Adrian Leijer
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| Adrian Leijer | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | March 23, 1986 | |
| Place of birth | Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia | |
| Height | 1.86 m | |
| Nickname | Princess, Prince and Ado | |
| Position | Centre Back | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Melbourne Victory | |
| Number | 15 | |
| Professional clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (goals) |
| 2003–04 2005–present |
Melbourne Knights Melbourne Victory |
18 (0) 35 (1) |
|
* Professional club appearances and goals |
||
Adrian Leijer (born March 25, 1986) is an Australian football (soccer) player who currently plays as a centre back for the Melbourne Victory in the Hyundai A-League.
Contents |
[edit] Childhood
Adrian Leijer was born in the New South Wales town of Dubbo, he spent the most of his childhood in this town, he had lots of influences to the World Game at an early age with a Dutch father and an English mother. His first club played in the Dubbo Junior league before going on to represent Western New South wales and New South Wales Country U-14s.
When Adrian Leijer was 15 years old his family moved south towards Victoria's famous surf coast and joined the Geelong Soccer team which quickly led him to representing the U-15's Victorian Country team. Not before long Ian Greener, Head of Coaching & Development at the time at the Victorian Soccer Federation, spotted him and his talent and recommended him to the head coach of the Victoria Institute of Sport Football program Ernie Merrick. He (Merrick) instantly recognised the talent of Leijer and knew that he had a future star on his team.
Adrian Leijer spent two years at the Victoria Institute of Sport and than he moved on to the Melbourne 'Croatia' Knights for the last season of the now defunct National Soccer League, he grabbed 18 appearances at the club in a less than inspiring season as his club finished second last.
The following year Adrian Leijer went back to school to complete his schooling, he kept in top shape for the Young Socceroo's by training with the Victoria Institute of Sport. While he was training there, he and future team mate Kristian Sarkies were picked out to trial with Everton Football Club in the English Premier League for three weeks, they both failed to impress and returned home to Australia.
[edit] Life at Melbourne Victory
When he touched down at Australia, Ernie Merrick who had taken up the Melbourne Victory head coaching role for the new league A-League set up.
“Adrian is a reliable and uncompromising defender with a football maturity beyond his years. He is already part of the senior leadership group within the club and is the second youngest player in the squad,”
“Adrian was truly a stand-out player. He came to the VIS at 15 and his development has accelerated at every level. He stepped up when he played for the Australian youth teams, he stepped up when given an opportunity at the Melbourne Knights as a 17 year-old. He got an opportunity with Melbourne Victory at the start of last season when Mark Byrnes was injured and has barely missed a game since,” said Merrick.
The first season was a disaster and a real flashback of his season at the Melbourne Knights; Melbourne Victory had finished second last and last out of all the Australian teams in the league. Although he managed to play 20 games for the club, only missing out the last game against the New Zealand Knights through suspension. His contribution to the team awarded him with The Players' Player of the Year and Clubman of the Year.
[edit] International Career
Adrian Leijer's first taste of the senior international scene was when he was selected by Guus Hiddink to train with the Qantas Socceroos before the 2006 FIFA World Cup, after his short training stint he was back to being constantly being selected for the Young Socceroo's squads, he is currently apart of U-23's squad but he has been with the Young Socceroo's since he was a Junior Joey (U-17's).
[edit] External links
[edit] References
1. A-League Feature Article, December 3, 2006
| Melbourne Victory FC - Current Squad |
|---|
|
1 Theoklitos | 2 Muscat | 3 Piorkowski | 4 Byrnes | 5 Claeys | 6 Pantelidis | 7 Ferrante | 8 Fred | 9 Allsopp | 10 Thompson | 11 Lia | 12 Vargas | 13 Sarkies | 14 Caceres | 15 Leijer | 16 Storey | 17 Brebner | 18 Alessandro | 19 Claudinho | 20 Galekovic | Coach Merrick |
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