Mitchell Thomas Duke (born 18 January 1991) 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 as a forward for club

Machida Zelvia commonly known as is a Japanese professional football club based in Machida, Tokyo. They currently play in the J1 League, following promotion as J2 League champions in 2023. History Formation and election to the Prefectural League (1989–2 ...

and the Australia national team. Duke was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

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 borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and played youth soccer with

Parramatta Eagles Parramatta Football Club, commonly known as Parramatta Melita Eagles or just Melita, are a semi-professional Australian Association football, soccer club based in South Granville, New South Wales, South Granville, New South Wales. The club was e ...

before starting his professional career with

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 ...

. He joined

J-League The , commonly a.k.a. shortened to the , and officially known as the for sponsorship with Meiji Yasuda Life, is the men's association football league in Japan. It is responsible for organizing Japan's major professional football tournaments, in ...

side

Shimizu S-Pulse is a Japanese professional association football, football club located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka (city), Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture. S-Pulse is going to compete in the J1 League for the 2025 Season, after winning promotio ...

and

Fagiano Okayama is a Japanese football club based in Okayama, the capital of Okayama Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Name origin ''Fagiano'' in Italian means "pheasant", and it is a reference t ...

in 2015 and 2021 respectively. He represented Australia at the

2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup was the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It involved 24 national teams after its expansion in 20 ...

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

, and Australia Olympic at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Early life

Duke was born in

, in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

's south-west. He attended All Saints Catholic College, Liverpool and All Saints Catholic Senior College Casula.

Club career

Duke began his career with

before moving into the

' youth team. On 9 February 2011, Duke made his senior debut for the Mariners and also scored his first goal in a 3–1 win over Gold Coast United. Mitchell Duke

On 24 January 2012, it was announced he had signed his first senior contract signing a two-year contract with

. In August 2013, Duke had a two-week trial with English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

. In the 2012–13 season, Duke scored 6 goals from 21 games. In the 2013–14 season, he was not as prolific, scoring 3 goals in 29 games. In the 2014–15 season, he had 3 goals from 15 games. The decrease in goals can be attributed to Duke being played increasingly on the right wing by coach

Phil Moss Phil Moss (born 5 October 1971) is an English-born Australian association football manager and former player who was most recently assistant coach of Sydney FC. Early life Moss was born in London, England to Jewish parents and arrived in Austr ...

rather than the centre forward position he began his career playing. On 9 February 2015, Duke announced that he was flying to Japan to complete a move to

. In April 2016, Duke suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

, ruling him out of football for at least six months. Duke left Shimizu in December 2018, after four seasons with the club. On 25 January 2019, Duke announced that he had moved back home and signed with

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

and captained the club. On 22 August 2020, Duke signed a two-year deal with Al-Taawoun. He scored the winning goal against Al-Duhail in a

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 ...

group stage fixture on 25 September 2020 but fell out of favour with the club leadership shortly after, having moved from his forward position to the wing. On 1 February 2021, Duke returned to Australia and signed for his former club

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 ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2020–21 A-League season. On 5 August 2021, Duke joined

. On 30 December 2022, it was announced that Duke had officially transferred to

for the upcoming 2023 J2 League season. He scored 10 goals in the J2 League and helped Zelvia to promotion from the J2 League to the J1 League.

International career

Duke was included in the Australian national team in July 2013, for the

2013 EAFF East Asian Cup The 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup was the 5th edition of this regional competition, the football championship of East Asia. Two preliminary competitions were held during 2012. Mongolia were suspended from the EAFF and could not compete in any EAFF c ...

. Duke made his international tournament debut against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

in the first match of the tournament, in a draw. He scored his first international goal in the next match, a 3–2 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 ...

. Duke scored again in the following match which Australia lost 4–3 to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. 7 September 2013, Duke next played for the Socceroos in a 0–6 friendly loss to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, at Estadio Nacional Mane Garrincha in

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

. Mitch came on as a second half substitute for Josh Kennedy in the 78th minute. Duke qualified for the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. He was included in the

Olyroos 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 member ...

Olympic squad. They defeated Argentina in their first group match but, unable to win another match, they never were in contention for a medal. He featured in Australia's team in the

in Qatar. In the team's second match against

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

on 26 November 2022, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win, Australia's first World Cup win since

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Australia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Duke goal.''

Honours

Central Coast Mariners * A-League Championship: 2012–2013 Machida Zelvia *

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yasud ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

References

putting his wood in a minor

External links

* * *
Profile at Shimizu S-Pulse
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duke, Mitchell 1991 births Living people Soccer players from Sydney Men's association football forwards Australian men's soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australia men's international soccer players Central Coast Mariners Academy players Central Coast Mariners FC players Blacktown City FC players Shimizu S-Pulse players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Al Taawoun FC players Fagiano Okayama players FC Machida Zelvia players A-League Men players J1 League players J2 League players Saudi Pro League players Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Australian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Australian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players for Australia Sportsmen from New South Wales 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2023 AFC Asian Cup players 21st-century Australian sportsmen