Adelaide University has appointed 2021 National Premier Leagues (NPL) championship winning assistant coach Stavros Gelekis as its head coach for 2022.

Gelekis joins from NPL South Australia champions Adelaide City and will lead AUSC in State League 1 next year.

“Stavros has learned a great deal under the guidance of experienced coach Paul Pezos at Adelaide City and Adelaide United and we look forward to him sharing this knowledge and leadership with Adelaide Uni,” said AUSC chair Gay Wallace.

“We are excited with this appointment and welcome Stavros to our club.”

Gelekis said that he was, “very excited to Join Adelaide University Soccer Club, a club with enormous potential.”

“I look forward to building on the great work the club has done to date and cant wait for the opportunity to lead the team into the upcoming season.” 

Gelekis replaces Michael Matricciani who left the club to further his career opportunities elsewhere.

Gelekis started coaching at 20 years of age at West Adelaide working with both junior and senior teams.

Seven years later, he coached Adelaide United in the 2020 NPL reserves competition to the minor premiership and championship.

Gelekis has spent the last 12 months with current NPL champions Adelaide City as its assistant coach.

Adelaide University will make further announcements in the near future about its State League assistant coaches and coach appointments for its Reserves and Under 18 teams.