Daniel John Mullen (born 26 October 1989) 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 Campbelltown City. He played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

and a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. Daniel is the cousin of Matthew Mullen and son of

Joe Mullen Joseph Patrick Mullen (born February 26, 1957) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames, Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins betwe ...

, a former Socceroo.

Club career

Adelaide United

Mullen joined United for the

2008–09 A-League The 2008–09 A-League was the 32nd season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the fourth season of the A-League competition since its establishment in 2004. Two new clubs, North Queensland Thunder and Gold Coast Galaxy had received tentati ...

season. On 26 July 2008 he made his debut for

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 ...

in a 0–0 against

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

in the Pre-Season Cup. He has since gone on to win a place in the team in the league and also featured against

Kashima Antlers The are a professional association football, football club based in Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan. They currently play in the J1 League, the top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The club has financial backing from Mercari, a Japanese ...

in the

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 ...

. He played in Adelaide's Champions league semi final's 1st leg 3–0 victory over Uzbekistan outfit

Bunyodkor Football Club Bunyodkor () is an Uzbek professional football club based in Tashkent that competes in the Uzbekistan Super League. Bunyodkor, a relatively unknown club at the time, made international headlines when it claimed to be close to sig ...

and was surely the best game in his short career. In November 2008 Daniel signed a new two-year deal with Adelaide keeping him at the club until the end of the 2010–11 season. Mullen began to hold down a regular starting spot at

for Adelaide including starting the inaugural

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

game for the

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n team in which he scored the equalising goal against

Waitakere United Waitakere United was a football club based in Waitakere City, New Zealand. They were one of the franchises in the ISPS Handa Premiership. They played their home games at Fred Taylor Park in Kumeū and The Trusts Arena. History Waitakere Uni ...

. Mullen scored his first league goal for Adelaide with a powerful header in the 3–2 victory over North Queensland Fury in Townsville in Round 4. He had some trouble holding a spot the first team squad with Robert Cornthwaite and Iain Fyfe regularly used at centre back.

Dalian Aerbin

In July 2012 Mullen signed a two-year deal with

Dalian Aerbin Dalian Professional Football Club (), known as Dalian Pro, was a Chinese professional Association football, football club based in Dalian, Liaoning, which mostly competed in the Chinese Super League. Dalian Pro played its home matches at various ...

in the

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 ...

Melbourne Victory

Daniel Mullen Joined

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 ...

on loan for the second half of the 2012–13 season.

Western Sydney Wanderers

On 3 February 2014 he signed, along with

Golgol Mebrahtu Golgol Mebrahtu (born 28 August 1990) is a former professional soccer player who played as a forward. Born as an Eritrean refugee in Sudan, he has represented Australia at youth level. Early life Born in Sudan, Mebrahtu is of Eritrean descent. ...

, with

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in t ...

. However, since there were no spaces remaining in the club's A-League squad, Mullen was only eligible to participate in Western Sydney Wanderers'

2014 AFC Champions League The 2014 AFC Champions League was the 33rd edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 12th under the current AFC Champions League title. Guangzhou Evergrande were the d ...

campaign during the 2013–14 season. On 18 March 2014, following a long-term injury to

, Mullen was added to Western Sydney Wanderers' A-League squad. Mullen parted ways with the Wanderers on 30 January 2015.

Newcastle Jets

On 31 January 2015, Mullen joined

. On 10 May 2017, he was released by Newcastle Jets, along with another seven off-contract players.

Wellington Phoenix

On 9 August 2017, Mullen joined

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League Men, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the 2007–08 ...

on a one-year deal. Campbelltown City SC In 2018 Daniel re-joined his boyhood club Campbelltown City SC On 14 August 2024, it was announced he would be taking the Senior Coach role at Campbelltown City SC following the conclusion of the season.

International career

Mullen debuted for the Australian national team in a qualifying match for the

2011 AFC Asian Cup 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 ...

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 ...

in March 2009.Mullen: A young Aussie on Chinese shorts
FIFA.com

Honours

;

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 ...

References

External links

Adelaide United profile

FFA – Young Socceroos profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mullen, Daniel 1989 births Australian men's soccer players Australian people of Irish descent Australia men's international soccer players A-League Men players Chinese Super League players Adelaide United FC players Dalian Professional F.C. players Melbourne Victory FC players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Newcastle Jets FC players Wellington Phoenix FC players Campbelltown City SC players Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in China Soccer players from Adelaide Living people Men's association football defenders Para Hills Knights SC players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand People educated at Marcellin College, Bulleen AFC Champions League Elite–winning players 21st-century Australian sportsmen