Steve Corica
Published Wed 01 Jan 2020
Innisfail, the small town in north Queensland, is famous for cyclones, sugar cane, bananas and backpackers. And Steve Corica.
Sitting comfortably alongside the likes of Billy Slater and Kerry Boustead as the town's most famous sporting products, he is one of Australia's greats in the round ball game of football after learning his trade in the popular tourist region.
A skillful attacking midfielder, he was the first Australian to represent his country at all levels from the Under-17s to the Socceroos, and played 47 times in the green and gold, including the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.
He won two titles in five years with Marconi in the National Soccer League before joining Leicester City in the English First Division in 1995 ahead of five years and 100 games with Wolverhampton, two years in Japan, two years with Walsall back in England and five years and 100 games with the new Sydney FC from 2005.
He scored the only goal as Sydney FC won the inaugural A-League, retired in 2010 as the club's leading goal-scorer and after time as Youth Coach and Assistant-Coach he took charge of Sydney FC to win the A-League championships in 2019 and 2020.
An outstanding record world-wide over more than 30 years to which he now adds membership of the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.
