John Kosmina

Alexander John Kosmina (born 17 August 1956), known as John Kosmina, is an Australian former football (soccer) player and manager, most recently being the Senior Head Coach of Brisbane Strikers. He is a member of the Football Federation Australia Football Hall of Fame.

Career

Kosmina's father was from Poland and came to Australia after World War II. Kosmina's family lived in Port Adelaide, in a heavily Polish community. Kosmina was pushed into football by his father who worked in football.

Kosmina is of Polish Australian ethnicity. He played for Polonia and then West Adelaide. The move offended some people in the community but Kosmina had wanted to play at a higher level.

On his return, he went on to become one of the National Soccer League's most prolific scorers, with stints at Adelaide City, West Adelaide (for a second time), Sydney City, Sydney Olympic and A.P.I.A. Leichhardt Tigers before retiring in 1989. The most successful of these was with Sydney City, being part of their 1981 and 1982 championship winning teams, as well as being the league's top scorer in 1982.

Kosmina was captain of the Australian national football team, and helped the team win the Merlion Cup twice. He cited Peter Wilson as a player who had influenced his work as a captain.

During the 1985 season, CR Vasco da Gama toured Australia, playing against various teams in a series of games. Kosmina scored the winning goal in his team's game against Vasco de Gama, which helped Australia win the series and later cited it as one of the best goals he had ever scored. Kosmina said that he felt that Muscat had thrown an elbow at him and said he had "lost it". Since signing with Sydney FC Kosmina made an immediate impact; winning his first game with Sydney 3–2 against rivals Central Coast Mariners at the Sydney Football Stadium.

Sydney FC beat the LA Galaxy 5–3 at Sydney's Telstra Stadium in a friendly, and also won a thrilling 5–4 victory against the Central Coast Mariners at Bluetongue Stadium. Following Sydney FC's poor run in the 2008/2009 season (missing the finals for the first time), John Kosmina had his contract terminated in late January 2009.

Adelaide Raiders He was announced the manager of the Adelaide Raiders, a semi-professional club playing in the FFSA Super League. On 1 September 2011, it was announced he had signed as senior coach of FFSA Super League club Croydon Kings after more than 35 years away from the club. It was announced on 18 December 2011 that Croydon Kings had agreed to release Kosmina from his coaching contract so he could accept the Adelaide United manager position.

Return to Adelaide United On 18 December 2011 he signed as caretaker coach with Adelaide United for the remainder of the 2011–12 A-League season. On 22 March 2012 it was announced he had signed a one-year contract with the club to stay on for the 2012–13 A-League season. On 28 January 2013 he stood down as manager of Adelaide United, citing a lack of trust at the club.

Brisbane City In August 2015, Kosmina was appointed senior coach and football leader at National Premier Leagues Queensland club Brisbane City, signing a three-year contract. In November 2018, it was announced that he would join the coaching staff at St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace, taking responsibility for the Open First and Second XI teams, as well as the Year 10 and 11 teams, as part of a partnership between the college and Brisbane City.

Brisbane Strikers In November 2020, Brisbane Strikers announced that Kosmina would return to the club as senior coach, 17 years after he last coached the side. After a string of shocking results Kosmina was sacked by the club on Monday 24 May

On 24 May 2021, it was announced via a club statement on the club website that the Brisbane Strikers and Kosmina would be parting ways. This decision came after a poor run of form which saw the Strikers not take a single point from their first ten games in the 2021 NPL Queensland Season.

Media He occasionally appears on Fox Sports as a commentator and football analyst. Kosmina co-hosts a weekly Internet television show about football on Australia Live TV with Ross Aloisi, Two Up Front and the episodes are on AustraliaLiveTV.com .

International goals Scores and results list goal tally first.

Honours

Player Sydney City NSL Championship: 1981, 1982 NSL Cup: 1986

Individual FFA Hall of Fame: 1999 NSL Top Scorer: 1982 NSL Under 21 Player of the Year: 1977

Manager Adelaide United A-League Premiership: 2005–2006

Awards and laurels Kosmina Street in the Sydney suburb of Glenwood is named for him, along with Kosmina Crescent in the northern Adelaide suburb of Hillbank. John Kosmina Medal — The award given to the player of the match in the National Premier Leagues Grand Final each year is named in his honour.