They played in top divisions in Europe, fought for trophies at home and abroad, were key members of Australian squads that represented their country in World Cups and had stellar careers that most Australian players can only dream about.
But for Mark Milligan, Mark Bresciano, Ivan Franjic and Matt Spiranovic, one achievement will forever remain etched in their memories: the night in January 2015 that the Socceroos defeated Asian powerhouse South Korea in Sydney in front of a packed Stadium Australia crowd to win the AFC Asian Cup.
It was the first senior men's trophy that the Socceroos had won in the Asian region (following quickly on the success of Western Sydney Wanderers in the Asian Champions League a year earlier) and a real statement not just of achievement but intent.
The triumph took the Socceroos - and football - to the front and back page news and made household names of players whom many supporters had only ever seen on TV, rarely in the flesh, as they pursued their European careers.
We spoke to the aforementioned quartet about their memories of the tournament and found out what they are doing now.
Matt Spiranovic
Geelong-born Spiranovic was a central defender who played for Australia at every level and earned 36 senior caps. He started in the 2015 Asian Cup final, alongside Trent Sainsbury at the heart of the defence.
“It feels quite recent, but time seems to fly. There are still very fond, very special memories,” he reflects.
“It was the highlight of my career along with playing at the World Cup. But to win a trophy on home soil in front of friends and family and the Australian public, I would have to put that at the top.
“I think Trent [Sainsbury] and I complemented each other. We just got better and better as the tournament went on and I think the team as a whole did as well. The understanding as the games went on just improved every time.”
Spiranovic remembers being "a bit frustrated" when Son Heung-min scored a late equaliser for South Korea to take the final into extra-time.
“I was coming across and I know I was close but was just a little bit late and they equalised just before full-time. I had to quickly get my head around that. But the rest is history as they say.''
Despite the setback, at no point did the team let their collective heads drop.
“Not at all. We backed ourselves the whole tournament to be the strongest and the fittest and when you concede so late after feeling relatively comfortable for most of the game it can take the wind out of your sails a little bit, but going in after full-time, it was nothing but positive vibes,” he continued.
“Ange [Postecoglou] just said [to the players] that it would make the story all the better when we won.
“In extra-time, we just got stronger and I felt like there was only one team that was going to win.
“They beat us 1-0 in the group phase but I felt that was a very dominant display by us. If you looked at the stats and the chances that we created in that game as a whole, maybe even the possession stats were in our favour, so going into the final we were quietly confident that we had their measure.”
Now 36, Spiranovic recently retired from the game having played in the German Bundesliga, the J-League, the Chinese Super League, in Qatar and the A-League.
“If you have a 17-year career you can be pretty happy with that,” he said.
“With the national team winning such a prestigious trophy on home soil, it’s very hard to beat.
“At club level playing in the Bundesliga at 18 and winning a German Cup coming off the bench against Stuttgart, I have been pretty blessed to have tasted that success so young in Europe and then with the [Western Sydney] Wanderers in Asia, it's been pretty special.”
Currently enjoying some downtime, Spiranovic is thinking about exploring the world of coaching.
“I haven't ruled it out and I am looking at potentially doing some badges and courses in the next 12 months.”
Mark Bresciano
Mark Bresciano, along with Tim Cahill, was the last of the ‘Golden Generation’ to have made it to the 2015 tournament.
Now long retired, the 44-year-old has had a spell on the board of Football Australia, is an investor and board member in a Canadian-based company which cultivates medicinal cannabis, and is also an investor and board member of current Serie C Italian club Catania.
Bresciano played for his country at every level and won 86 senior caps. He played in the NSL, Serie A, in the UAE and also Qatar.
His stand-out memory of the 2015 Asian Cup, in fact, comes in the lead-up to the competition.
“The thing that sticks out in my mind leading up to the Asian Cup, apart from having a new coach with Ange coming in, was that there was a big clean out of the team, a lot of new faces," he said.
"Then I would say that there were possibly a couple of bad performances leading up to the Asian Cup.
“There was a game in Qatar against Qatar and we didn't win, and we normally beat these types of nations. We had a bad performance and lost. After, there was always doubt in players' minds, and I was one of them, that we are not going to be successful or do well in the upcoming Asian Cup.
“Ange got up after the dinner following the game and was still encouraging us, and pointed to Mile [Jedinak], who was the captain and said ‘listen guys, it's going to take time but we will get it right, and trust me after the Asian Cup’, and he pointed to Mile and said ‘you will be holding up the Asian Cup’.
“We were all sitting there with our heads virtually under the table, all disappointed, and not really believing in the team. He gets up and is saying that. I was saying underneath my breath what's this guy, is he watching the games or not. But he was on to something and he got it done.
“To his credit, he got it right and the boys, we came together, created a good bond, created a playing style that Ange was trying to implement and it clicked and worked so well that we won a major tournament.
“Full credit to him to believe in his approach, his football and the players he had.”
By the time of the 2015 Asian Cup, Bresciano was 35 and very much a senior statesman in the squad.
“Ange made it clear that Mile was the captain but Timmy [Cahill] and myself were vice captains and part of the leadership group as mentors for the young boys leading into the tournament. It was an honour for me to be part of that group and Ange to select me to be in that role.
"It was very satisfying to win and what made it very special was playing on home soil as well.”
Post-retirement, Bresciano spent several years on the board of Football Australia.
“I enjoyed it, it made me just realise how much work gets done behind the scenes. As a footballer, I just worried about myself and getting myself right for the game on the weekend but I wish I knew when I was playing just how much work gets done behind the scenes.
“People don't see it and I would say a lot of players probably don't appreciate it, probably because they don't know. I wish I knew, I would have appreciated it a lot more.
