a brief spell under Don Largs — another club gone but not forgotten at Largs Bay — before Vidmar made his global mark on the game as a player and later as a coach at the highest level.
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An Adelaide City legend who helped win the club’s first national soccer league championship in 1986, Vidmar went on to become a Socceroos legendary player, recognised as the Oceania player of the year in 1994.
He later coached the national team after becoming the first Australian boss to lead an Australian club (Adelaide United) to an Asian Football Confederation Champions League final, in 2008.
He proudly boasts an unbeaten Socceroos coaching record, when Australia beat Canada 3-0 after Vidmar was made the boss, albeit briefly when coach Holger Osieck was sacked in 2013.
His CV is extensive, yet Vidmar cannot believe he is worthy of any accolades.
A phone call from Sport SA chief executive Leah Cassidy breaking the news that the soccer legend had been inducted into the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame stunned Vidmar. He was also inducted into Football Federation Australia and SA’s Hall of Fame in 2008.
“I thought it was someone taking the mickey, I was shocked and very honoured when Leah called,’’ Vidmar said
“It was a pleasant surprise, a real pleasant one.
“I’m just playing sport or coaching and doing things that you love and you never really think about those sorts of accolades.”
Vidmar’s soccer career really took off when he became an Adelaide City revelation in 1985 under another legend Edmund Kreft — the coach of the time.
After a six-year spell at Adelaide City, he took off on a European club journey across Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Japan.
He won the Golden Boot in Belgium with 22 goals for Standard Liège before returning to his hometown club, which was forced to leave the now defunct national soccer league in 2003.
He captained Adelaide United’s first NSL team in 2003, before becoming an assistant and later head coach, from 2007 to 2010.
The Socceroos then snapped him up as an assistant coach between 2010 and 2016.
“It’s been a love, a passion and never been a chore, something I’ve loved every day,’’ Vidmar said of his involvement in the game.
Young will be inducted at the South Australian Sport Awards & Hall of Fame Dinner alongside Neil Kerley, Jack Young and four others yet to be announced at November 22 at the William Magarey Room at Adelaide Oval.