The Late Rale Rasic OAM.
Rale Rasic passed away on June 8th, 2023. Australian soccer and the Joeys Mini World Cup still mourn the death of first Socceroos World Cup coach Rale Rasic and the Joeys Mini World Cup Patron. In honour of Rale Rasic, we have renamed the tournament, and it will be known as the Rale Rasic Joeys Mini World Cup.
Rale Rasic was seen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin in the picture above, where he travelled with All-Star’s All-Star team. The place where he coached the Socceroos in the 1974 FIFA World Cup to a nil-all draw against Chile. It was a moving privilege for all of us to relive that moment with the greatest coach the Socceroos ever had.
Rale has a unique position in Australian football, having been the first coach to take Australia to the 1974 FIFA World Cup finals in West Germany. Rale coached Australia in 58 international matches in the four years from 1970 to 1974.
Rale Rasic immigrated to Australia in 1962 but returned to Yugoslavia after 18 months to serve in the army to fulfil what was required of him. After he had met that obligation, he returned to Australia and played football in the Victorian league. Not only did he play football, but he also revolutionised the game in Australia as a coach and was subsequently appointed as the national coach in 1970 at just 34 years of age; Rale masterminded Australia’s long road of qualification that we know ended up with being one of the 16 countries that had qualified for the 1974 FIFA World Cup.
After a mammoth task of being drawn into a group with Chile, East Germany and West Germany, the eventual winners of the 1974 tournament, Rale and his Socceroos performed far above expectations at the tournament but apparently not enough for the Australian Soccer Federation who replaced him as the national coach, replacing him with Englishman Brian Green, Rale believes that he was dumped because he was not seen as being a real “Aussie”. Rale stated, “They took from me something that I was doing better than anyone else. I was a true-blue Aussie, and nobody can deny that. I taught the players how to sing the national anthem”. These days, as the first coach to take Australia to the World Cup finals, Rale Rasic is widely respected in Australian football.
A massive lobby for Rale to return as Australia’s World Cup coach for 1979 began early in 1978 but never eventuated because Rasic made crystal clear his terms: complete and utter control and absolutely no interference from the Australian Soccer Federation. The ASF would never give a coach the job under those circumstances and conditions.
Rale’s first coaching job was in Footscray, followed by Melbourne HSC, St. George Budapest, Marconi, and Pan Hellenic. In 1967 he coached Footscray to the Victorian championship, and from 1968 to 1970, he was the Victorian senior state coach. In 1970 he coached the Victorian youth team to win the national championships and in 1971 he coached St. George to win the NSW grand final and Tokyo International Tournament. He coached Marconi to the Australian championships in 1972 and to the NSW grand final in 1973. In 1979 he coached Adelaide to win the NSL Cup final. From 1986 to 1988, his teams won the national championships and the NSL Cup final.
In 1974 Rale Rasic was listed among the top 35 coaches in the world by German Soccer expert Fritz Hack, and in 1977 and 1987, he was voted the national league coach of the year. He was a television presenter on SBS during the Australian network’s 2006 FIFA World Cup coverage.
Rale Rasic is the only football coach featured in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, an inaugural inductee of the FFA Hall of Fame.
In 2004 Rale Rasic was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his service to soccer as a player, coach and administrator. Above all is our appreciation for his patronage of the Joeys Mini World Cup and the wonderful friendship that has developed over the last 12 years with so many of us.
The Rale RasicJoeys Mini World Cup
A TOURNAMENT WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE
A tournament that rewards players and coaches like no other, a tournament that caters for all levels of skill and a tournament where all players and teams compete right to the last day, with all competing teams playing finals or playoffs for third and fourth placings. This may be in the Rale Rasic Inverell Joeys Mini World Cup, the Rale Rasic Inverell Joeys Shield, the Rale Rasic Inverell Joeys Plate, or the Rale Rasic Inverell Joeys Challenge Cup.
After initially being hosted for eight years at Inverell NSW, the tournament moved to Hervey Bay QLD in 2018. It was staged at Hervey Bay until 2021. In 2022, the tournament was played at Lismore and returned in 2023 back to Inverell, where it will have its permanent home..
Inverell will allow the tournament to grow with largely improved facilities, and the event is well on the way to becoming the biggest Regional Football Tournament in Australia within the next few years. We have made some magnificent changes to the tournament, including changes to the rewards for players and coaches.
The late Rale Rasic OAM, Socceroo and FIFA World Cup coach, was with us since 2010 as the Padron of the tournament., Rale passed away in 2023 and is sadly missed by all of us. In his honour, we renamed the Joeys Mini World Cup in 2023, and it is now known as The Rale Rasic Joeys Mini World Cup.
From humble beginnings in 2010, the tournament held at Inverell grew from the inaugural 16 teams to 48 teams when it was hosted at Inverell. In the first year at Hervey Bay in 2018, 52 teams competed; in 2021, over 100 teams were booked to compete at Hervey Bay. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, nearly half of these teams could not compete since they were located outside of QLD. We expect a large number of teams to nominate this year, and it is paramount that you get your team nominations starting now. You can be sure that the town of Inverell will welcome you with open arms.
Tournament Founder & Director Heinrich Haussler