Paul Okon

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Personal information
Paul Okon

Full name	Paul Michael Okon
Date of birth	April 5, 1972 (1972-04-05) (age 36)
Place of birth	Sydney, Australia
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Central Midfielder, Centre Back
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1989-1991 1991-1996 1996-1999 1999-2000 2000-2002 2002 2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007	Marconi Stallions Club Brugge Lazio Fiorentina Middlesbrough → Watford (loan) Leeds United Vicenza Oostende APOEL FC Newcastle Jets	49 (4) 72 (1) 19 (0) 11 (0) 28 (0) 15 (0) 21 (0) 11 (0) 33 (0) 17 (0)
National team²
1991 1992 1991-2003	Australia U-20 Australia U-23 Australia	29 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 July 2007. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 21 June 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Paul Okon (born April 5, 1972 in Sydney) is a former Australian football (soccer) player who retired after playing with Australian side Newcastle United Jets.

He previously captained the Australian National Team and has represented Australia Olympic Football Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Okon's career began at Marconi Stallions in the old NSL in Australia. He then went on to play at many European clubs including S.S. Lazio and Fiorentina in Italy's Serie A, Vicenza Calcio in Serie B, Middlesbrough F.C. and Leeds United F.C. in the English Premiership, Club Brugge, K.V. Oostende in Belgium's Jupiler League and APOEL FC in the Cypriot First Division.

1 Club career
2 Trivia
3 Honours
4 External links

[edit] Club career

Okon grew up in the Sydney suburb of Bossley Park. He is of German and Italian descent. He represented his high school, Patrician Brothers' College, Fairfield during his time as a teenage schoolboy and featured prominently in all teams including the A Grade squad. However, his abilities did not stop at the football pitch. He set the record for high jump at the College's annual Athletics Carnival in the under 16s age group which was not broken until 2004.

He signed with A-League club Newcastle United Jets for the 2006-07 season. Okon fit into a well constructed Jets side and helped then make the playoffs in 2007. Due to injury concerns, Okon decided to retire from professional football in June 2007.

Okon is back playing in 2008 for amateur team West Ryde Rovers's Over 35 Division 1 team in the GHFA.

He is also slated to play in the Zidane match (Zidane's XI Vs. Australia '97) on June 1 2008

[edit] Trivia

Okon was childhood friend with Italian striker Christian Vieri, who grew up in Australia. They both later play together at S.S. Lazio in 1998/1999.

[edit] Honours

With Australia:

OFC Nations Cup: 2000

With Club Brugge:

Belgian League Championship: 1995-1996
Belgian Cup: 1994-1995, 1995-1996

Personal Honours:

Belgian Golden Shoe: 1995-1996
NSL Papasavas Medal (U-21): 1989-1990, 1990-1991
Oceania Footballer of the Year: 1996

[edit] External links

Oz Football profile

Awards
Preceded by Paul Trimboli	NSL U21 Player of the Year 1989/90-1990/91	Succeeded by Kevin Muscat
Preceded by Gilles De Bilde	Belgian Golden Shoe 1995	Succeeded by Franky Van Der Elst
Preceded by Christian Karembeu	Oceania Player of the Year 1996	Succeeded by Mark Bosnich

v • d • e Australia squad - 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup

1 Schwarzer • 2 Muscat • 3 Moore • 4 Okon • 5 Vidmar • 6 Popovic • 7 Lazaridis • 8 Skoko • 9 Aloisi • 10 Emerton • 11 Zdrilic • 12 Bolton • 13 Bresciano • 14 Murphy • 15 Foxe • 16 Horvat • 17 Corica • 18 Chipperfield • 19 Vidmar • 20 Zane • 21 Thompson • 22 Sterjovski • 23 Jurić • Coach: Farina