Mitchell Thomas Duke (born 18 January 1991) is an Australian international soccer player who plays for Machida Zelvia in the

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 Ya ...

. Duke was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and played youth soccer with Paramatta Eagles 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 ...

. He joined J-League side

Shimizu S-Pulse is a professional Japanese football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J2 League (J2). The club was formed in 1991 as a founding member of the J.League (''"Original Ten"''), which bega ...

and Fagiano Okayama in 2015 and 2021 respectively. He represented Australia at the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wo ...

, and Australia Olympic at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Early life

Duke was born in

, in Sydney's south-west. He attended

All Saints Catholic College, Liverpool All Saints Catholic College, Liverpool is an independent Roman Catholic co-educational secondary day school located in the south-western Sydney suburb of Liverpool, in New South Wales, Australia. The college was created in 2016 through the m ...

and All Saints Catholic Senior College Casula.

Playing career

Club

He began his career with Parramatta Eagles 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. 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 (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium ...

. In the 2012/13 season, Duke scored 6 goals from 21 games. In the 2013/14 season, he wasn't 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 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 inj ...

, ruling him out of football for at least six months. Duke left Shimizu in December 2018, after 4 seasons with the club. On 25 January 2019, Mitchell Duke announced that he had moved back home and signed with Western Sydney Wanderers FC and captained the club. On 22 August 2020, Duke signed a 2-year deal with Al-Taawoun. He scored the winning goal against Al-Duhail in a

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

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 on loan for the remainder of the

2020–21 A-League The 2020–21 A-League was the 44th season of national level soccer in Australia, and the 16th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season was started on 28 December 2020 and concluded with the Grand Final on 27 June 2021. The s ...

season. On 5 August 2021, Duke joined Fagiano Okayama. On 30 December 2022, it was announced that Duke had officially transferred to Machida Zelvia for the upcoming 2023 J2 League season.

International

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 ...

. Duke made his international tournament debut against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

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. Duke scored again in the following match which Australia lost 4–3 to China. 7 September 2013, Duke next played for the Socceroos in a 0–6 friendly loss to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, at Estadio Nacional Mane Garrincha in

Brasília Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...

. 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 also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the List of Olympic Games h ...

. 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 ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

on 26 November 2022, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Statistics accurate as of match played 26 November 2022.''

International goals

Honours

Club

;

* A-League Championship: 2012–2013

References

External links

* * * *
Profile at Shimizu S-Pulse
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duke, Mitchell 1991 births Living people Soccer players from Sydney Association football forwards Australian soccer players Australian expatriate soccer players Australia international soccer 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 Professional League players Expatriate footballers in Japan Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Australian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Australian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players of Australia Sportsmen from New South Wales 2022 FIFA World Cup players

Early life

Playing career

Club

International

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honours

Club

See also

References

External links