Nicholas Alberto Carle (born 23 November 1981) is an Australian former professional

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 ...

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

who played for Sydney Olympic,

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

Marconi Stallions Marconi Stallions Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football club based in Fairfield, Sydney, New South Wales. The club has been crowned Australian champion four times. The Stallions are the soccer team of Club Marc ...

, Newcastle Jets, Gençlerbirliği, Bristol City, Crystal Palace, Baniyas and

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

Club career

Born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia, Carle is of Uruguayan and Chilean descent. As a junior, Carle won five national

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

titles. During his days as a teenage schoolboy, he played football for his high school, Patrician Brothers' College, Fairfield. He helped his school win the Bill Turner Cup competition in 1996.

Sydney Olympic

Carle began his career as a 15-year-old at Sydney Olympic in the NSL, making his NSL debut on 5 October 1997. After coming on as a substitute in the 75th minute, he scored an injury time winner against

. He had a brief stint at French club

before returning to Australia with

and Ryde City Gunners.

Newcastle Jets

When the

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 ...

was formed in 2005 Carle joined the Newcastle Jets. He played for the Jets in the first two seasons of the A-League and was popular with the Newcastle Jets fans. Carle played as an

during his time at the Newcastle Jets. In February 2007 Carle won the prestigious Johnny Warren Medal for the players' player of the year for his performance throughout the A-League 2006–07 season, beating Melbourne Victory's Daniel Allsopp, Archie Thompson and Kevin Muscat. Carle also won the goal of the year award for his 70-metre run followed by a strike from 20 metres with the outside of his left boot, which proved to be the winning goal in the Round 10 clash against Adelaide United (Adelaide had only seconds earlier missed a penalty to win the match) and was arguably the catalyst for turning around the Jet's poor season up until that point.

Gençlerbirliği

At the end of the 2006–07 season Carle expressed his concern that the

season was not long enough. He felt that playing more games would improve his chances of selection for the national team and said that offers from Europe would be tempting. Despite being initially linked with Fenerbahçe in the media, Carle eventually signed with Gençlerbirliği. The

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

club paid a transfer fee of about $650,000 for Carle, with the Newcastle Jets also receiving a percentage of any further transfer fees should Carle be sold by the Turkish club. The Newcastle Jets received a total of $800,000 for Carle after his transfer to Bristol City.

Bristol City

In early January 2008 Carle transferred to

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

side Bristol City for an undisclosed fee after impressing against

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

in an international friendly. He signed a contract for three and a half years, helping the Robins to the play-offs where they were beaten in the final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. Carle made the move because he was unhappy at Gençlerbirliği, especially because he was not able to see his family enough.

Crystal Palace

Carle's stay at Ashton Gate was short-lived however, moving to Crystal Palace for £1m less than six months later. Carle was unable to command a regular first team place under either

Neil Warnock Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player who is currently football advisor at Torquay United. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed ...

or Paul Hart and in May 2010, Palace released him with two years remaining on his contract.

Sydney FC

Carle signed with

in May 2010 for a reported A$1.95 million over three years. In his first season, Nick struggled with form and injuries in a season to forget, as Sydney slumped to third last on the table. Carle scored a goal against Adelaide United to seal a win for Sydney, their first of the season, on 22 October 2011.

Loan to the UAE

Only weeks before the start of the 2012–13 A-League season, it was announced that Sydney FC had agreed to loan Carle out for an undisclosed fee to UAE club Baniyas SC for one year. He will return to see out the remainder of his contract at Sydney FC during the 2013–14 season.

Return to Sydney FC

On 16 May 2013, it was announced that Carle would return to

for the 2013–14 season for the final year of his original contract. Additionally, it was announced that Carle had signed a one-year extension, keeping him at the club until the close of the 2014–15 season. "I’m really happy to be coming back to Sydney FC", Carle said. "I enjoyed my experience in Abu Dhabi with Bani Yas but Sydney is home and I want to finish my career with Sydney FC." On 3 June 2015, Carle was released from Sydney. In July 2016 Carle announced his retirement from professional football following his knee not healing properly after an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

injury. He accepted a job to work with the Sydney FC academy.

International career

Carle began his international career playing for Australia at under-17 level before representing Australia at the under-20s 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship. He also later played for the under-23s but missed out on selection for the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in Athens. He earned his first senior cap against

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

in 2004 coming on as a substitute in the 84th minute replacing David Zdrilic. However it was his only appearance for the senior

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

for three years. Carle regularly missed selection under Frank Farina and did not feature at all under Guus Hiddink. Carle's form for Jets in the 2006–07

season saw calls for new coach Graham Arnold to bring him back into the national team. Carle ended three years in exile from the national squad by coming on as a substitute in a friendly against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in March 2007, and also made an appearance against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

in June, where in the dying stages of the game he attempted a rabona cross and completely missed, to the ire of commentators and spectators. Graham Arnold selected Carle in the Australian squad for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. He made an appearance as a substitute during Australia's match against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, scoring in the penalty shoot out. Carle made his first starting appearance for the Socceroos against

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

, London on 18 November 2007. He put in a strong performance along with fellow former

player David Carney. Under national coach Pim Verbeek, Carle's opportunities were limited and although he made the initial 30-man squad for the finals tournament in South Africa, he was subsequently omitted from the touring party.

Career statistics

Honours

Player

Australia U-20 * OFC U-19 Men's Championship:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Individual

* Johnny Warren Medal: 2006–2007 with Newcastle Jets *

Goal of the Year: 2006–2007 with Newcastle Jets

References

External links

Sydney FC profile
*
FFA – Socceroo profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carle, Nick 1981 births People educated at Patrician Brothers' College, Fairfield Australian people of Chilean descent Sportspeople of Chilean descent Australian people of Uruguayan descent Sportspeople of Uruguayan descent Australia men's international soccer players Australia men's youth international soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Australian expatriate sportspeople in France Australia men's under-20 international soccer players Bristol City F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Sydney Olympic FC players ES Troyes AC players Newcastle Jets FC players Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers Süper Lig players Marconi Stallions FC players Ligue 1 players National Soccer League (Australia) players English Football League players 2007 AFC Asian Cup players Sydney FC players Baniyas Club players UAE Pro League players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Soccer players from Sydney Living people Men's association football midfielders Marquee players (A-League Men) Australian men's soccer players 21st-century Australian sportsmen