Mile Sterjovski
Personal information
Full name	Mile Sterjovski
Date of birth	27 May 1979 (1979-05-27) (age 30)
Place of birth	Wollongong, Australia
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Right Winger, Second Striker
Club information
Current club	Perth Glory
Number	21
Youth career
1996–1998	Illawarra Wollongong Wolves AIS
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995–1996 1997 1997–1999 1999–2000 2000–2004 2004–2007 2007–2008 2008–2009 2009–	Wollongong Wolves Illawarra Lions Sydney United Parramatta Power Lille FC Basel Hacettepe S.K. Derby County Perth Glory	002 00(0) 003 00(3) 037 0(20) 031 0(11) 091 0(15) 073 0(10) 024 00(8) 027 00(2) 011 00(4)
National team2
1999 2000 2000–	Australia U-20 Australia U-23 Australia	006 00(3) 007 00(0) 041 00(8)[1]
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:09, 29 November 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 17:19, 30 October 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Mile Sterjovski (Macedonian: Миле Стерјовски) (born 27 May 1979 in Wollongong, New South Wales) is an Australian footballer of Macedonian origin, who currently plays for Perth Glory and the Australian national team. Sterjovski plays mainly as a right winger or as a second striker, but has also played as a left winger and as a central midfielder.

[edit] Club career

Sterjovski began his career in Australia at Wollongong Wolves and briefly played for Illawarra Lions before making a name for himself with successful spells at Sydney United and Parramatta Power, his performances and record of 31 goals in 68 games earning him a move to French Ligue 1 side Lille OSC in 2000.

After 4 seasons at Lille, Sterjovski moved to Swiss side FC Basel, where he remained for 3 seasons. In his first season at St. Jakob-Park, Sterjovski won the Swiss Super League and in his second season was part of the team that reached the UEFA Cup Quarter-finals. Sterjovski moved to Turkey in the summer of 2007.

On 2 September 2007 Sterjovski scored on his debut after coming off the bench for his new club Gençlerbirliği OFTAŞ (now called Hacettepe Spor Kulübü) in their match against Fenerbahçe.

On January 9 2008, Sterjovski announced his plan to leave Turkey for personal reasons relating to his family. He announced that he was in negotiations with Premier League side Derby County and joined them after work permit problems on the 24th of January, 2008.^[2] He made his debut as a substitute against Tottenham in a 3-0 defeat, and was a regular in the side towards the end of the season, usually playing out on the right wing.^[3]

In the 2008-09 season, Sterjovski was largely frozen out of the Derby squad by manager Paul Jewell, his first appearance of the season coming on 21 October 2008 against Blackpool, in which he scored his first goal for Derby.^[4] However, following Jewell's departure, he produced an impressive performance against Manchester United in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final under caretaker manager David Lowe. New Derby manager Nigel Clough was watching in the stands. Following the match, Sterjovski said: "Now I am glad there is a new manager. It’s a new start for me and, hopefully, I will get more chances."^[5] Sterjovski went on to make 14 further appearances before the end of the season, scoring once and playing well in the middle of the injury-hit Derby midfield.

After initial speculation linking Sterjovski with a move to Gold Coast,^[6] he moved to Perth Glory on 11 June 2009 for an undisclosed fee on a three year contract as their marquee player.^[7]

[edit] International career

Sterjovski made his Australian national team debut against Scotland in 2000. Sterjovski was selected to represent Australia at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. In the build-up, he made an appearance in the Australia vs. Greece friendly at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and also played against Liechtenstein, scoring the first goal for the Socceroos in a 3-1 win. In the finals he started in the games against Brazil and against Croatia.

Sterjovski was selected for the first group match in Australia's 2007 Asian Cup campaign, starting against Oman and substituted in the 46th minute, which Australia drew 1–1. Due to illness Sterjovski did not feature further in Australia's failed campaign in its first Asian Cup. Sterjovski scored against Ghana during a friendly match at the Sydney Football Stadium, but was sent off in the 85th minute after receiving a second yellow card for a tackle on Ghana's Richard Manu. He scored again on 20 August in a friendly against South Africa in which the Socceroos drew 2-2. On the 10th June 2009, Sterjovski notched his 9th goal for Australia in a 2-0 win over Bahrain at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney, in his 41st appearance for his national side.

