Nikolai Topor-Stanley
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| Nikolai Topor-Stanley | ||
 |
||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nikolai David Topor-Stanley | |
| Date of birth | March 11, 1985 | |
| Place of birth | Canberra, Australia | |
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | |
| Playing position | Left Back, Centre Back | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Perth Glory | |
| Number | 2 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
2002 |
Belconnen Blue Devils ACTAS AIS |
|
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 2004 2005 2006-2007 2007-present |
Belconnen Blue Devils Manly United FC Sydney FC Perth Glory |
14 (0) 21 (0) |
| National team2 | ||
| 2004-2005 2006-present 2008-present |
Australia U-20 Australia U-23 Australia |
2 (0) 19 (4) 2 (0) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Nikolai Topor-Stanley (born March 11, 1985) is an Australian soccer player who currently represents Perth Glory FC.
Contents |
[edit] Club career
Topor-Stanley was born to a Mauritian father of Indo-European heritage, Percy, and a Polish-German mother, Helen.[1]
He has had several short-term contracts with A-League club Sydney FC,[1] firstly as a replacement for injured Jacob Timpano, and then Ruben Zadkovich, but was not signed by former Sydney FC coach Terry Butcher on a reported long-term deal despite his "outstanding performance" because of the club's salary cap problems.[2] He is a defender and has previously played for NSW Premier League teams Manly United FC and Belconnen Blue Devils, as well as representing Australia in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship. He was also selected to participate in the first training camp for the Beijing Olympics.
On July 15, 2006, Nikolai debuted for Sydney off the bench against Queensland in the Pre-season Cup before scoring his first goal for the club against Newcastle a week later. Nikolai made his A-League debut on August 27, 2006 against the Central Coast Mariners. In the absence of Timpano, Nikolai has cemented a place in Sydney's first team, having started a number of Sydney FC's games thus far in the 06-07 season.
He was known to Sydney fans as "Hyphen", a name that was given to him by Sydney FC supporters' group "The Cove" upon him scoring his first goal for the club. The name "Hyphen" comes about due to his hyphenated name. Topor-Stanley wore shirt number 21 at Sydney FC and plays as a left-sided stopper.
Sydney coach Butcher was apparently "fuming" after hearing that he had developed a foot injury at an Olyroos training session before the first semi-final against Newcastle Jets.[3] In the first qualifying game against Taiwan in Adelaide on Wednesday, 7 February 2007, Topor-Stanley scored 2 of the 11 goals - one with each foot.
He was rumoured to be following Sasho Petrovski and Alvin Ceccoli out of Sydney FC and it was confirmed on April 1, 2007 that he has signed on with A-League rival team, Perth Glory on a two year deal.[4][5] He left Sydney due to the contract which was offered to him by the club which was less than the amount he was being paid as a replacement player during the first season.[6] Topor-Stanley will continue to represent Sydney until after Sydney's participation in the 2007 Asian Champions League. He is a "victim of a club-versus-country tug of war," according to Branko Culina, flying from country to country in between Olyroos and Sydney FC matches, along with fellow Sydney and Olyroos player Mark Milligan.[7] Fellow Sydney FC player Mark Rudan was quoted as saying, "Nikolai Topor-Stanley will be a pretty big loss for us and again we seem to be losing players and not getting them."[8]
He was praised as a new player for Perth Glory at the beginning of the 2007-08 season of the A-League, along with Jimmy Downey, and was nicknamed Nikolai "Gandhi" Topor-Stanley by his teammates.[9] Only several matches into the A-League season, however, he took an ankle injury whilst playing for the Olyroos,[10] but was able to play his next match against Iraq. "Outstanding young Perth Glory defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley has capped off a wonderful season by claiming the 2007/08 ‘Most Glorious Player’ Award, along with a host of other accolades, at the club’s presentation evening on Friday. The event belonged to Topor-Stanley as he scooped the pool with three awards in his debut season with Perth, adding the ‘Players’ Player of the Year’ and ‘Young Player of the Year’ to his 'Most Glorious Player' award." (Perth Glory website, 22 February 2008)
[edit] A-League career statistics
(Correct as of 10 June 2008)
| Club | Season | League | Finals | Asia | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | ||
| Sydney FC | 2006–07 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 1 |
| Perth Glory | 2007–08 | 21 | 0 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 21 | 0 | 3 |
| Total | 35 | 0 | 4 | ||||||||||
[edit] International career
He is currently part of the Olyroos squad that will represent Australia at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Topor-Stanley contributed significantly to the Olyroos' win over Saudi Arabia at Hindmarsh Stadium on 28 March 2007 by scoring the first goal, a header from the near post in the 74th minute of the game.[11] In 2008, Topor-Stanley was named in Pim Verbeek's preliminary Australian squad which opened their World Cup qualifying campaign against Qatar on Wednesday 6th February in Melbourne but made his international debut against Singapore in March 2008. Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek included Nikolai in the Socceroos squad that drew 0-0 against China in Kunming on Wednesday 26/3/2008.
[edit] Honours
Personal Honours:
- Perth Glory Most Glorious Player Award: 2007-2008
- Perth Glory Player's Player of the Year: 2007-2008
- Perth Glory Young Player of the Year: 2007-2008
[edit] "Cult chants"
After breaking into the Australian national team, Topor-Stanley has been adopted by many in the Australian football family as somewhat of a cult figure. Many sections of the crowd during the Socceroos 1-0 friendly win over Ghana in May 2008 were heard singing his name in high pitched voices to a calypso tune. Topor-Stanley was seen to acknowledge this at the end of the game with warm hand clapping and a "thumbs up". Bizarrely, the chant was also noted in issue 119 of Australian ZOO Weekly, where Topor-Stanley was listed as a contributing editor under the heading "Cult Chants".
[edit] References
- ^ a b John Taylor (January 30, 2007). Nikolai has paid his dues. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
- ^ Butcher ready to deal in Topor-Stanley. tribalfootball.com (October 1, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
- ^ Guy Hand (February 1, 2007). Finalist fume over Olyroo injuries. The Australian. Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
- ^ SBS (April 1, 2007). Topor-Stanley joins Perth. theworldgame.com.au. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ Topor-Stanley now a Glory boy. The Daily Telegraph (April 2, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
- ^ Peng Cheng (February 2, 2008). Interview with Nikolai Topor-Stanley. Australian Football. Retrieved on 2008-03-25.
- ^ Michael Cockerill (March 14, 2007). Cap-strapped Sydney target Popovic for dual role. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
- ^ David Davutovic (March 27, 2007). Sydney FC taking time out. The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved on 2007-06-09.
- ^ David Tarka (October 24, 2007). David Tarka comment. Perth Now. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
- ^ Aidan Ormond (November 15, 2007). Topor-Stanley In Doubt. FourFourTwo. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
- ^ Daniel Lato (March 29, 2007). Win sets target for Olyroos. The Adelaide Advertiser. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
[edit] External links
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Simon Colosimo,David Tarka |
Perth Glory Most Glorious Player Award 2007/08 |
Succeeded by - |
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