Stan Lazaridis

Stan Lazaridis
Personal information
Full name	Stan Lazaridis
Date of birth	16 August 1972 (age 52)
Place of birth	Perth, Australia
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Left winger / left back
Youth career
	Olympic Kingsway
Senior career*
Years	Team
1991–1992	Floreat Athena
1992–1995	West Adelaide
1995–1999	West Ham United
1999–2006	Birmingham City
2006–2008	Perth Glory
Total
International career
1989	Australia U17
2000	Australia Olympic (O.P.)
1993–2006	Australia
Medal record
Representing Australia
Men's Association football
FIFA Confederations Cup
OFC Nations Cup
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Stan Lazaridis (born 16 August 1972) is an Australian former footballer. He was predominantly a left winger though he had been known to perform at left back. He last played for his home-town club Perth Glory and made 58 official appearances for Australia and was in the Australian 2006 FIFA World Cup squad.

In 2024, Lazaridis was appointed director of football at Perth Glory.^[4]

Club career

His reputation as a young left-footed teenager began with Olympic Kingsway where, despite his age, he intimidated many a defender with his change of pace.^[5]

Lazaridis made his senior debut for West Adelaide Hellas in the Australian National Soccer League in the 1992 season. His dribbling ability and pace drew much attention on the Australian scene. At the end of the 1995 season he earned a move to Europe when West Ham manager Harry Redknapp encountered Lazaridis playing for West Adelaide during West Ham's pre-season tour of Australia in May, 1995.^[6] Signed for £300,000 a poor debut and consistent injury problems made his debut season difficult when he made only six appearances.^[7] He scored his first goal for West Ham in a 1–1 away draw with Wimbledon on 18 March 1997.^[7] Over four seasons, Lazaridis played just 87 games for West Ham United and scored three goals.^[7] In 1999, he dropped a division to sign for Birmingham City when manager Trevor Francis signed him in a deal worth an eventual £1.7million.^[8] Settling much better at St Andrew's, he played an important role in guiding the team up to the Premiership for the 2002–03 season, scoring one of the penalties in the play-off final shootout to help them get promoted to the Premier League.^[9] While at Birmingham he played in the 2001 Football League Cup Final.^[10]

Following promotion (and despite a raft of new signings) Lazaridis remained a regular player for the Blues, scoring the winner against local rivals Aston Villa in March 2003 and a classic goal against Everton in February 2004. After seven successful years at Birmingham City, in which he had become a fan favourite, Lazaridis was released at the end of the 2005–06 season after making 222 appearances for the club. He then looked to finish his career in Australia with A-League club Perth Glory.

Lazaridis made only 11 appearances for the Perth club in 2006–07. His time there was tainted when in January 2007, Lazaridis returned a positive drug test for anti-androgen Finasteride, a prescription alopecia medication, which was banned at the time. Although perhaps slim comfort to Lazaridis finasteride was removed from the banned list in large measure as a result of the widespread discontent that followed his unfortunate case becoming public.^[11]

While noting his previous good character and making clear there was no evidence he had taken performance-enhancing drugs, he was found to have breached the rules and was given a 12-month suspension from football, mostly backdated.^[12] In March 2008, Perth Glory manager David Mitchell cut Lazaridis from the club's A-League roster,^[13] prompting the player to retire.

International career

Career statistics

Club

Club	League	Season	League		Cup¹		International		Total
Club	League	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
West Adelaide Hellas	National Soccer League	1992–93	26	2	2	1	0	0	28	3
		1993–94	23	3	0	0	0	0	23	3
		1994–95	20	0	2	0	0	0	22	0
		Club total	69	5	4	1	0	0	73	6
West Ham United	Premier League	1995–96	4	0	2	0	0	0	6	0
		1996–97	22	1	5	0	0	0	27	1
		1997–98	28	2	7	0	0	0	35	2
		1998–99	15	0	3	0	0	0	18	0
		1999-2000	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
		Club total	69	3	17	0	1	0	87	3
Birmingham City	Football League First Division	1999-2000	31	2	4	0	0	0	35	2
		2000–01	31	2	8	0	0	0	39	2
		2001–02	32	0	2	0	0	0	34	0
		Club subtotal	94	4	14	0	0	0	108	4
	Premier League	2002–03	30	2	2	0	0	0	32	2
		2003–04	30	2	3	0	0	0	33	2
		2004–05	20	0	2	0	0	0	22	0
		2005–06	17	0	3	0	0	0	20	0
		Club subtotal	97	4	10	0	0	0	107	4
	Club total		191	8	24	0	0	0	215	8
Perth Glory	A-League	2006–07	11	0	2	0	0	0	13	0
		2007–08	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
		Club total	13	0	2	0	0	0	15	0
Australia total			82	5	6	1	0	0	88	6
England total			260	11	41	0	1	0	302	11
Total			342	16	47	1	1	0	390	17

¹Includes National Soccer League finals, FA Cup, Football League Cup and A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup matches.

International

^[14]

Australia national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1993	3	0
1994	4	0
1995	6	0
1996	0	0
1997	13	0
1998	0	0
1999	0	0
2000	9	0
2001	9	0
2002	0	0
2003	2	0
2004	8	0
2005	3	0
2006	3	0
Total	60	0

Honours

Birmingham City

Football League First Division play-offs: 2002^[9]
Football League Cup runner-up: 2000–01^[10]

Australia

FIFA Confederations Cup runner-up: 1997
OFC Nations Cup: 2000

References

^ "2006 FIFA World Cup Germany: List of Players: Australia" (PDF). FIFA. 21 March 2014. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2019.
^ ^a ^b "Stan Lazaridis". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
^ Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (2000). Playfair Football Annual 2000–2001. Headline. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-7472-6620-4.
^ "Stan's our man: Glory recruit Socceroos great for key role". The West Australian. 21 March 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
^ Century of Champions, The Modern Era Archived 3 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
^ "When Harry Met Stan - Australian FourFourTwo - The Ultimate football Website". Au.fourfourtwo.com. 14 December 2010. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Stan Lazaridis". Westhamstats.info. 16 August 1972. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
^ "Sport - Birmingham City - Birmingham City FC legends - Stan Lazaridis". Birmingham Mail. 22 January 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Birmingham reach Premiership". BBC Sport. 12 May 2002. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Blues shot down as Liverpool lift cup". BBC Sport. 25 February 2001. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
^ Davutovic, David (15 March 2007). "Fury as drugs probe tarnishes ex-Socceroo". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney – via PressReader.com.
^ "Lazaridis handed one-year suspension". Football Federation Australia. 27 August 2007. Archived from the original on 17 June 2011.
^ "Lazaridis cut loose by Glory". SBS. 21 April 2008.
^ "Stan Lazaridis". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 6 February 2011.