Mathew Allan Leckie (born 4 February 1991) is an Australian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays for

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

club Melbourne City and the Australian national team (for whom, he previously captained). Leckie, being a quick and agile player, is usually placed on the wing. However, he has previously been deployed as a midfielder, striker/second striker and even as a wing-back.

Club career

Early life

As a child growing up in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

's Western Suburbs, Leckie actually aspired to play

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

, his family supporting

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

and Box Hill, however at 11 years old a change to a school in Sunshine North with a more multicultural student body and close friends inspired him to take up football and he "never looked back". Leckie was a member of

Victorian State League Division 1 The Victorian State League, known as VETO Sports State League for sponsorship purposes is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 1958 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of five divisions (separated by ...

outfit, Bulleen Lions until 2 September 2009, where Leckie was signed to Adelaide United for a two-year professional contract.

Adelaide United

He made his A-League debut on 18 September for Adelaide United coming on as a substitute in the 75th minute against Melbourne Victory. Leckie scored the winning goal in his first

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

match on 24 February 2010, against the reigning champions Pohang Steelers at Hindmarsh Stadium. He followed this up by scoring his second goal in as many games against

Shandong Luneng Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Jinan, Shandong, that competes in . Shandong Taishan plays its home matches at the Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium, located within Lixia District. Their c ...

in Adelaide's 2–0 win on Match Day 2 of the Champions League. Leckie was considered to be one of Australia's best young players. Leckie started the 2010–11 season with a bang, scoring twice in Adelaide's first five games, earning wide praise for his entertaining and robust style of play and winning the favour of the Australian U19 side for their competing in the 2010 AFC Under-19 championships.

Borussia Mönchengladbach

At the end of the A-League season he signed for German side

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

. He scored his first goals for his new club with a double in a 5–2 friendly win against

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

on 9 July 2011. In early 2013, he was loaned out to Frankfurt and has since scored 3 goals in only 2 appearances for the reserve team.

FSV Frankfurt

On 3 June 2013, Leckie made his loan move to

FSV Frankfurt Fußballsportverein Frankfurt 1899 e.V., commonly known as simply FSV Frankfurt and known as simply Frankfurt, is a German association football club based in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main, Hessen and founded in 1899. FSV Frankfurt ...

permanent, signing a three-year contract that would run until 2016. Leckie stated the move was made to maximise his personal development and to build on the successes of his first season spent at FSV on loan where he made 28 appearances and scored 4 goals.

FC Ingolstadt 04

On 7 May 2014, he signed a three-year contract with

FC Ingolstadt 04 Fußballclub Ingolstadt 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Ingolstadt 04 or FC Ingolstadt, is a German football club based in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. The club was founded in 2004 out of the merger of the football sides of two other clubs: ESV Ingolsta ...

. While playing for Ingolstadt, the club was promoted to the Bundesliga at the end of the 2014–15 season. In the

2015–16 Bundesliga The 2015–16 Bundesliga was the 53rd season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football competition. The season started on 14 August 2015 and ended on 14 May 2016. Bayern Munich were the defending champions, after winning their 24th Bundeslig ...

season Leckie scored a goal against

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. T ...

, which was one of three goals he scored that season and one of the season's best goals.

Hertha BSC

On 22 May 2017, it was announced that Leckie had signed for

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

for the 2017–18 season. He began his spell positively, appearing in many pre-season matches and assisting two goals in his first competitive appearance for the club in the first round of the

DFB Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English, is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundes ...

against

Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from ...

. Leckie scored two goals on his debut for Hertha BSC on matchday one of the 2017–18 Bundesliga season against

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

in a 2–0 home victory. After the game Leckie said: "It's probably one of the best weeks of my life, so I'm definitely a happy guy at the moment." Leckie scored his first European goal in a 3–2 away defeat to

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

in the 2017–18 Europa League on 23 November 2017. Since the 2019–20 season, Leckie has played a combined total of thirteen matches in all competitions for Hertha (excluding his one appearance for

Hertha BSC II Hertha BSC II is the reserve team of Hertha BSC that is based in Berlin, Germany. Historically, during the time the senior team played in professional football the team has played as Hertha BSC Amateure. Since 2005 it has played under its current ...

Regionalliga Nordost The Regionalliga Nordost is the fourth tier of German football league system, German football in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. These comprise the states of former East Germany ...

[]), compared to his forty-eight in the previous two. Leckie has also scored zero goals in the latter two seasons and eight in the former. It was reported in early 2020 that Leckie wanted to leave Hertha BSC, with Leckie stating: " 'lldo everything I can to leave," adding that "I wanted to leave efore this seasonand I had the feeling a lot would change." In May 2020, Leckie decided to stay with Hertha BSC for another season when he stated on the Fox Football Podcast, "...so for family reasons I decided to stay here for another season."

Melbourne City FC

On 5 June 2021, it was announced that Leckie had signed a three-year deal to join

Melbourne City FC Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region, South-Eastern region of Melbourne, Victoria. They compete in the A-League Men, the Australian soccer ...

