Michael Robert Marrone (born 27 January 1987) is an Australian professional

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 Sturt Lions. He is also one of the most capped players 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 ...

, with over 200 league appearances.

Club career

Adelaide United (2008–2010)

Marrone made his professional debut on 18 December 2008 in the

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 ...

fifth-placed match against

Al Ahly Al-Ahly Sporting Club (), commonly known as Al-Ahly, is an Egyptian professional sports club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team which currently plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest ...

. He came off the bench in the 54th minute to replace Daniel Mullen, in a 1-0 win. On 25 January 2009, he made his A-League debut for

against the

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 ...

. On 3 March 2009, Marrone was signed to a full senior contract for Adelaide after having played for their youth squad. Later in 2009, Marrone played 5 league games for Para Hills Knights on loan. He played 26 games for Adelaide United before signing with the new team

Melbourne Heart Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region, South-Eastern region of Melbourne, Victoria. They compete in the A-League Men, the Australian soccer ...

Melbourne Heart

On 30 April 2010, it was announced that Marrone had signed with new A-League club Melbourne Heart for two years. He has played regularly at right back for the new club, and missed only one game in their inaugural season, which was the third Melbourne derby. In the fourth round of the season, he scored an own goal for Heart, in a match which was to end up a 2–2 draw with

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 ...

. After the end of his first season with Melbourne Heart, Marrone travelled to the United Kingdom to partake in trials with British clubs

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

and

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

, and also played in a friendly match for

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

on 24 March 2011. He also attracted interest from Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

side

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

. He then signed for Shanghai Shenxin, and played 16 league games before returning to his hometown club.

Adelaide United (2014–2021)

On 3 February 2014, it was announced that Marrone was signed to return to Adelaide United, after a spell with Chinese club Shanghai Shenxin. After working his way into the starting line-up, he fractured two leg bones in a match against his former club Melbourne Heart on 4 April 2014. On 21 November 2017, Marrone was sent off in the 2017 FFA Cup Final in the 115th minute for tackling a ball boy. On 3 August 2021, it was announced that Marrone had left Adelaide United after 7 years. He played over 200 league games for the club, becoming one of the most capped players for Adelaide United. On the same day he was unveiled as a Sturt Lions player.

Sturt Lions (since 2021)

Joining the NPL SA side as a mid-season signing, Marrone took the number 2 shirt upon his arrival. Making his debut on the following weekend, the 7 August 2021, against Adelaide Croatia Raiders. In the 7th minute of his debut he scored with a long-range shot en route to a 4–1 victory. Michael scored his second goal for Sturt in Round 5 of the 2022 NPLSA season, against Adelaide Olympic FC. Capping off a remarkable turnaround in the second half, from 3-0 down the Lions came back to win 4–3, with Marrone scoring a wonder goal in the 90th minute to wrap up all three points.

International career

He received his first call-up for the full national team by coach

Pim Verbeek Peter Tim Dirk "Pim" Verbeek (12 March 1956 – 28 November 2019) was a Dutch football manager who last coached the Oman national football team. Playing career As a player, Verbeek was a defender or a midfielder and spent his entire career at S ...

in preparation for the match against Indonesia in Brisbane on 3 March 2010. On 29 February 2012 he was selected to be on the bench once again against

Saudi Arabia national football team The Saudi Arabia national football team (SAFF) () represents Saudi Arabia in men's international Association football, football. They are known as ''Al-Suqour Al-Arabiyyah'' (Arabian Falcons) and sometimes ''Al-Suqour Al-Khodhur'' (The Green Fa ...

in a World Cup qualification match. In December 2012, he was on the bench for 3 games against

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

and

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One China principle stipulated by the ...

in the East Asian Football Championship, and then made his first and only Socceroos appearance against

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

, which he also scored in a 9-0 thrashing.

Career statistics

Club

Notes

International

Notes

Honours

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 ...

Premiership: 2015–16 *

Championship: 2015–16 *

FFA Cup The Australia Cup (currently known as the Hahn Australia Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia (known as Football Federation Austra ...

: 2014, 2018, 2019

References

External links

Aussie Footballers
Maras to Marrone {{DEFAULTSORT:Marrone, Michael 1987 births Living people Soccer players from Adelaide Para Hills Knights SC players A-League Men players Chinese Super League players FFSA Super League players Australian men's soccer players Melbourne City FC players Adelaide United FC players Shanghai Shenxin F.C. players Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Australian people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent Expatriate men's footballers in China Men's association football fullbacks Australia men's international soccer players South Australian Sports Institute soccer players 21st-century Australian sportsmen