Young star’s newsoccer reality

By Stuart Teather
REALITY is a funny word for Endeavour Hills’ Steve Topalovic.
The former Dandenong City soccer player featured in the reality television show Football Superstar on Foxtel, competing against 14 other young guns for a spot on Melbourne Victory’s roster.
Topalovic finished fourth but still attracted plenty of attention and, soon after his departure, he was contacted by A-League club Gold Coast United.
The 19-year-old flew up to the Sunshine state and without a trial, interview or so much as a fitness test, signed a contract.
Not bad for a young man who, until Football Superstar, was playing State League Two South East soccer for Dandenong City.
“It’s a huge difference between State League Two and training with the best team in the country,” he said.
“The speed is what gets you the most, the intensity is on a completely different level. “It came as a bit of a shock to me but it didn’t take me too long to adjust.”
Before Football Superstar, Topalovic was just like any other amateur sportsman, training twice a week and beginning the framework of a career in construction, working for a local business.
Despite clinging on to a dream of one day playing at the highest level, Topalovic had become disenchanted with his chosen sport. “I wasn’t really feeling too good about my soccer and I wasn’t playing too well, I went back to Dandy City and wasn’t planning on changing anything with my soccer,” he explained.
“I started working as, like an apprentice with my boss, when I told him I got on Football Superstar he pretty much told me I was out of a job. “I sort of promised him I’d put full focus into the job,” he added with a laugh.
The show acted as a springboard for the young star, getting his name out to A League scouts. The contestants on the show played a practice game against Gold Coast United, and it was his performance in that game that sealed the deal.
Topalovic said he was grateful for the chance the show gave him. “It’s a one off experience, the things we did I know I’ll never do again, it was probably the best experience of my life.
“I wasn’t too shattered when I didn’t win, when you get that far of course you want to win, but I came fourth, I can’t argue with that.”
He signed with United’s youth squad but is training full-time with the seniors, and said he hoped to score a game in the A League before the season was out.
“My main goal is to break into the first team squad, after that is obviously to try and represent Australia at the under-20 level.”
Remarkably, Topalovic’s relationship with reality TV shows does not end with Football Superstar.
His sister, 27-year-old Marijana, made the final 24 of Australian Idol this year, after a friendly nudge from her younger brother. “I’ve been pushing her for years and years to go on Australian Idol and she finally did,” he said.