Steve Corica

Stephen Christopher Corica (born 24 March 1973) is an Australian soccer manager and former player.

He was most recently the manager of Australian club Sydney FC.

In December 2023, Corica was announced as the inaugural manager of A-League expansion club Auckland FC.

A technically gifted and skillful attacking midfielder during his playing career, he represented Australia more than thirty times and captained Sydney FC to a domestic double.

He represented Australia at the FIFA U-17 World Championship in Scotland in 1989.

Although his team finished last in a very tough group, he did have his moments, such as scoring against Brazil in a 3–1 loss.

Corica started playing football in his home town of Innisfail, in Far North Queensland and joining the elite player program at the Australian Institute of Sport in 1990.

On completion of the scholarship he signed with Marconi-Fairfield in the now defunct National Soccer League.

In his first NSL season he made just three starts, but developed to a regular selection in following years.

In 1991, he was selected for the FIFA World Youth Championship in Portugal, where Australia performed remarkably well and reached the semi-finals before losing to the hosts.

In 1992/93 he helped Marconi to a grand final win and was named Under 21 Player of the Year.

He then went on to play in two Olympic Games football tournament, the first being the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, where Australia made another impressive run to the semi-finals, this time falling to Poland at the penultimate stage.

The next two years were less successful for the Marconi and in 1995, Corica sought a career move to Europe.

Corica signed with Leicester City in the English First Division (now the EFL Championship).

He debuted for the club on 12 August 1995 and scored in a 2–1 win.

Adding to his tally was harder to come by for following games, and in February, Corica and fellow Australian Zeljko Kalac were signed by their former Leicester manager Mark McGhee for Wolverhampton Wanderers in a joint £1.75 million deal (the component for Corica was £1.1m).

Kalac was unable to gain a work permit for Wolves and returned to Australia, but Corica remained.

In four-and-a-half seasons at Wolves, Corica made over 100 appearances, although hampered by a series of knee injuries.

Four years later, he was part of the 1996 Olympics team in Atlanta.

He was part of a generation of Australian players (including Paul Okon, Ned Zelic, Mark Bosnich and Zeljko Kalac) dubbed the "Golden Generation".

Corica left Wolves in 2000, moving to Japan with J1 League side Sanfrecce Hiroshima for two seasons, then returning to England at Walsall.

In September 2004, unable to work his way into the first team, Walsall agreed to release him.

He finally decided to return home to Australia after spending 10 years abroad, joining new A-League club Sydney FC.

It was a shaky start to the new competition for Corica, sent off in Sydney's third A-League match against Newcastle for a dangerous foul.

After serving a one match suspension, he repaid the club scoring just five minutes in against Queensland Roar, and following up with a second goal later in the match.

Corica retained a place in the side for much of the year as Sydney progressed to the Grand Final.

A set-up from Dwight Yorke in the second half, gave Corica the only goal in Sydney FC's 1–0 victory over the Central Coast Mariners to help the team win the inaugural A-League Championship.

He remained with the club in 2006/07 and 2007/08 seasons, playing a key role in Sydney's 2007 Asian Champions League campaign, scoring four goals in six matches.

On 1 April 2008 he signed a one-year contract to remain at Sydney, and given his age is possible he will retire afterward.

Corica had a great start to the 2008–09 A-League Season after scoring a double in the Round 2 match against Central Coast Mariners.

He became Sydney's highest goalscorer after overtaking Sasho Petrovski's former record of 14, with a Penalty in Sydney's 5–2 thrashing of Perth Glory.

He became Sydney's 3rd player to reach 100 professional games for the club, with their 2–1 loss to Perth Glory on 19 November 2008 at Members Equity Stadium.

On the final day of the regular season in the 2009/10 season against Melbourne Victory, Corica limped off in the 20th minute due to hamstring problems.

Sydney went on to win the game 2–0 and claimed the Premiership.

After later examination of his injury, it was discovered that he had torn his hamstring muscle off the bone and required surgery thus ending his season.

He then announced his full retirement from professional football.

Corica has represented Australia at all youth (U17, U20, U23) and at national team level, the first Australian to achieve the feat.

Since retiring in 2010, he was an assistant and youth coach at Sydney FC, before being appointed Head Coach in May 2018.

During his managing tenure, Corica was Sydney FC's longest-serving manager, winning one A-League premiership, two championships, and one Australia Cup.

On 11 February 2010 he announced his retirement at the end of the season.