"I am not saying I disrespected anyone, but I would possibly have gone that extra yard to say hello to people or give them a handshake or thank them for the work they were doing behind the scenes.”
Bresciano did a sporting director's course in Italy, and is now a part owner of Catania.
He travels every two months to watch the team, while his eldest daughter, Alessia, is playing in the NPL Victoria.
Mark Milligan
A Socceroo stalwart for 13 years, Milligan was a key presence in the 2015 Asia Cup-winning side. He played in Australia, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, the UAE, Scotland and England in an 18-year career.
He was assistant coach of Adelaide United before leaving early this year to become a coach of the Malaysian National Team.
He remembers the 2015 Asian Cup fondly.
“There was a massive sense of anticipation for us as players and with the outcome we achieved it made it much more rewarding,” he explained.
“There was a feeling publicly that it was going to be very difficult for us, more to do with our form, the lead up to the Asian Cup, the fact that Ange had just taken over before the World Cup earlier.
“To a degree we had underperformed, I remember the UAE and Qatar games at the end of 2014 leading into the Asian Cup, we drew and we lost to Qatar, but I think there was a great belief within the squad even though we weren't showing it in terms of results leading into the tournament.”
Before the tournament, Milligan had experience of working with Postecoglou at Melbourne Victory, so was confident the coach could galvanise the group.
“It was more the belief that he brought. He hadn't been in charge for a very long time and a lot of the players were getting to know him and who he was as a manager.
“The lead-in time was important for him to instil the belief, the way that he was able to unify that group again in a short time, it was exciting to be a part of it.
“Playing on home soil we expected a fantastic following, but even that exceeded our expectation. The amount of support we got publicly, from that very first game in Melbourne, was great.”
There were many memories to be savoured - and one unexpected one.
“Apart from the final, I think the biggest stand-out memory for me was sitting in a hotel room in Newcastle, and Japan were playing the UAE and I can just remember that we all expected Japan to win [to meet Australia in the semi].
“I guess there was as much shock as anything when UAE beat them. Mentally we were anticipating that Japan would come through...we had to refocus again then on playing against a different opposition to the one we expected.”
Milligan believes that tournament showcased the ability of Asian players to a wider world.
''We had a few stand-out players [Massimo Luongo won the Player of the Tournament award] but that was at the peak of [UAE midfielder, Omar] Abdulrahman's power, it was anticipated that would be a breakout tournament for him. Son Heung-min was coming to the peak of his powers.
“From the final that was one of my biggest memories ...Ivan Franjic got injured from about the 70th minute and I tried to make eye contact with the bench because I had a feeling that Ange was going to give me the big point to go out there to right back at the time Son was there running amok.
“There was one moment in extra-time, I remember there was Son squaring me up outside the box and all I had going through my head was ‘don't let him get in the box, don't let him get in the box’.
“I am pretty sure the ball got stuck under my feet and we got away with it. But he was obviously fantastic all that tournament.”
Ivan Franjic
Franjic was something of a late developer. While most of his teammates won representation honours at junior level, he was playing in the NPL and completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter.
His big break came when he signed for Brisbane Roar and made his debut the day before his 22nd birthday. He subsequently played in Russia and South Korea, ending his 19-year career in 2024 at the club it all started, the Melbourne Knights, where the 37-year-old is currently senior coach.
He won 20 senior caps for his country and played at the 2014 World Cup too.
His greatest memory is the joy the 2015 Asian Cup triumph brought to the fans.
“Winning was obviously great but just the way the whole of Australia united around was fantastic," he said.
"We had full houses at so many games, or big crowds and the final I think we had 76,000 there so that was just a great feeling of support and a fantastic memory. It was very special to see football in this country being supported by so many people.
"There's always pressure and results leading in weren't great and you really felt the pressure when we played that opening game against Kuwait and went down 1-0 early on. That's when it really hit us, you keep thinking are we on a really bad run?
“But we turned it around and pretty much from that moment when we beat Kuwait we didn't look back."
Franjic had known Postecoglou from his Brisbane Roar days and had no doubt he would get it right.
“Ange came in and was playing a certain way and sometimes it takes a while to get used to it. Results going in were up and down, but there were a lot of positive signs in the way we were playing.
“Sometimes results don't always go well at the start, but once the tournament came, everyone bought in and we all clicked together.
“The Asian Cup is a big title around the world, it's like the Euros or the Copa America, so to win it for Australia and be part of the team that was the first-time winner for Australia will always be something special.”
After the tournament, he moved to Russia, where he signed for Torpedo Moscow but that didn't work out too well.
“There were problems with pay so I moved on from there, I signed for Melbourne City. That was tough at the start because I got injured, then I had myocarditis in the heart but I was fortunate enough to come back to play in the FFA Cup Final and win it with City.
“From City, I moved to Korea, back to Brisbane, to Perth and then finished at Macarthur.
"Then I went into the NPL Victoria to play with my brother. I was at Heidelberg the first year, then crossed over to the Knights. We had a great run there, got to the Australia Cup semi-final where we lost to Brisbane Roar in front of a near sell-out crowd at Somers Street.
“That great atmosphere where I used to play as a kid for a very big game, that was very special too.
“A year later I was still at the Knights again and midway through the season they sacked the coach and put me in charge as player-coach.
“This is my first full season as a coach. There's a lot more work in coaching than playing but the transition has been smooth. Knights is the club where I started as a kid so it is special to have my first coaching job there as well."
*MICHAEL LYNCH a former chief soccer writer for the Melbourne Age, covered the 2015 Asian Cup for both The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.