Les Scheinflug

Les Scheinflug emigrated to Australia from Europe in 1955. Two years later at the age of 19 he joined Sydney club Prague, later becoming Australian captain. A highlight of his distinguished playing career was scoring Australia’s first goal in the World Cup. Scheinflug retired from playing in 1972 to take up coaching. He was named 1979 Coach of the Year with Marconi Fairfield and was honoured by the Australian Government in 2000 for his services to soccer. His outstanding record includes serving as assistant national coach and as coach of the LG Socceroos and the Youth teams. In 2000 Scheinflug’s many years experience came to the fore when he became the first Australian coach to take a national team to a world final. The Australian Under 17 team was beaten by Brazil in the 2000 World final 8-7 on penalty kicks. Scheinflug announced his resignation as national coach prior to the World Under 17 finals and accepted a new role with Soccer Australia as Techincal Director, National Teams and Elite Development.