Christopher Daniel Harold (born 14 July 1992) is an Australian professional

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

National Premier Leagues The National Premier Leagues (NPL) is a national association football competition in Australia which acts as the second tier of the sport in the country below the A-League. The NPL consists of the highest level state league in each state-based ...

club

ECU Joondalup Perth RedStar Football Club is an Australian soccer club from Joondalup, Western Australia currently playing in the National Premier Leagues Western Australia and National Premier Leagues WA Women. Their home ground is the RedStar Arena at the J ...

. Born in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia, Harold started his professional career with

Gold Coast United Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first era of Gold Coast Unit ...

in 2010 after coming through the club's youth team. He returned to Perth to play for

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

in 2012 following the dissolution of Gold Coast United. In January 2020, he joined

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Ma ...

. Harold featured twice for Australian youth national sides.

Club career

Originally from

, Harold spent most of his childhood in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. In 2009, Harold trained for two weeks at the

Manchester United Academy Manchester United Football Club Under-21s is the most senior of Manchester United's youth teams and the club's former reserve team. They play in the Premier League 2, the highest tier of the Professional Development League. The team is effectiv ...

.Gold Coast United Profile
Harold made his first senior debut

on 26 September 2010. He came on as a 77th-minute substitute for

Steve Fitzsimmons Steve Fitzsimmons (born 7 September 1976) is a former Australian football (soccer) player and coach. Club career Steve started his NSL career with Parramatta Power under coach & former Socceroo David Mitchell and his assistant coach Lawrie M ...

in the 1–1 draw with

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

at the

Sydney Football Stadium The Sydney Football Stadium, commercially known as Allianz Stadium and previously Aussie Stadium, was a football stadium in Moore Park, Sydney, Australia. Built in 1988 next to the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stadium was Sydney's premier rect ...

. In 2012 Harold returned to Perth to sign with

. After 8 years with Perth Glory, Harold departed in January 2020 to join

on a short-term contract. In July 2020, following the suspension of the

2019–20 A-League The 2019–20 A-League, also known as the 2019–20 Hyundai A-League for sponsorship reasons, was the 43rd season of national level soccer in Australia, and the 15th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The regular season commenced o ...

due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the Mariners announced that Harold would not be rejoining the squad for the final four games of the season for personal reasons. In October 2020, Harold retired from professional football aged 28, citing frustration and feeling disenfranchised with 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 ...

and the sport in Australia. Harold joined former Glory coach

Kenny Lowe Kenny Lowe (born 6 November 1961) is an English association football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Australian side Perth RedStar. Kenny played for ten clubs in England, and had a stint in Australia also. He later mana ...

in the

International career

Harold was selected to tour to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

with the Australian Young Socceroos in March 2010. On 7 March 2011 he was selected to represent the

Australia Olympic football team The Australia national under-23 soccer team represents Australia in international under-23 soccer and at the Olympic Games. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia (FA), which is currently a membe ...

in an Asian Olympic Qualifier match against

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

After football

Harold has a law degree and joined a law firm in Perth following his retirement from football. As of 2021, he remains Perth Glory's record A-League appearances holder. In 2023 Harold was nominated and elected to the Football West board of directors.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

: * National Youth League Championship: 2009–2010 Perth Glory *

Premiership: 2018–19

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harold, Chris 1992 births Living people Soccer players from Sydney Gold Coast United FC players A-League Men players Perth Glory FC players Central Coast Mariners FC players Perth RedStar FC players People educated at Brisbane State High School National Premier Leagues players Men's association football forwards Australian men's soccer players