Veteran Melbourne Victory and former Socceroos goalkeeper Michael Petkovic has retired from football, while the Victorian club has also lost Marvin Angulo and Luke Pilkington from their roster.
Thirty-four year old Petkovic announced his retirement from professional football on Friday morning, bringing an end to a 16-year career that’s seen him play over 400 games for various clubs in Australian, Norway and predominantly Turkey.
Petkovic played for Australia on six occasions, most notably during the 31-0 demolition of American Samoa, where his Victory team-mate Archie Thompson scored 13 goals.
Originally from Perth, Petkovic initially played for South Melbourne in the National Soccer League, but saw his early attempts to make it in Europe frustrated when a disastrous spell in France at Strasbourg was brought to an end through work permit issues in the late 1990s.
That disappointing loan meant he missed out on the opportunity to represent South Melbourne at the inaugural FIFA world club championship in Rio de Janeiro.
But Petkovic’s international career really took off when he moved to Turkey in 2002 to play for Trabzonspor on the Black Sea Coast, where he made 87 appearances and helped them to a runners-up position in Super League in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons along with Turkish Cup wins in 2003 and 2004.
From Tranzonspor, Petkovic joined the newly-promoted Sivasspor at the start of the 2005-06 season, where he helped the club to not only survive during their first season in the top-flight, but build for high finishes over the next few years, most notably when they came second to Besiktas during 2008-09.
When Melbourne lost Mitch Langerak to Borussia Dortmund at the end of 2009-2010, however, Petkovic returned to Melbourne to play for Victory throughout an inconsistent campaign.
In a dramatic period for the club that saw it part ways with inaugural coach Ernie Merrick, Petkovic played in Melbourne’s first two AFC Asian Champions League losses before caretaker coach Mehmet Durakovic replaced him with former Glory custodian Tando Velaphi for the club’s last four group games in that competition.
With Velaphi grabbing his opportunity with both hands in some impressive performances, Petkovic has opted to hang up the boots as it appeared likely he would be consigned to the No.2 role if he played on.
Along with Petkovic, Angulo has also returned to his native Costa Rica after his loan deal from CS Herediano expired.
Arriving at the club during the 2009/10 season, the 24 year-old made 44 Victory appearances although he never quite reached the level of compatriot and crowd favourite Carlos Hernandez.
Twenty-year-old Pilkington, meanwhile, rose to prominence after winning the television reality show Football Superstar.
He played two seasons at Victory, predominantly in the National Youth League, but secured three senior appearances during that period.
Petkovic, Angulo and Pilkington bring the number of players to leave Melbourne’s squad to five as striker Robbie Kruse is heading to Germany to play with Fortuna Dusseldorf, while skipper Kevin Muscat has retired.
The club has recruited heavily already, bringing in Roar striker Jean Carlos Solozano, speedy Wellington midfielder Marco Rojas, former North Queensland forward Isaka Cernak, Youth League player James Jeggo and Velaphi from the Glory.
