Meet the Academy
Terry Antonis
From childhood prodigy to the world stage.
As a young boy growing up in Sydney, his natural ability with a football was already attracting national attention. At just nine or ten years old, Terry won a televised Australian football talent competition — an achievement that took him to Madrid to meet his childhood hero, David Beckham, and create a football skills training DVD alongside him. His talent quickly became impossible to ignore.
As a teenager, Terry was pursued by Everton, who sought to secure him on a five-year deal when he was just 14.
He went on to make his professional debut for Sydney FC at only 16 years of age, at the time becoming the youngest player in A-League history to sign a professional contract. His years at Sydney FC would go on to establishing himself as one of Australia’s most exciting young midfield prospects and being named in Sydney FC's prestigious Team of the Decade.
From there came a career spanning Australia, Europe and Asia, together with the honour of representing his country. Terry progressed through Australia’s national youth teams, competed at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, earned senior Socceroos caps and was a member of Australia’s historic 2015 AFC Asian Cup-winning squad. At club level, his career brought major silverware too. He became an A-League Champion with Melbourne Victory in 2018 and later lifted the Korean FA Cup with Suwon Samsung Bluewings in 2019. His ability in midfield earned recognition throughout his career for his technique, vision, passing range and competitiveness.
Then came another remarkable milestone. Playing for Melbourne City, Terry produced one of the defining goals of his career — an audacious strike launched from just inside the halfway line against Western Sydney Wanderers. The goal attracted global attention and earned Terry a nomination for the 2024 FIFA Puskás Award, placing his strike among the world’s finest goals of the year.
From a young boy travelling to Madrid to train alongside David Beckham, to representing Australia, winning championships across two countries and being recognised on the FIFA world stage, Terry’s career embodies the philosophy behind Antonis Football Academy: DREAM. BELIEVE. ACHIEVE. And now, that experience is being passed on to the next generation.
A career shaped alongside football greats
Throughout his career, Terry has trained, competed and developed alongside some of the most recognisable names in world football.
At Sydney FC, he shared the pitch and training ground with Juventus and Italy legend Alessandro Del Piero, as well as Socceroos star Brett Emerton, Sasa Ognenovski and Nicki Carle — with Del Piero personally helping the young Antonis with his positional development.
His move to Europe brought another level of experience. At PAOK in Greece, Terry played under former Juventus defender and future Juventus manager Igor Tudor, while training alongside Premier League great and Manchester United and Tottenham star Dimitar Berbatov. Antonis later spoke of how much he learned under Tudor and described training day-to-day with Berbatov as an extraordinary experience. The environment was a masterclass in elite football, as the squad also featured highly decorated veterans. Antonis shared the pitch with Champions League-winning Portuguese defender Ricardo Costa, veteran Greek international midfielder Alexandros Tziolis, and World Cup defender Giorgos Tzavellas, all of whom added immense international pedigree to his daily development.
On the international stage, Terry was selected alongside an exceptional generation of Socceroos, including Tim Cahill, Mile Jedinak, Mark Bresciano, Mat Ryan, Robbie Kruse and Mathew Leckie. His connection with Cahill stretched back even further — Cahill had mentored Terry from a young age and later said he had been nurturing him with the belief that he could become a Premier League player.
Few coaches can offer young players knowledge drawn from experiences like these — learning first-hand from elite coaches and sharing dressing rooms and training pitches with players who reached the very highest levels of the game. Today, Terry brings those lessons, standards and experiences into every aspect of Antonis Football Academy.