Adrian Leijer (born 25 March 1986) is an Australian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a centre back. Leijer played on one occasion for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and made over 100 appearances for Melbourne Victory in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

Club career

Early years

Leijer was born, and largely grew up in, the New South Wales town of

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Gol ...

to a family of Dutch and English heritage. He played from Under 10 - Under 14 with SASS Strikers Junior Soccer Club in the Dubbo & District Soccer Association. Whilst with SASS, he represented Western New South Wales and New South Wales Country in football. In 1998, Leijer was a co-captain of Orana Heights Public School in Dubbo. When Leijer was 15 years old his family moved south to

Jan Juc Jan Juc is a suburb of Torquay, Victoria. At the 2016 census, Jan Juc had a population of 3,683. History Nearby Bellbrae was originally called Jan Juc but was renamed in 1923, so the Jan Juc Post Office, which opened on 25 January 1862, wa ...

on Victoria's surf coast and attended Belmont High School where he joined

Geelong SC Geelong Soccer Club is an Australian soccer club based in Geelong, Australia founded in 1958 by Geelong's Macedonian Australian community. In 2019, Geelong SC obtained National Premier Leagues Victoria status after being crowned 2018 champions ...

and represented the U-15's Victorian Country team. Ian Greener, then Head of Coaching & Development at the Victorian Soccer Federation, spotted his talent and recommended him to the head coach of the

Victorian Institute of Sport The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It provides high performance sports programs for talented athletes, enabling them to achieve national and international succe ...

Football program, Ernie Merrick. Leijer spent two years at the

and then moved on to the Melbourne Knights for the last season of the now defunct

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

, where he made 18 appearances during a season where the club finished second last in the competition. While still training at the VIS, Leijer and his future teammate

Kristian Sarkies Kristian Ronald Sarkies (born 25 October 1986 in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian Football (soccer), footballer who plays for Beaumaris SC in the Victorian State League Division 1, Victorian State League 1. He grew up in Dingley Village, ...

were selected to trial with Premier League Everton Football Club for three weeks. However, they both failed to impress and returned home to Australia.

Melbourne Victory

Upon his return to Australia, he was signed by Melbourne Victory, a team in the new

competition. His former VIS coach Ernie Merrick, who had taken the reins at Melbourne Victory, stated; "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," The club's first season was reminiscent of Leijer's time at the Melbourne Knights as Melbourne Victory finished second last overall. Leijer, however, played 20 games for the club, only missing their final game against the New Zealand Knights through suspension. At the end of the season he was awarded the Players' Player of the Year and Clubman of the Year awards. Melbourne Victory's second season was more successful, starting with seven straight wins and culminating in a 6–0 victory over Adelaide United in the Grand Final. At the A-League's end of season awards, Leijer won Young Player of the Year.

Fulham

On 2 August 2007, Melbourne Victory confirmed that English Premier League club

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

had made a bid for the then 21-year-old. Leijer accepted and signed a 3-year contract for an undisclosed fee. Leijer consistently played for the Fulham reserve team throughout the 2007–2008 season and was also included in the squads to face both Liverpool and Reading, but stayed on the bench both times. Following Adrian's return to Fulham after an unsuccessful Olympic campaign with the Australian U/23's team, Leijer returned without having played any games in the Olympic tournament. Whilst tipped by Fulham reserve coach Billy McKinlay to make a greater impact in the first team that season, Adrian missed most of the club's pre-season due to the Olympic tournament and only made the bench once, in a League Cup defeat to Burnley.

Norwich

On 2 February 2009, it was announced that Leijer has moved on loan to Norwich City until the end of the 2008–09 season, becoming Norwich City's 40th loan signing since they were relegated in their 2004–2005 season. This loan spell was mostly unsuccessful for Leijer, since it did not result in him seeing a great deal of first team action.

Melbourne Victory

It was announced that Leijer would return again to Australia during their 2009-10 season, after being re-signed by his former Melbourne Victory for three years. Melbourne had suffered shallow defensive stocks with numerous key players unavailable prior to the announcement. After a promising start, slotting straight back in to the side hours after landing, former captain Kevin Muscat commented on his potential to be a key figure in the club. In February 2011, Adrian Leijer was appointed the captain of Melbourne Victory. Leijer was formerly the captain of Melbourne Victory from February 2011 to September 2013. On 17 September 2013, Leijer was replaced by Mark Milligan as Melbourne Victory's captain.

Chongqing Lifan

On 25 February 2015, Leijer transferred to Chinese Super League side Chongqing Lifan.

Suwon FC

On 2 February 2016, Leijer transferred to K League 1 side

Suwon FC Suwon FC ( ko, 수원 FC; Hanja: 水原 FC) is a South Korean professional football club based Suwon that competes in the K League 1, the top division of South Korea. They play their home games at Suwon Stadium. History Early years: semi-profe ...

. Leijer retired from football in January 2019 to take up a position with

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...

Dandenong City SC

During the 2019 mid season transfer window Adrian signed with National Premier Leagues Victoria side

Dandenong City SC Dandenong City Soccer Club, formerly known as Chelsea Hajduk, is an Australian soccer club based in the South-East region of Melbourne, Victoria. The club's home is at Frank Holohan Soccer Complex in the suburb of Endeavour Hills. They compete ...

and made his first appearance at the round 14 clash against

Avondale FC Avondale FC is an Australian semi-professional association football club, with the men's and women's teams based in Parkville and the junior sides based in Avondale Heights, suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the National Pr ...

International career

Adrian Leijer's first taste of the senior international scene was when he was selected by

Guus Hiddink Guus Hiddink (; born 8 November 1946) is a Dutch former football manager and professional player. He enjoyed a long career playing as a midfielder in his native Netherlands. Retired as player in 1982, Hiddink went into management, leading both c ...

to train with the Socceroos before the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

in Germany. After his short training stint with the senior team he continued being selected for

Young Socceroos The Australia national under-20 soccer team, known colloquially as the Young Socceroos, represents Australia in international under-20 soccer. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia (FA), which ...

squads. He had previously been a regular member of the Australia national under-23 football team, the Olyroos. Leijer earned his first cap for the senior Australian national team against Singapore on 22 March 2008.

Career statistics

Honours

Melbourne Victory *

Championship: 2006–07, 2008–09 *

Premiership: 2006–07, 2008–09 * A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup Championship:

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Individual *

A-League Young Footballer of the Year The A-League Men Young Footballer of the Year is an annual association football award given to the player aged 23 or under at the start of the season who has been judged to have had the best season of any young player in the A-League Men. It is ...

: 2006–07 * Melbourne Victory Players Player of the Year: 2005–06 * Melbourne Victory Clubman of the Year: 2005–06

References

External links

* * * * *
Melbourne Victory profile

FFA - Olyroo profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leijer, Adrian 1986 births Living people People from Dubbo Association football fullbacks Australian soccer players Australian expatriate soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Melbourne Knights FC players Melbourne Victory FC players Fulham F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic F.C. players Suwon FC players Australian people of Dutch descent Australian people of English descent Australia international soccer players A-League Men players K League 1 players K League 2 players Chinese Super League players Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players of Australia Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in China Expatriate footballers in South Korea National Soccer League (Australia) players Victorian Institute of Sport alumni Sportsmen from New South Wales Soccer players from New South Wales