Mark Robert Bridge (born 7 November 1985) is a retired Australian professional

football (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. Bridge is the

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 ...

' first ever goalscorer, earning himself the nickname 'King Bridge' among fans. On 18 April 2015 in the 26th-round match against

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 ...

, Bridge became the ninth player to reach 200

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

games.

Club career

Newcastle Jets

Bridge joined Newcastle from Parramatta Power in 2005 during the inaugural

season. Although it took some time for Bridge to find his feet he was the Jets best player during his second season (2006/07) at the club scoring 8 goals during the season. Although his third season with the Jets only yielded four goals, his last for the Jets was the most decisive, being the only goal in the 2008 A-League Grand Final.

Sydney FC

As his contract had expired at the Jets, Bridge subsequently left the team and was unveiled as a

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, ...

player on 3 March 2008 alongside Simon Colosimo and John Aloisi. He scored his first goal for Sydney in their 5–2 demolition of

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 ...

at the

Sydney Football Stadium Sydney Football Stadium may refer to: * Sydney Football Stadium (1988), the original stadium which was demolished in 2019. * Sydney Football Stadium (2022) Sydney Football Stadium, currently known as Allianz Stadium for sponsorship reasons, i ...

. On 11 February 2009, Bridge arrived Kunming, Yunnan province, China, meet with Tianjin TEDA. He signed a four-month loan deal for

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 ...

club Tianjin Teda during the offseason with Sydney FC. However, Tianjin's failure to qualify from the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

of 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 ...

meant that he had made the last appearance for the club and would return to Sydney FC at the end of May. He became the first player to score in two A-League Grand finals with his headed goal against Melbourne Victory in the 09-10 edition, which Sydney went on to win on penalties Bridge scored the third goal in the 3–2 victory of

club

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Shenhua plays its home matches at the Shanghai Stadium, located within Xuhui District. The owner of Shanghai Shenhua is ...

, during the

2011 AFC Champions League The 2011 AFC Champions League was the 30th edition of the top-level Asian club association football, football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 9th under the current AFC Champions League title. The winners, ...

keeping Sydney's chances of progressing through to the next round alive. Bridge was sent from the field after being given a red card in the opening game of the

2011–12 A-League The 2011–12 A-League was the 35th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the seventh season of the Australian A-League soccer competition since its establishment in 2004. At the end of the previous season, the North Queensland Fury we ...

season against

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 ...

, following an altercation in which Bridge struck Victory player Rodrigo Vargas in the throat. The match would finish 0–0. Bridge asked for and received a mutual termination of his Sydney FC contract on 1 June 2012.

Western Sydney Wanderers

On 30 June 2012 it was officially announced he had joined the newly formed

club. On 27 October 2012 Bridge scored the first ever A-League goal for the Western Sydney Wanderers, against

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's football pyramid. When Queensland Lions F.C. were ...

in the Wanderers fourth game of their inaugural season. Bridge scored the Wanderers' first ever hat-trick in the round 16 6–1 thrashing of

in their inaugural season. Bridge was also the Wanderers' top goalscorer for the

2012–13 A-League The 2012–13 A-League was the 36th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the eighth season of the Australian A-League since its establishment in 2004. The 2012–13 season saw the introduction of a new Western Sydney-based team, the r ...

season with 11 goals. Bridge is also the club's all-time top goalscorer. On 25 October 2014 Bridge was part of the Western Sydney Wanderers squad who defeated Al Hilal to win the Asian Champions League. Western Sydney Wanderers won the match 1–0 on aggregate to become the first Australian team to win the trophy. As champions, Wanderers also earned the right to represent the AFC at the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco, entering at the quarter-finals.

Chiangrai United

On 27 May 2016, after 4 seasons with the

, Bridge left the club to join

Thai Premier League The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

club Chiangrai United. On 6 July 2017, Bridge terminated his contract with Chiangrai United.

Return to Western Sydney Wanderers

In July 2017, Bridge returned to

on a two-year contract.

Mounties Wanderers FC

On 12 March 2019, Bridge signed for

National Premier Leagues NSW 2 The Football NSW League is an Australian soccer league based in New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It b ...

side Mounties Wanderers FC. Bridge is set to join the club at the conclusion of the

2018–19 A-League The 2018–19 A-League was the 42nd season of national level soccer in Australia, and the 14th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The regular season commenced on 19 October 2018 and concluded on 28 April 2019. The play-offs began ...

season.

Life after professional career

Blacktown Premier Spurs and Camden Tigers

Mark Bridge, Retired from Semi-Professional NPL football in 2020, in 2021 he started playing local football in the Blacktown & District Soccer Football Association. In 2024 he signed with Camden Tigers and is currently playing in The Macarthur District Soccer Football Association.

International career

Mark Bridge has played for the Australian U-20 Squad where he made 9 appearances and scored 9 goals. He is currently a member of Australia U-23 national team. He was also called up to

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 ...

senior squad for their

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the contin ...

qualifiers, in a match 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 ...

on 16 August. He was hoping to be included in the

senior squad for the

games against

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

, China and

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 ...

, but was not selected. Bridge made his senior international debut against

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

in a friendly match in March 2008. Bridge was selected for the 2008 Australian Olympic squad.

A-League statistics

Honours

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 ...

: * A-League Championship: 2007–08

: * A-League Premiership: 2009–10 * A-League Championship: 2009–10

: * A-League Premiership: 2012–13 *

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 ...

Australia U20 *

OFC U-20 Championship The OFC U-19 Championship is a tournament held once every two years to decide the under-19 champions of Oceania and also decides who will represent Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) at the biennial FIFA U-20 World Cup. Between 1974 and 2012, t ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Individual *

Player of the Year: 2012–13, 2015–16 * A-League All Star:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridge, Mark 1985 births Living people Australia men's international soccer players Australia men's under-20 international soccer players Olympic soccer players for Australia Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics A-League Men players A-League Men All-Stars Parramatta Power SC players Newcastle Jets FC players Sydney FC players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. players Mark Bridge National Soccer League (Australia) players Parramatta FC players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in China Australian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's footballers in Thailand Australian expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Soccer players from Sydney Men's association football midfielders Men's association football forwards Mounties Wanderers FC players AFC Champions League Elite–winning players Australian men's soccer players 21st-century Australian sportsmen