Over the decades, German Bundesliga side FC Cologne has established a reputation of being able to produce some of the nation’s top goalkeepers. This trend began in the 1970s with Toni Schumacher, who after making his debut for the Billy Goats in 1972 enjoyed a 15-year career at the club, which included winning the 1978 Bundesliga with the Rhine-based outfit. While Schumacher is best remembered for his infamous collision with French defender Patrick Battiston in 1982 World Cup semi-final, he was first-choice custodian for Die Mannschaft as they won Euro 1980 and lost two World Cup finals in 1982 and 1986 respectively.
He was succeeded as Cologne’s number one by then 20-year-old Bodo Illgner, who achieved what his mentor could not by winning the game’s ultimate prize in Italia 1990, as Franz Beckenbauer’s men defeated Argentina in an ill-tempered final with Illgner between the posts. Regarded as one of the world’s best number ones, he left the Bundesliga in 1996 to join Real Madrid, helping Los Blancos to their first European Cup in 32 years when Jupp Heynckes’ men defeated Juventus in the 1998 Champions League Final in Amsterdam. Local teenager Ron-Robert Zieler continued this tradition into the new millennium when he was capped by Germany’s Under-16 and Under-17 sides by the time he moved to Manchester United in 2005.
Unable to break through into the Red Devils starting XI with Edwin van der Sar and Tomasz Kuszczak ahead of him, 21-year-old Zieler returned back to Germany in 2010 and has since then established himself as one of the Bundesliga’s best goalkeepers at Hannover. He was the country’s deputy goalkeeper in Brazil and might consider himself a little unlucky to have been born in the same era as Manuel Neuer.
Current incumbent Timo Horn followed Zieler’s path through the club’s youth ranks and has been capped by Germany at all levels bar the senior national team. He succeeded Mario Gotze as the winner of the prestigious Fritz Walter Medal in 2010 for the country’s best Under-17 player, and at 22 is regarded as one of the Bundesliga’s most promising goalkeepers with over 100 senior team appearances to his name at Cologne.
While many of Australia’s top clubs, including Melbourne’s NSL powers South Melbourne, Melbourne Knights and Heidelberg United have been responsible for producing many national league and Socceroo goalkeepers, one smaller club in Melbourne’s south-east has, since their establishment in 1981, developed a reputation for its own production line of goalkeepers.
Founded in the beginning of the 1980s as Parkmore Hajduk, the club made the short move to Edithvale Recreational Reserve, where it became Chelsea Hajduk. One of their early goalkeepers was Chris Kovac, who had earlier in the decade played for Melbourne Croatia in the Victorian top flight.
At the turn of the 1990s, Peter Schwellinger became the club’s undisputed number one, and after a number of impressive seasons with the club, was signed by the Melbourne Knights in 1994 thanks to the connection between Chelsea president Stan Bilic and the Knights hierarchy. Bilic later went on to serve as president of the Somers Street-based club. Schwellinger, who last season coached Melton Phoenix in State League 4, served as understudy to Frank Juric, with his spell at the club culminating in their 1995 NSL Grand Final triumph over Adelaide City – the club’s first national league title.
Two avid young observers who spent their Saturday afternoons watching Schwellinger’s goalkeeping heroics at Hajduk were also at the time going through the club’s junior ranks as promising shot-stoppers.
The first of those was Tony Cizmadija, who played for Victoria at representative level before making his name in senior football with Bulleen in the VPL. He then prematurely retired at an early age.
The other up-and-coming goalkeeper to pass through Chelsea’s youth sides at the time followed a similar trajectory to Cizmadija by departing the club for Bulleen, before signing his first senior contract with the Knights in 2000. A senior debut with the Gippsland Falcons in the NSL followed, before establishing himself as South Melbourne’s number one goalkeeper in the final two seasons of the NSL.
That young goalkeeper was Eugene Galekovic, who went onto represent the Olyroos in the 2004 Olympics before earning senior international selection in 2009. Galekovic has gone on to represent the Socceroos eight times and was third-choice at both the 2010 and 2014 World Cup. At the same time, he established himself on a domestic level as the A-League’s most consistent custodian over the last eight seasons with Adelaide United.
Furthermore, Chelsea goalkeeper Josip Klarica became a mainstay of the side as it moved base and became Dandenong City at the end of 2008. He rejected offers to play in the VPL with the likes of Melbourne Knights in the process by staying local and loyal to his beloved club, who he featured as first-choice for over a decade. The veteran goalkeeper, who is the brother-in-law of current Oakleigh Cannons defender Steven Topalovic, finished his career with the club in 2012 as they competed in Victoria’s second tier under Joe Biskic.
Klarica battled it with another talented shot-stopper in Daniel Ambros for the Hajduk number one jersey. After making his senior debut for the Peninsula Strikers, Ambros returned to Chelsea in 2002 and played a key role in the club’s elevation into the state leagues from the provisional leagues.
The NPL era has seen this proud tradition continue as Marko Stevanja established himself as the club’s number one over the course of the 2014 NPL season, with his exploits between the sticks at Frank Holohan Reserve seeing him called up to the Melbourne City youth team over the 2014/15 NYL season and featuring on the bench for the senior side.
Similarly, Anthony Cassett featured for the City senior team in 2015, primarily as understudy to the experienced Damir Salcin, and was rewarded by following in the footsteps of Stevanja and spending the recently-completed NYL campaign with Melbourne City.
The latest to follow suit is 16-year-old Majak Mawith, having recently signed with the Melbourne Victory Under 20s team after drawing praise throughout 2015 with his performances for a number of City’s junior sides, including their 20s, before featuring for the senior team at the end-of-season Croatian Cup Tournament held in Brisbane last year. His understudy, Jack Pignata – son of Sydney FC CEO Tony – will spend time this season learning from Salcin – who himself has played for the Melbourne Knights and Bentleigh Greens among others – as the club’s second choice.
While Dandenong City don’t have any World Cup winners to date, the side affectionately known as Hajduk have developed a fine tradition of producing top young goalkeepers who have gone onto to play in the national league, as well in the Victorian top flight. Although Eugene Galekovic might be their most successful offspring, there is hope that the current crop of youngsters might follow his path into the A-League, having had a taste of it in the youth ranks of the two respective Melbourne A-League clubs.
Feature image: Skip Fulton.