Bernie Ibini-Isei
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Bernie Alpha Ibini-Isei (born 12 September 1992), also known simply as Bernie Ibini, is a professional
football player 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 ...
who plays as a striker or a winger, and most recently played for Singapore Premier League club Lion City Sailors. Born in Nigeria, Ibini-Isei represented
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
internationally.


Early life

Bernie Ibini-Isei immigrated to Australia from Nigeria when he was a child, and grew up 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 ...
's Canterbury-Bankstown region. His passion for soccer was obvious from a very young age, and at the age of six years old he was registered to play for his local club Earlwood Wanderers. He has a sister, Princess Ibini-Isei, who is also a soccer player, playing for
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, ...
in the W-League and the Australian team.


Club career

Ibini started playing soccer for
New South Wales Premier League The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, one of the two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier L ...
club Blacktown City at youth level. He was immediately recognized as a player with immense potential and was selected to join
Westfields Sports High School Westfields Sports High School (abbreviated as WSHS) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Mixed-sex school, co-educational Comprehensive education, comprehensive and specialist secondary school, secondary day school, ...
.


Central Coast Mariners

In 2009, he was signed by the Central Coast Mariners to join their youth team in the A League competition. In 2009, he received the Golden Boot Award in the National Youth League and was quickly promoted to the senior team, where he made his debut on 12 February 2010, in their round 27 clash against Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium in
Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
. Ibini-Isei made his starting debut for the Mariners against the Gold Coast and scored in a 3–1 win. After just his third start for the Central Coast Mariners Ibini-Isei scored the second goal for the Central Coast Mariners against Perth Glory. His speed and skill quickly gained the attention of the Australian under 20 National Team coach to play a key role in the U20 World Cup. His consistent development and performances earned Bernie a two-year contract extension with the club, and on 1 February 2012 it was announced that he had signed a two-year contract extension with Central Coast Mariners.


Shanghai East Asia

On 4 June 2013, after his superb performances in the 2012/2013 Asian Champions League round of 16 clash against Guangzhou Evergrande, Central Coast Mariners received a record bid for Ibini from Shanghai East Asia FC who were keen to add to their squad list for the Chinese Super League. Three days later his move to newly promoted
Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...
side Shanghai East Asia, was complete with Ibini signing a three-year contract. This move made Ibini one of the most expensive under 21 players 21 in Asia. Bernie made an immediate impact in the Chinese Super League with his speed and skill playing as a wide striker. However, in November 2013, due to the unexpected tragic death of his father Ibini gained permission to return to the Australian A League, and previous club Central Coast Mariners on loan on compassionate grounds. The loan move took effect on 8 January 2014 and was until 31 May 2014 after which he was then to return to Shanghai.


Loan to Sydney FC

In May 2014 Ibini signed for
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, ...
on loan, making his debut in round 1 of the A League season against Melbourne City. Ibini scored his first goal in the Sydney Derby in a 1–1 draw. In the last three rounds of the A league season Ibini scored three goals: a contender for goal of the season against
Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...
, a lob over the goalkeeper against
Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...
and a solo goal against Wellington Phoenix. Although Sydney wanted to keep Ibini, he was recalled by Shanghai on 3 June 2015 Ibini played in every A-League fixture for Sydney during the 2014–15 season.


Club Brugge

Following his release from Sydney, due to his contract ending on 1 May, Ibini missed out on playing against 2014–15 Premier League champions Chelsea in a friendly at ANZ Stadium. It was shortly announced thereafter that Ibini had gained permission from Shanghai East Asia to travel to
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
for a medical with Club Brugge with Shanghai unlikely to retain him due to their foreign player quota already filled. He signed a three-year deal with the club on 5 June 2015. It was announced that Ibini would wear the number 11 shirt.


Second loan to Sydney FC

After being ruled out for the 2015–16 Belgian Pro League season due to a broken leg he suffered in his first training session with Club Brugge, it was announced on 21 July 2016 that Ibini would return to
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, ...
on a loan deal once again. He made his return from injury in an FFA Cup semi-final against Canberra Olympic on 19 October 2016, coming on as a second-half substitute and scoring a late goal in a 3–0 win.


Vancouver Whitecaps

On 9 May 2017, Ibini signed with
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
club
Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March 18, ...
on a one-year deal with an option to make it a two-year deal. On 8 August 2018, the Whitecaps announced that they and Ibini-Isei had "mutually agreed to a contract termination" to allow him to sign with Emirates Club of the UAE Pro League.


Jeonbuk Hyundai

In January 2019 Ibini signed with Korean side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. He left Jeonbuk, and arranged a transfer to Esteghlal only for the contract to be rescinded after Ibini failed a medical clearance at the club.


Return to Australia


Newcastle Jets & Western Sydney Wanderers

After his unsuccessful attempt to land a contract in Iran, Ibini returned to Australia and signed a short-term contract with Newcastle Jets, re-uniting with manager Carl Robinson whom he had played under at Vancouver. Carl Robinson would quit his position as manager at the Hunter based club after less than a year, citing financial reasons at the club as part of his motive, joining Sydney rival Western Sydney Wanderers, signing a lucrative 3-year deal. In a move that was seen as controversial for its reasoning, Ibini would follow Robinson to Western Sydney only days later, signing a 2-year deal with the Western Sydney club. after nearly 50 league appearances for the Wanderers he was released.


Lion City Sailors

Following his release from the Wanderers, Ibini signed for Singapore Premier League club Lion City Sailors for the 2023 season. His contract was mutually terminated on 15 August following lackluster performances and the signing of
Richairo Živković Richairo Juliano Živković (/Rišairo Žulijano Živković; born 5 September 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker for Thai League 1 club Bangkok United F.C., Bangkok United. Born in t ...
.


International career

Ibini made his debut for the Australian U-20 team in 2011, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 win against Germany U-20. On 7 March 2011, he was selected to represent the Australia Olympic football team in an Asian Olympic Qualifier match against
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
. On 10 October 2014, he made his debut for the Australian senior team, starting in a friendly match against the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
in preparation for the
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 ...
.


Career statistics


Honours


Club

Central Coast Mariners: * A-League Premiership: 2011–12 * A-League Championship: 2012–13
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, ...
* A-League Premiership: 2016–17 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors *
K League 1 The K League 1 () is a professional association football league in South Korea and the highest level of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. It is one of the most successful leagues in the Asian Foo ...
:
2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...


Individual

* Y-League Golden Boot: 2010–11 * A-League All Star:
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...


See also

* List of Central Coast Mariners FC players * List of Sydney FC players


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibini-Isei, Bernie 1992 births Living people Australian men's soccer players Footballers from Port Harcourt Nigerian emigrants to Australia Australia men's youth international soccer players Australia men's under-20 international soccer players Australia men's international soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Blacktown City FC players Sydney FC players Central Coast Mariners FC players Central Coast Mariners Academy players Shanghai Port F.C. players Club Brugge KV players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Emirates Club players Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors players Newcastle Jets FC players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Lion City Sailors FC players A-League Men players A-League Men All-Stars Chinese Super League players Major League Soccer players UAE Pro League players K League 1 players Singapore Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in China Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in South Korea Expatriate men's footballers in Singapore Australian expatriate sportspeople in China Australian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Australian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Australian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Australian expatriate sportspeople in Singapore Men's association football wingers Nigerian men's footballers Soccer players from Sydney People educated at Westfields Sports High School 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen 21st-century Australian sportsmen