. Leckie was awarded the

Joe Marston Medal The Joe Marston Medal is an A-League Men award given to the player of the match in the A-League Men Grand Final each year. Introduced in 1990, previously the award was also given to the best player in the National Soccer League grand final. The ...

in the

2025 A-League Men Grand Final The 2025 A-League Men Grand Final, known officially as the Isuzu UTE A-League Grand Final, was a soccer match played between cross-city rivals Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory on 31 May 2025 at their shared home, Melbourne Rectangular Stad ...

for Melbourne City as they defeated

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

1–0 in the first ever Melbourne Derby grand final.

International career

In August 2009, Leckie was selected to represent Australia in the AFF U19 Youth Championship 2009, where he opened up the score-sheet in the 4–1 win over hosts, Vietnam, in the semi-finals. Mathew was called up to the Australian Under-19s for the

2010 AFC U-19 Championship The 2010 AFC U-19 Championship was the 36th edition of the tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation. 2010 AFC U-19 Championship qualification, Qualification for the tournament started in October 2009 with the finals tournament be ...

. Ex-Australian National Coach,

Pim Verbeek Peter Tim Dirk "Pim" Verbeek (12 March 1956 – 28 November 2019) was a Dutch football manager who last coached the Oman national football team. Playing career As a player, Verbeek was a defender or a midfielder and spent his entire career at S ...

, named Leckie in the 25 man Socceroos squad for the

AFC Asian Cup 2011 The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the secon ...

Qualifier against Indonesia. Leckie didn't make an appearance in the game which Australia won 1–0 to book their place in the Asian Cup. Ex-Australian national coach

Holger Osieck Holger Osieck (born 31 August 1948) is a German football manager who last managed the Australia national team. Prior to the Australian role, he most recently managed J. League club Urawa Red Diamonds, where he won the 2007 AFC Champions League ...

included Leckie in the squad for the international friendly against the Republic of Korea on 14 November 2012. Leckie came on as a late substitution with only limited time on the ball. Australian National Coach,

Ange Postecoglou Angelos "Ange" Postecoglou ( ; ; born 27 August 1965) is a soccer manager and former player who was most recently manager of club Tottenham Hotspur. Born in Greece, Postecoglou grew up in Melbourne from the age of five. As a player, he spen ...

, included Leckie in the squad for the international friendly against Costa Rica on 19 November 2013.

2014 World Cup

Leckie had an outstanding World Cup campaign resulting in pundits estimating his worth at $10 million. He was quoted saying he does not regret his decision to sign for German second division club FC Ingolstadt, recognising that he may have had offers from larger clubs following his World Cup performances. "So whether I could have maybe had other offers now after this World Cup if I hadn't signed, I never would have known."

2015 Asian Cup

Leckie was named as part of Australia's

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 201 ...

squad. He started Australia's first game of the tournament against

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

, hitting the crossbar in the second half, and then providing the assist for

James Troisi James Troisi ( ; born 3 July 1988) is a former Australian professional Association football, soccer player who plays as an attacking midfielder or Winger (association football), winger. Early life Troisi was born in Rose Park, South Australia, ...

to score Australia's fourth goal of the match and helping Australia to a 4–1 win.

2017 Confederations Cup

Leckie took part in Australia's hopes of success in the

2017 Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the tenth and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 20 ...

after the squad was announced in May 2017. He started the first two group matches and came on as a substitute in the last group match in the 57th minute against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

2018 World Cup qualification

On 3 September 2015, Leckie scored his second goal for Australia, and his first since 2013, opening the scoring against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier. On 5 September 2017, Leckie scored his 6th international goal for Australia against Thailand. In May 2018, he was named in Australia's 23-man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

in Russia.

Captaincy

In May 2021, he was named the new captain of the Socceroos, replacing the retired

Mark Milligan Mark Daniel Milligan (born 4 August 1985) is an Australian former professional footballer and the current head coach of Newcastle Jets. Starting his career as a defender, Milligan has spent much of his later career playing as a midfielder. Mil ...

. Later in 2021 Leckie withdrew indefinitely from the national team, due to hotel quarantine requirements imposed on overseas travelers due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

2022 World Cup

In November 2022, Leckie was included in the squad for the

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. In the third and final crucial group game against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, he scored the winner in a 1–0 victory that ensured qualification to the round of 16.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Ingolstadt 04 * 2. Bundesliga: 2014–15 Melbourne City *

A-League Men A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as ...

Championship:

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

Premiership: 2021–22,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Australia *

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second-oldest c ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Australia U-20 *

AFC U-20 Asian Cup The AFC U-20 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, is a biennial international association football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams ...

: runner-up

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

AFF U19 Youth Championship The ASEAN U-19 Boys' Championship (formerly AFF U-19 Youth Championship) is an annual international football competition contested by the national teams of the members of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and occasionally invited nations fro ...

Individual *

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation, u ...

Rising Star: 2009–10 * A-Leagues All Star:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

* PFA A-League Team of the Season:

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leckie, Mathew 1991 births Australian people of Scottish descent Australia men's international soccer players A-League Men players A-League Men All-Stars Adelaide United FC players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Borussia Mönchengladbach II players FSV Frankfurt players FC Ingolstadt 04 players Hertha BSC players Melbourne City FC players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 AFC Asian Cup players 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2018 FIFA World Cup players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Australian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Soccer players from Melbourne Living people AFC Asian Cup–winning players Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Australian men's soccer players 2022 FIFA World Cup players 21st-century Australian sportsmen