[edit] Personal life

Sterjovski and his wife Sharon have 2 sons: Luka and Sonny who was born on June 2, 2008. Also his Nephew Brad Clothier is an up and coming junior star at junior level, he plays for the Mitchel Rangers in Melbourne, Australia.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Sydney United

• NSL Minor Premiership:
  • Winner (1): 1999

[edit] FC Basel

• Swiss Super League:
  • Winner (1): 2005
  • Runner-up (2): 2006, 2007
• Swiss Cup:
  • Winner (1): 2007
• UEFA Cup:
  • Quarter-finals (1): 2006

[edit] Derby County

• League Cup:
  • Semi-finals (1): 2009

[edit] International

• Confederations Cup:
  • Third place (1): 2001
• Oceania Nations Cup:
  • Winner (1): 2004

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mile Sterjovski Interview
• OzFootball profile
• Derby County profile
• FFA - Socceroo profile
• Mile Sterjovski career stats at Soccerbase

v • d • e Australia squad – 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Schwarzer • 2 Muscat • 3 Moore • 4 Okon • 5 T. Vidmar • 6 Popovic • 7 Skoko • 8 Lazaridis • 9 Aloisi • 10 Emerton • 11 Zdrilic • 12 Bolton • 13 Bresciano • 14 Murphy • 15 Foxe • 16 Horvat • 17 Corica • 18 Chipperfield • 19 A. Vidmar • 20 Zane • 21 Thompson • 22 Sterjovski • 23 Jurić • Coach: Farina

v • d • e Australia squad – 2004 OFC Oceania Nations Cup Winners (4th Title)  Elrich •  Milicic •  Thompson •  Emerton •  Kewell •  McKain •  Skoko •  Muscat •  Neill •  Wilkshire •  Schwarzer •  Sterjovski •  Colosimo •  Popovic •  T. Vidmar •  Grella •  Kalac •  North •  J. Aloisi •  Cahill •  Brosque •  Kisnorbo •  Tarka •  Vieri •  Madaschi •  Bresciano •  Laybutt • Coach: Farina

v • d • e Australia squad – 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Schwarzer • 2 Muscat • 3 Moore • 4 Neill • 5 T. Vidmar • 6 Popovic • 7 Emerton • 8 Skoko • 9 Viduka • 10 Cahill • 11 Chipperfield • 12 Petkovic • 13 Wilkshire • 14 Colosimo • 15 Aloisi • 16 Zdrilic • 17 McKain • 18 Kalac • 19 Čulina • 20 Miličević • 21 Elrich • 22 Thompson • 23 Sterjovski • Coach: Farina

v • d • e Australia squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Schwarzer • 2 Neill • 3 Moore • 4 Cahill • 5 Čulina • 6 Popovic • 7 Emerton • 8 Skoko • 9 Viduka • 10 Kewell • 11 Lazaridis • 12 Čović • 13 Grella • 14 Chipperfield • 15 Aloisi • 16 Beauchamp • 17 Thompson • 18 Kalac • 19 Kennedy • 20 Wilkshire • 21 Sterjovski • 22 Milligan • 23 Bresciano • Coach: Hiddink

v • d • e Australia squad – 2007 AFC Asian Cup 1 Schwarzer • 2 Neill • 3 Kisnorbo • 4 Cahill • 5 Čulina • 6 Beauchamp • 7 Emerton • 8 Wilkshire • 9 Viduka • 10 Kewell • 11 Thompson • 12 Jones • 13 Grella • 14 Holman • 15 Aloisi • 16 Thwaite • 17 Valeri • 18 Petkovic • 19 Carle • 20 Carney • 21 Sterjovski • 22 Milligan • 23 Bresciano • Coach: Arnold