FC Melbourne Srbija: From a field with a cricket pitch to the Australia Cup Round of 16
By reaching the Round of 16, FC Melbourne Srbija’s Australia Cup 2024 campaign certainly already qualifies as a fairy-tale.
- HOW TO WATCH: Live, free and exclusive on 10 Play
- ROUND OF 16: Match Schedule confirmed
- GET TICKETS: Hume City FC v FC Melbourne Srbija | Round of 16
Competing in Victorian football’s third division this season, nobody would have predicted Melbourne Srbija to be one of the last 16 teams standing in the national cup competition, including the club’s own captain, Thomas Lakic.
“We’re sort of riding the wave at the moment,” Lakic said.
“Our expectations were probably not to achieve this as quickly as we have, but things have fallen in our lap a little bit and we’ve been able to achieve some great things this year again.”
Melbourne Srbija have achieved a series of remarkable feats since their promotion from Victoria’s fifth tier in 2019.
The club have secured back-to-back promotions over the last two seasons, most recently having been crowned champions of VPL2 and sealing their place in the second tier of Victorian football for 2025.
Melbourne Srbija’s rise has been rapid, aligning with the lofty ambitions set by the club hierarchy in recent years.
“Since I joined the club, the ambition was to get to as high (a level) as we can,” Lakic said.
“No-one really expects it to happen back-to-back, from the State League jump in 2023 and then this year was a big unknown for us about what we were coming up against.”
“Once we knew we could match it with anyone in our league, things have just progressed from there which has been awesome.”
Melbourne Srbija reached the Round of 16 by defeating South Australia’s Modbury Jets who finished third in the NPL SA Men's, coming from behind to win on penalties.
Despite coming up against more fancied opposition, the internal belief of the team was unshaken.
“We went in with the ambition to win the game,” Lakic said.
“We want to see how far we can take it in the competition.”
Whilst the game would ultimately go the way of Melbourne Srbija, things did not exactly get off to a smooth start, with Modbury scoring early to take the lead.
“Going behind early was a little bit of a shock to us, it’s something we haven’t really felt too many times this year,” Lakic said.
“But we knew our game style would hold up over the course of 90 minutes, and then obviously 120 minutes.”
“We stuck to what we are good at, which is sitting back a little bit more and grabbing teams on the counterattack.”
The result speaks for itself.
Melbourne Srbija now head into a first ever Round of 16 Australia Cup tie, where they will take on Hume City.
Combined with back-to-back promotions, and three promotions in their last four completed seasons, to call the club’s rise meteoric almost seems like an understatement.
“Sometimes I’m a little bit speechless about some of the stuff we’ve done over the last two years,” Lakic said.
Reflecting on his early days at Melbourne Srbija, the club captain recalls with precision the stark contrast in circumstances.
“I was in the cut and thrust of it in 2019, playing out in a field in Fairfield Park, it had a cricket pitch running through the side of it, playing in State League 2,” he said.
“Things just clicked for us in the second half of that season and we managed to get promoted on the final day.”
“We made some changes with our coach at the start of 2023, and since he’s come in it’s been a bit of a journey built on consistency of our squad and a core group of players.”
Lakic has been one of few ever presents at the club since 2019, regularly featuring in a squad that has undergone a major reconstruction.
“Since 2019 there are only really three players that are still here: myself and the two Ilic brothers, Maksim and Milos," Lakic said.
"Some of the inclusions we’ve had over the last two seasons have been massive for us.”
Melbourne Srbija have recruited widely in recent years, bringing in players from throughout the Victorian football pyramid and beyond.
“We managed to grab Andy Kecojevic from Springvale White Eagles… a really potent goal-scorer in (Luka) Ninkovic joined as well… Jarrod Hill and Ryan Brown from Beaumaris are proven winners in the State Leagues,” Lakic said.
“I’d love to give some praise to everyone I can.”
On Lakic’s extensive list of praises, one teammate was identified as being particularly instrumental to the team’s recent success.
“Finally, is Marko Basic who joined us from over in England based on a bit of a family connection with the club,” he said.
“He didn’t look like he wanted to play football in Melbourne, they moved for some more personal reasons… but we managed to bring him across and he’s been probably one of our most valuable players.”
For Lakic himself, finding a home at Melbourne Srbija has made for an incredibly rewarding few years.
The midfielder featured for several of Victoria’s biggest clubs earlier in his career, including South Melbourne, Oakleigh Cannons and Melbourne Victory’s youth team.
“I was a younger player living the dream a little bit, playing for Melbourne Victory for a period of time and then some other big clubs,” Lakic said.
“I was pretty fortunate back in 2014, which was my first senior year with Oakleigh Cannons, I was given a pretty big opportunity by Miron Bleiberg back then.”
“He took me under his wing and moved me through the senior team and I ended up playing 20-odd games that year as a ripe 17-year-old.”
Stability in his football career eluded Lakic though, as he moved around various clubs and divisions in the Victorian game.
Until he arrived at Melbourne Srbija.
“I probably lost my way a little bit with where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do for a short period, but then found that again once I found Melbourne Srbija,” Lakic said.
“I had a bit of a family connection; my grandfather supported the club and my dad played for the club in the 80s and 90s.”
“I didn’t really know where I wanted to go, but I knew that (the club) was quite homely for me. I had a really strong connection.”
Lakic’s connection to the club extends beyond his own family.
“Myself and the Ilic boys (Maksim and Milos), I have grown up with those two. The Ilic family and my family are really close,” he said.
“Milos was probably the biggest reason I came [to the club].”
“You’ve got to kick yourself that you’re playing at this level and doing the things we’re doing with two boys that you pretty much call your own family.”
For Lakic, Melbourne Srbija is part of his identity.
At present though, he is focused on achieving even greater success in their Australia Cup adventure, with a major obstacle awaiting in the Round of 16.
Hume City finished fifth in NPL Men’s Victoria this season, just a handful of points outside of the top two.
A team stacked with top-tier talent was always going to pose a monumental challenge for Melbourne Srbija, but head coach Zeljko Popovic may be tasked with devising a winning strategy with even fewer tools than usual.
“We’re probably going to be down a couple of our key players. Some boys have some pre-planned trips, going to see some family overseas and some boys who are cup tied,” Lakic said.
“We’re probably going to have to dig a little deeper into our squad, which is a great opportunity for our group.”
“Our squad is pretty deep and we’re certainly looking forward to the challenge.”
Lakic remains as unfazed as ever.
“We’ll be ready, we’ll know exactly what we need to do and how we’re going to stop them. I’m sure it won’t be a lack of preparation that will stop us.”
“Hopefully we can deliver something that is really special on the night.”
Match Details
Hume City FC v FC Melbourne Srbija
Date: Tuesday 27 August
Kick-off: 7:30pm AEST
Hume City Stadium, Victoria
GET TICKETS
GET DIRECTIONS
