Paul Okon

Okon grew up in a Sydney suburb of Bossley Park. He is of German and Italian descent. He represented his high school, Patrician Brothers' College, Fairfield during his time as a teenage schoolboy and featured prominently in all teams including the A Grade squad. However, his abilities did not stop at the football pitch. He set the record for high jump at the college's annual athletics carnival in the under 16s age group which was not broken until 2004. Okon left Marconi Stallions in 1991 for Club Brugge, and due to a series of excellent performances at sweeper won the Belgian Golden Shoe (95/96), the Belgian Jupiler league (95/96) and two Belgian Cups (94/95 and 95/96). These performances captured the attention of some of Europe's biggest clubs, and in 1996 Dino Zoff – then coach of Italian giants Lazio – flew out to Belgium to personally sign the Australian, stipulating in his contract that Okon would play sweeper and promising first team football. However, with the departure of Roberto Di Matteo to Chelsea – forcing him to play in midfield – and a succession of knee injuries (a problem caused by a misaligned pelvis, the result of a childhood car-crash) resulted in game-time being limited. While he did return for the 1999 Scudetto decider (playing in one of the final games of the season against Juventus, which Lazio lost, handing the title to Milan), that summer he departed the Roman club. This began a turbulent chapter of Okon's career, with spells at Fiorentina,…

On 24 June 2008, along with Alex Tobin, Alistair Edwards and Nicola Williams, Okon was a recipient of an inaugural three-year scholarship under the Elite Coaching Development Program led by the FFA. As part of the program, Okon spent time at Coverciano with the Italian U-23 side under Pierluigi Casiraghi in the lead up to the 2008 Olympic Games, and spent a stint studying the youth setup of PSV Eindhoven. On 2 September 2008, Okon was appointed assistant coach to Miron Bleiberg at Gold Coast United for their inaugural season. Before taking up his new role he took up an interim coaching role at APIA Leichhardt for their 2009 NSW Premier League season. On 30 October 2008, Okon was appointed to lead the Australian U-18 side at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in the month of January, aimed as part of a long-term view towards establishing the team for the 2012 Olympic Games. On 23 February 2010, Okon did not renew his contract with Gold Coast United, following the team's loss in the first round of the A-league finals. Since then, he has gone away on tour with the Australian Olympic under-23 squad for a tournament in Vietnam, where he was assistant coach to Aurelio Vidmar. On 19 April 2012, it was announced he was appointed head coach of the Australia U20 national team and assistant coach of the Australia Olympic soccer team. On 29 August 2016, Okon was appointed the new manager of the Central Coast Mariners, signing a two-year contract. Okon replaced Tony Walmsley who was…

Okon's son, Paul Jr., is also a footballer, and currently plays at 1.FC Koln. Okon went by the nickname "Pistol" throughout his playing career. During his time in Belgium, Okon acquired citizenship of the country.

Club Brugge

Belgian Supercup: 1991, 1992, 1994 Belgian Pro League: 1995–96 Belgian Cup: 1994–95, 1995–96 Lazio

Coppa Italia: 1997–98 Supercoppa Italiana: 1998 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1998–99 APOEL

Cypriot Cup: 2005–06 Australia

FIFA Confederations Cup: 3rd place, 2001 OFC Nations Cup: 2000 Australia U20

OFC U-20 Championship: 1990 Individual

NSL Papasavas Medal (U-21): 1989–1990, 1990–1991 Belgian Golden Shoe: 1995–1996 Oceania Footballer of the Year: 1996 The Best Golden Shoe Team (2011)