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Nedjeljko Zelic (born 4 July 1971), commonly known as Ned Zelic, is an Australian former footballer who played as a centre-back or defensive midfielder.
Zelic spent most of the 1990s playing in Europe, most notably for Borussia Dortmund where he reached the UEFA Cup Final in his first season with the club, losing to Juventus of Italy and won the German Bundesliga title in 1995. He had a brief stint in the Premier League for QPR, moving for a club record £1.25 million, which was beset by injury and discontent. After just 4 Premier League games for the West London club, he departed to Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany.
After only a few months he signed for AJ Auxerre of France. At Auxerre, he replaced Laurent Blanc who moved to FC Barcelona, and participated in the UEFA Champions League. In July 1996, Zelic was selected to play for a World All Star team v Brazil at Giants Stadium, New York City. The All Star team was coached by Euro 92 winner with Denmark, Richard Moller Nielsen and consisted of such players as Jürgen Klinsmann, George Weah, Marcel Desailly, Lothar Matthäus, David Ginola and Fernando Redondo. In 1998, Zelic decided to move back to Germany and went on to make 102 appearances for 1860 Munich in the Bundesliga.
In 2002, he moved to Japan to play in the J1 League where he stayed for two years and played under Dutch coaches Hans Ooft and Wim Jansen, winning the Japanese Cup with his club Urawa Red Diamonds. Zelic signed for FC Wacker Tirol of Austria in July 2004 and stayed there for one season.
Zelic underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee after the semi-finals. Several months later he decided to move back overseas and it was not certain if he would continue his career.
In January 2007, Zelic joined Georgian club FC Dinamo Tbilisi on a free transfer, where he played under former Czech National Team coach Dusan Uhrin. He announced his retirement from football in May 2008, after winning the Georgian Championship with Dinamo Tbilisi. Aussie great Zelic announces retirement
He was selected in Four Four Two magazine's Top 25 Australian Footballers of All-Time.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | |||
| Sydney Croatia | 1989 | National Soccer League | 0 |
| 1989–90 | 0 | ||
| 1990–91 | 0 | ||
| Sydney Olympic | 1991–92 | National Soccer League | 1 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 1992–93 | Bundesliga | 0 |
| 1993–94 | 1 | ||
| 1994–95 | 0 | ||
| Queens Park Rangers | 1995–96 | Premier League | 0 |
| Eintracht Frankfurt | 1995–96 | Bundesliga | 1 |
| AJ Auxerre | 1996–97 | Division 1 | 0 |
| 1860 Munich | 1997–98 | Bundesliga | 0 |
| 1998–99 | 1 | ||
| 1999–2000 | 2 | ||
| 2000–01 | 0 | ||
| 2001–02 | 0 | ||
| Kyoto Purple Sanga | 2002 | J1 League | 0 |
| Urawa Reds | 2002 | J1 League | 0 |
| 2003 | 2 | ||
| Wacker Tirol | 2004–05 | Austrian Bundesliga | 0 |
| Newcastle United Jets | 2005–06 | A-League | 1 |
| Helmond Sport | 2006–07 | Eerste Divisie | 0 |
| Dinamo Tbilisi | 2006–07 | Umaglesi Liga | 0 |
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year | |
| Australia | 1 |
| 0 | |
| 1 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 2 | |
| 0 | |
| 1 | |
Urawa Reds
Borussia Dortmund
Australia
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