Con Constantine (born 1 July 1945) is a Cypriot Australian businessman and the former owner of the Australian football (soccer) club Newcastle United Jets.
Con Constantine (born 1 July 1945) is a Cypriot Australian businessman and the former owner of the Australian football (soccer) club Newcastle United Jets.
Con Constantine migrated to Australia with his parents and siblings from the town of Maroni, near Larnaka, Cyprus, at the age of 10. At a young age, he started working in a takeaway food store before going on to sell houseplants.
In 1985, he built Parklea Markets (on the site of a former drive-in cinema), initially operating it as a plant nursery while seeking council approval. After approval was granted, Parklea Markets quickly established itself as one of the premier retail destinations in Western Sydney.
In recent years, Constantine has expanded his interests to Newcastle, 150 km north of Sydney, where he is the owner of The Store. He recently purchased two Newcastle community papers, the Newcastle & Lake Macquarie Post and the Hunter Post, from Fairfax Media. Constantine is a supporter of his local Blacktown Greek Orthodox parish as well as many legitimate Sydney and Newcastle charities.
Constantine was the owner and chairman of Newcastle United Jets, an Australian professional football (soccer) club based in Newcastle. The club competes in the A-League and plays its home games at Hunter Stadium. They were the A-League Champions for the 2007–08 A-League season, after defeating the Central Coast Mariners 1-0 in the Grand Final. The club was formed in 2000 when it joined the National Soccer League as Newcastle United. [1]
Constantine replaced Jets' manager Richard Money with an Australian, Nick Theodorakopoulos, for the 2006/2007 A-League season. Theodorakopoulos was sacked as manager after a lacklustre start to the season. The new coach was Gary van Egmond with support from assistant coach Mark Jones. For the 2009–10 season, former Sydney FC coach Branko Culina was appointed head coach after Gary van Egmond's shock departure.
Constantine chose to bring in controversial striker Mario Jardel to Newcastle. The Brazilian legend had a successful career, but was out of shape and out of form by the time he arrived at the Jets. Constantine has invested over $15 million into the Newcastle Jets. [2] [3]
After an unsuccessful 2008/2009 season, a group of Newcastle supporters staged a small protest by hanging all their banners upside down. Constantine invited the leaders of the group to his corporate box and allegedly threatened them. The incident was investigated by the Football Federation Australia. [4]
On 22 September 2010, Con was stripped of his licence of the Newcastle Jets. The team was taken over on a short-term basis by local businessman Nathan Tinkler. [5] Constantine made a tearful farewell press conference and accused the FFA of backstabbing him. [6] [7]
Mário Jardel de Almeida Ribeiro is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was most noted for his positioning on the field and his heading ability. He was a legend for Grêmio, playing a major part in the squad that won the 1995 Copa Libertadores. With his exceptional positioning ability, he was able to become one of Europe's most prolific strikers during his time at Porto, Galatasaray, and Sporting CP, scoring 206 goals in 274 matches for those clubs.
Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australian Professional Leagues (APL),. The club was formed in 2000 when it joined the National Soccer League (NSL) and was one of only three former NSL clubs to join in the formation of the A-League.
A-League Men is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competition for the sport. A-League Men was established in 2004 as the A-League by the Football Federation Australia (FFA) as a successor to the National Soccer League (NSL) and competition commenced in August 2005. The league is currently administered by the Australian Professional Leagues (APL), contested by twelve teams; eleven based in Australia and one based in New Zealand. The men's, women's and youth leagues have now been brought together under a unified A-Leagues banner.
Paul Michael Okon is a former Australian soccer player who played as a defender or midfielder. He has Belgian citizenship.
Joel Griffiths is an Australian professional football manager who currently serves as the manager of Newcastle Olympic FC for National Premier Leagues Northern NSW and retired professional footballer striker.
Nick Theodorakopoulos is an Australian soccer coach.
Gary Rudy Peter van Egmond is an Australian former soccer player and former head coach of Newcastle Jets in the A-League.
Ali Abbas is an Iraqi-Australian footballer who last played for the Newcastle Jets in the A-League and the Iraq national team.
The sport of soccer has had a long history in the Newcastle, New South Wales and the wider Hunter Region. The area has had a number of teams involved in national competitions from 1978 through to the present day, being represented by the Newcastle Jets in the A-League.
Christopher Payne is an Australian soccer player who plays for Bankstown City Lions in NSW League One.
Emily Louise van Egmond is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for San Diego Wave FC and the Australia women's national team. She previously played for German side 1. FFC Frankfurt and VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, Danish side Fortuna Hjørring in the Elitedivisionen, Chicago Red Stars and Orlando Pride in the NWSL, West Ham United in the FA Women's Super League, as well as Canberra United, Western Sydney Wanderers, Newcastle Jets and Melbourne City in Australia's W-League.
The Newcastle Jets 2010–11 season was the Newcastle Jets' sixth season since the inception of the Australian A-League and the tenth since the club's founding, in 2000.
The History of the Newcastle Jets FC starts at their inception in 2000 by businessman Con Constantine after the collapse of the city's previous football club the Newcastle Breakers. The Breakers were dissolved when Soccer Australia revoked its NSL licence at the conclusion of the 1999/2000 season. At the formation of Newcastle United the home ground was moved back to where Newcastle KB United played, now known as EnergyAustralia Stadium.
Connor Chapman is an Australian professional footballer who plays for Melbourne Victory. He has represented Australia at under-17, under-20, and under-23 level.
The 2012–13 A-League was the 36th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the eighth season of the Australian A-League since its establishment in 2004. The 2012–13 season saw the introduction of a new Western Sydney-based team, the return of Newcastle Jets FC after their A-League licence was returned by FFA, and the end of Gold Coast United after they were removed from the competition at the end of the previous season. This season was also the last A-League season to be broadcast exclusively on paid television, after SBS obtained the rights to a live Friday night game each week of the A-League season, and all A-League finals games on a one-hour delay, on a $160 million four-year broadcast deal, effective from the 2013–14 A-League season onwards.
The 2013–14 A-League was the 37th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the ninth of the A-League since its establishment in 2004. The season began on 11 October 2013, with Western Sydney Wanderers as the defending A-League Premiers and Central Coast Mariners as the defending A-League Champions. The regular season concluded on 13 April 2014, with Brisbane Roar crowned Premiers. The 2014 Grand Final took place on 4 May 2014, with Brisbane Roar claiming their third Championship with a 2–1 win in extra time against Western Sydney Wanderers.
The 2017–18 A-League was the 41st season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the 13th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season began on 6 October 2017 and ended with the Grand Final on 5 May 2018.
The 2019–20 A-League, also known as the 2019–20 Hyundai A-League for sponsorship reasons, was the 43rd season of national level soccer in Australia, and the 15th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The regular season commenced on 11 October 2019 and was scheduled to conclude on 26 April 2020, though was postponed to 19 August 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic caused Football Federation Australia (FFA) to suspend the season from late March to mid July. The season resumed on 17 July 2020, which meant the finals occurred in mid-August and the Grand Final was held on 30 August 2020.
A marquee player is a player whose wage is paid outside the A-League Men salary cap, with an unlimited salary. Furthermore, there are designated players since the 2021–22 A-League Men season, who are players whose wage is paid outside the salary cap, but have to be in the $300,000 to $600,000 range.
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