South Australian soccer legend Aurelio Vidmar is destined to make a shock return to Adelaide United
FORMER Adelaide United player and coach Aurelio Vidmar has been sounded out for a return to the Reds in their football department.
AURELIO Vidmar has been sounded out for a return to Adelaide United.
The Advertiser understands the Socceroos, Adelaide United and Adelaide City legend is close to rejoining the Reds almost a decade after leading the club to Australian soccer’s first AFC Champions League final.
Vidmar is expected to play an integral role in the Reds’ football department, working with arguably the A-League’s best current coach, Germany’s Marco Kurz.
The inaugural Adelaide United captain has been based in Adelaide since last year when he was sacked from Thai first division club Bangkok Glass despite the club sitting fifth and Vidmar being named the best coach of the competition.
The 51-year-old was this year also courted by Wellington Phoenix for an A-League coaching job but but reportedly decided the job wasn’t for him.
Vidmar also has Adelaide’s player of the year award named in his honour since 2011 by Adelaide’s previous owners.
After Vidmar captained Adelaide United’s historic first national soccer league match in October 2003 then boss John Kosmina also handed him the assistant’s role.
Vidmar retired from playing just before the A-League kicked off in 2005 and was the club’s assistant coach until 2007 before taking the No. 1 job from Kosmina that year.
He led the Reds to the Asian soccer summit, saw the club end in fifth place in FIFA’s Club World Cup before United lost a controversial A-League grand final 1-0 to Melbourne Victory in early 2009.
More than a year later, Vidmar was headhunted by Football Federation Australia to become the Olyroos’ coach and assistant to then Socceroos boss Holger Osieck.
Vidmar led the Socceroos to a win in his only game in charge — a 3-0 win over Canada in London in 2013 — as an interim after Osieck was sacked before working as ex Australia coach Ange Postecoglou’s assistant.
His tenure with the national teams ended in 2016 before he won the job with Bangkok Glass that year.
After a career which saw Vidmar emerge as a gun attacker, making his debut for Adelaide City’s NSL side in 1985 as an 18-year-old, the South Australian won 53 Socceroos caps and scored 18 international goals.
He captained the Socceroos between 492 club league matches and 126 goals in six countries and won the Oceania player of the year in 1994.