Carl Valeri

Carl Valeri

Valeri playing for Australia in 2010.
Personal information
Full name Carl Valeri
Date of birth (1984-08-14) 14 August 1984
Place of birth Canberra, Australia
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Playing position Defensive Midfielder
Club information
Current team
Melbourne Victory
Number 21
Youth career
2001 AIS
2002–2004 Internazionale
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004–2005 Internazionale 0 (0)
2004–2005SPAL (loan) 25 (0)
2005–2010 Grosseto 133 (7)
2010–2014 Sassuolo 70 (4)
2014 Ternana 8 (0)
2014– Melbourne Victory 42 (2)
National team
2000–2001 Australia U17 13 (1)
2001–2003 Australia U20 12 (1)
2004 Australia U23 15 (1)
2007– Australia 52 (1)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 2 December 2016.

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 27 May 2015

Carl Valeri (born 14 August 1984) is an Australian football (soccer) player who is the captain of Melbourne Victory. He plays for Melbourne Victory and the Australia national soccer team as a defensive midfielder.

Early life

Valeri is the son of former Australian National Soccer League player Walter Valeri. He is married to Whittney Canning from Gisborne, Victoria, and the couple have one daughter. He grew up in Canberra and trained at the Australian Institute of Sport on a football (soccer) scholarship. He attended St Mary McKillop College in Wanniassa and later Lake Ginninderra College in Belconnen. Valeri grew up supporting A.C. Milan.[2]

Club career

Valeri with Melbourne Victory in 2014
Valeri training for Melbourne Victory.

Valeri was signed as a teenager by Italian giants Inter Milan. He was loaned out to various clubs in Italy to gain further experience, including Grosseto, and both football clubs owned 50 percent of his contract from summer 2005 until June 2007 (for €20,000), when Grosseto bought all the rights by blind auction between the two clubs, for €15,000.[3]

In January 2010 Valeri joined Sassuolo in co-ownership for Euro250,000 fee. Representing Australia in the starting 11 for the 2010 World Cup is his greatest achievement to date.[4]

In May 2013, Valeri and his club Sassuolo finished as Serie B champions, thus securing automatic promotion to Serie A for the first time in their history.[5]

In January 2014, struggling for game time he opted to return to Serie B with relegation battling Ternana until 30 June in hopes of saving his World Cup place with the Socceroos[6]

In June 2014, Carl Valeri returned to his home country signing a 3 year deal with Melbourne Victory.[7] In September 2015 he was appointed captain of the team.[8]

International career

Valeri with Australia in 2007.

Valeri has played for Australia at all international youth levels; Under-17, Under-20 and Under-23.

He captained the Australian Under-17 team, the 'Joeys', at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship and competed with the Under-23 squad, the 'Olyroos', at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

After being an unused substitute in an 2007 Asian Cup qualifier against Bahrain in 2006, the 22-year-old received his second call up to the senior Australian national team in March 2007, as a replacement for the injured defensive midfielder Vince Grella.

He made his international debut on 24 March 2007 in a friendly game against China, which Australia won 2–0. This made him the 501st player to be capped for Australia. He made his home debut in a friendly against Uruguay.[9]

Former Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has described Valeri as a key player of the future, and possible successor to Grella. This led to certain sections of the Australian media dubbing him "Mini Vinnie."

Honours

With Melbourne Victory:

With Grosseto:

With Sassuolo:

Individual

Career statistics

Club

As of 27 May 2015
Season Club League Cup Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
2004–05SPALSerie C125020270
2005–06Grosseto27120291
2006–0730230332
2007–08Serie B37210382
2008–0928120301
2009–109110101
Grosseto total13371101447
2009–10SassuoloSerie B14010150
2010–1122010230
2011–1231310322
2012–13312051
2013–14Serie A00
Sassuolo total7035000755
2014–15Melbourne VictoryA-League29220312
Melbourne Victory total2922000312
Career total254101800027210

International caps

As of 27 May 2015
Australia national team
YearAppsGoals
200740
2008100
200950
2010100
2011161
201250
201420
Total521

International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 25 January 2011 Al-Gharafa Stadium, Doha, Qatar  Uzbekistan 6–0 Win 2011 Asian Cup

References


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