Zeljko Kalac

Zeljko Kalac (born 16 December 1972) is an Australian former soccer player who is currently manager of Sydney United 58 in the National Premier Leagues NSW.

Standing at 2.02 m, Kalac is the tallest player to have represented the Australia national football team.

Although he was a goalkeeper, Kalac's preferred playing number (when not the conventional number 1) is 18 and has generally worn this number when playing for Australia.

At the age of sixteen, he was included in the first team alongside first-choice keeper Tony Franken, playing the first eleven games of the 1989–90 NSL season in Franken's absence, before returning to the substitute bench – a place occupied throughout the 1990–91 season as a stand-out Franken remained fit and was first choice all season.

In the off-season, Franken transferred to local rivals APIA Leichhardt, but Kalac was now competing for a place with a young Mark Bosnich (a former rival at Marconi Fairfield), who had returned from an unsuccessful spell at Manchester United.

Kalac would start 21 out of 26 games in the 1991–92 season, the place cemented when Bosnich transferred to Aston Villa later in the season.

When APIA Leichhardt were dumped out of the NSL for financial troubles at the end of the 1991–92 season, Franken returned to Sydney United to resume keeping duties, however selections were not as clear cut as before.

Appearances were shared throughout the 1992–93 season and Kalac became first choice throughout the 1993–94 season, helping Sydney United to third place in the table before being eliminated in the semi-finals.

He remained as first-choice throughout the 1994–95 season, again reaching the semi-final stage of the competition.

In 1995, Kalac followed many Australian players in a move to Europe with English Division One side Leicester City.

Here he only made three first team appearances, one each in the league and League Cup, and his final appearance as a substitute in the 1996 Football League First Division play-off final against Crystal Palace, with the score 1–1.

He came on in the final minute of extra-time as Leicester manager Martin O'Neill believed that due to Kalac's size, he would be able to save penalties during the shootout.

But Steve Claridge scored at the other end with the last kick of the game, 20 seconds after Kalac had come onto the pitch, and the Foxes were promoted to the Premiership without needing a shootout.

With Kevin Poole remaining as first choice keeper, a transfer deal was agreed for Kalac to go to Wolves, along with fellow Australian Steve Corica for £1.75m.

But after making the move to Wolves he was unable to attain a UK work permit, and amid a long appeal process, the deal fell through and he returned to Sydney United.

The next season in the NSL, he played every match for United helping them to the most successful season in over a decade, comfortably winning the league before being beaten in the grand final.

A move to England was again on the cards in 1997 at Portsmouth.

Terry Venables, who was also coaching the Australian national side at the time, sought to sign Kalac but he was again denied a work permit and the deal fell through.

After narrowly avoiding relegation in 1997–98, Kalac's arrival helped the side rise to fifth in 1998–99 season, earning a UEFA Cup berth.

In 1998, he signed with Eredivisie side Roda JC who were seeking to fill the gap left by Ruud Hesp's departure a year earlier.

Starting as the club's number one, he held this position for four years.

The 1999–2000 season was less successful in the league (finishing eighth) but he helped Roda lift the 2000 KNVB Cup, which Kalac rates as one of his greatest career achievements.

A promising 2000–01 season (finishing fourth) earned a UEFA Cup place the following year that would be a memorable campaign.

Roda progressed as far as the fourth round, pressing A.C. Milan to penalties.

After a number of saves throughout regular time, Kalac saved two penalties in the shootout from José Mari and Kakha Kaladze, but it was not enough as Milan went through 3–2.

In July 2002, he was signed by Serie A club A.C. Perugia, quickly cementing his place as first choice, helping them to a place in the Intertoto Cup.

The Italian side went on to win their cup final, Kalac not conceding once in the competition.

The domestic season ended in relegation after finishing fourth last and losing a playoff against Fiorentina.

Kalac stayed with Perugia in Serie B in 2004–05 and played 29 times as Perugia finished third, but were demoted to Serie C1 for financial troubles.

As a result, he played his first Serie A match since 2004, keeping clean sheets against Palermo and Empoli F.C. He also played in the Coppa Italia tournament until Milan were eliminated by underdog Palermo on a disappointing 3–1 aggregate.

However, when he joined Italian club A.C. Milan in 2005, the number 18 was already claimed by Marek Jankulovski, who joined at the same time, and so he chose number 16.

When he transferred to Kavala, number 18 was also taken, so he settled for number 60.

Growing up in the Sydney Croat community, Kalac began his professional career rising through the ranks at Sydney United, competing in the Australian National Soccer League.

With Perugia relegated again, Kalac joined A.C. Milan in the summer of 2005 on a free transfer.

It was not until February 2006 that he made his debut in a Milan shirt, when an ankle injury suffered by incumbent Dida forced a substitution in the first leg of the Champions League knockout stage against Bayern Munich.

On 21 November 2006, Kalac made his second UEFA Champions League appearance for Milan as he came off the bench in the final 15 minutes of the group match against AEK Athens.

Dida tore knee ligaments and was predicted to be out for two to three months, which finally gave Kalac a chance to make more competitive appearances for Milan.

Kalac's first full game in the 2006–07 season was on 25 November 2006 in Milan's 1–0 win over Messina in the Serie A.

On 14 January 2007, Kalac suffered an injury against Reggina and was replaced by a recovering Dida for the following match against Lazio.

These goalkeeper injury concerns prompted manager Carlo Ancelotti to sign Messina goalkeeper Marco Storari, who became the third goalkeeper in the Milan first team with veteran Valerio Fiori being the fourth.