Harry Andrew Ascroft (born 1 July 1995) is an Australian professional

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 lea ...

who plays 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 ...

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Hume City in the

National Premier Leagues The National Premier Leagues (NPL) is a men's 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- ...

. Ascroft was born in Sydney, and played youth football with

Bankstown City FC Bankstown City Lions Football Club, commonly referred to as Bankstown City Lions or simply Bankstown City, is an Australian football club from Bankstown, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the NSW League One Men's, ...

before starting his senior career with

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. In 2013, he moved to the Netherlands to play for

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch association football, football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutc ...

in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

and later moved back to Australia to play for

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 Mar ...

in 2015. He has represented Australia at under-20 level.

Club career

In late 2013, aged 18, Ascroft signed with Dutch

side

. He was released by VVV along with fellow Australian Travis Cooper in early 2015 due to the club's financial difficulties On 29 July 2015, Ascroft was signed by

on a three-year deal. Ascroft made his Mariners debut against the

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 ...

as the Mariners stole three points in the 3–2 win. He netted his maiden A-League goal as the Mariners were plundered 4–1 by

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 Round 12. On 18 January 2018, Ascroft was released by Central Coast Mariners to join Maltese club

Balzan Balzan () is a municipality in the Northern Region, Malta, Northern Region of Malta, and together with Attard and Lija, forms part of the "Three villages of Malta, Three Villages" (). The village originally consisted of a group of small dwellin ...

. On 18 January 2019, Ascroft signed for

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

side

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club is an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. They hail from Ballybofey, County Donegal and play their ho ...

on a one-year deal, joining up with former Balzan team-mate Jacob Borg at the newly promoted Premier Division side.

International career

Ascroft was called up to the Australia U-20 team for the

2014 AFF U-19 Youth Championship The 2014 AFF U19 Youth Championship or AFF U-19 Nutifood Cup 2014 held from 5 to 13 September 2014, hosted by Vietnam. 5 members of the ASEAN Football Federation have registered to take part in the competition, these being hosts Vietnam, Thailand ...

. Ascroft made his debut for the side in the tournament's group stage, scoring a goal in a loss to

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 ...

References

External links

* Living people 1995 births Australian men's soccer players Australia men's youth international soccer players Australia men's under-20 international soccer players Men's association football defenders VVV-Venlo players A-League Men players Central Coast Mariners FC players Balzan F.C. players Eerste Divisie players Finn Harps F.C. players Dandenong Thunder FC players Australian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Soccer players from Sydney 21st-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-footy-defender-stub

Club career

International career

See also

References

External links