TONY VIDMAR

'Tony Vidmar' (born July 4, 1970 in Adelaide) is an Australian football (soccer) player of Slovenian-Italian origin, currently playing with the Central Coast Mariners in the Australian A-League. He was a member of the Australian national team, competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona for his native country, and is currently Australia's third highest capped player. His brother Aurelio Vidmar was also an Australian football player.
His biggest impact in club football came whilst at Scottish giants Rangers FC, for whom he played over 100 games and won the Scottish Championship twice, the Scottish League Cup twice and the Scottish FA Cup 3 times. A memorbale goal against Italian team Parma in a Champions League qualifier in 1999 has cemented Tony's place in Rangers FC folklore,
Highly criticised as one of the main weak points in the Australian defence under Frank Farina's tenure, Guus Hiddink's appointment sparked a tremendous improvement in his performance, culminating in an impressive performance in the second leg of the World Cup qualifying tie against Uruguay. Vidmar notably volunteered to take his team mate Mark Bresciano's kick in the penalty shootout (after the latter had been substituted through injury). This was successfully converted, giving Australia a 3-1 lead, and they subsequently won 4-2 on penalties.
On May 9, 2006 Vidmar announced he was withdrawing himself from World Cup team selection for medical reasons, specifically an irregular heart rhythm [1]. Doctors discovered this irregularity was due to a blood clot in his left coronary artery. Following an operation in London, Vidmar was given the all-clear to resume his professional football career. Vidmar announced his international retirement after the friendly fixture against Paraguay on October 7 2006, at which Australia drew 1-1.

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★ Doctors give Vidmar all clear

★ Vidmar joins Mariners

★ Central Coast Mariners profile