Tom Pondeljak

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Personal information
Tom Pondeljak
Full name	Tomislav Pondeljak
Date of birth	January 8, 1976 (1976-01-08) (age 32)
Place of birth	Melbourne, Australia
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Attacking Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Melbourne Victory
Number	14
Youth clubs
1992-1993	VIS
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1993-1995 1995-1999 1999-2001 2001-2003 2003-2004 2004 2005-2008 2008-present	St Albans Melbourne Knights Sydney United Sydney Olympic Perth Glory Johor FA Central Coast Mariners Melbourne Victory	62 (14) 97 (29) 60 0(6) 63 (13) 26 0(7) 14 (8) 48 0(6) 2 0(1)
National team²
2002	Australia	04 0(0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 26 November 2007. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 7 August 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Tomislav ("Tom") Pondeljak (born January 8, 1976 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) is an Australian football player who currently playing for A-league club Melbourne Victory.

1 Club career
2 A-League career statistics
3 Honours
4 External links

[edit] Club career

Pondeljak started his career in the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) before playing for St. Albans making 62 appearances in his 2½ year spell at the lower league Victorian club. He was then brought into the National Soccer League (NSL) by the Melbourne Knights and helping them to victory during the 1995-96 NSL season. After playing another 3½ years and a total of 97 appearances for the Melbourne club he moved to Sydney United.

Not much success was had in his two years at the club, and Pondeljak eventually moved to cross town rivals Sydney Olympic. There he won his second NSL title. He then moved onto Perth Glory where he won his third NSL title. Following the collapse of the NSL at the end of the 2003/04 season to went to Malaysia and played for Johor FC.

When the A-League was formed, Pondeljak was being chased by a number of teams including Sydney FC, Perth Glory, Newcastle Jets and his hometown team Melbourne Victory but it was the Central Coast Mariners who made the best offer and he accepted that offer becoming one of the marquee signings for the Mariners.

The 2005/06 season was not the best for Pondeljak as he was injured for about two months with a fractured and dislocated wrist. He did however produce one of the goals of the season against Sydney FC. He ran into the penalty area, turned three Sydney FC players and slotted the ball past the outstreched arm of Goalkeeper Clint Bolton. He scored the only goal of the Preliminary Final against Adelaide United to send the Central Coast Mariners into the Grand Final.

On 27 February 2008 Pondeljak signed a two year contract with Melbourne Victory although he is unlikely to play in the Asian Champions League in 2008.

Pondeljak was promoted to Victory’s starting 11 following his debut against Japan’s Gamba Osaka two weeks ago and proved his worth on four minutes with a cracking shot from outside the penalty area that gave the visitor’s a perfect start.

[edit] A-League career statistics

(Correct as of 10 June 2008)

Club	Season	League			Finals			Asia			Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists
Central Coast Mariners	2005–06	15	2	6	3	0	0	-	-	-	18	2	6
	2006–07	16	3	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	16	3	0
	2007–08	17	1	5	4	1	0	-	-	-	21	2	5
Melbourne Victory	2007–08
Total											57	8	11