Mitchell Daniel Mallia (born 22 March 1992) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays for

Blacktown City Blacktown City Council is a local government area in Western Sydney, situated on the Cumberland Plain, approximately west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1906 as the Blacktow ...

in the

NPL NSW The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, one of the two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Lea ...

Playing career

Club

Central Coast Mariners

On 31 January 2010 he made his first team debut for the Mariners in a 3–1 loss against

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 ...

, becoming the youngest player to represent the Mariners in the

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 ...

Sydney FC

In 2011, after he was told he wasn't in the plans of Central Coast manager

Graham Arnold Graham James Arnold (born 3 August 1963) is an Australian association football, professional football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of the Iraq national football team, Iraq national team. Arnold was first appointed ...

, Mallia moved to

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, ...

to take up a contract in their National Youth League setup. After an impressive start to the youth season where he was the leading goalscorer, Sydney FC manager

Vítězslav Lavička Vítězslav Lavička (; born 30 April 1963) is a Czech football manager and former player. Playing career As a player, Lavička played for several Czech clubs, including Škoda Plzeň, RH Cheb and Sparta Prague. He played one season towards the ...

gave Mallia his first Sydney FC senior appearance on 17 December 2011 against

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 ...

where he would then go on to make 6 appearances in 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. Mallia scored his first senior goal for Sydney FC on 19 February 2012 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 ...

in his team's 2–1 win at

Hindmarsh Stadium Hindmarsh Stadium (also known as Coopers Brewery, Coopers Stadium under naming rights) is a multi-purpose stadium in Hindmarsh, South Australia, Hindmarsh, an inner western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is the home of the Australian ...

. After impressing throughout the season, Mallia signed his first senior contract on 21 January 2012, sealing a two-year deal with Sydney FC along with fellow youngsters from the youth league team Daniel Petkovski and

Hagi Gligor Christopher Josif Hagi Gligor (born 8 April 1995) is a former Australian soccer player, who last played as a central midfielder for Sydney Olympic. Early life He is the son of former Romanian footballer, Tiberiu Gligor, who emigrated to Austra ...

Blacktown City

In 2014, after the end of his contract with Sydney FC, Mallia signed with

club

. Mallia scored a first half

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

on the opening match day of the 2015 National Premier Leagues NSW Men's 1 season against

Sydney United Sydney United 58 Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club and current NSW NPL Champions based in Edensor Park, Sydney, New South Wales Australia. The club was formed as Sydney Croatia in 1958, by Croatian Australians in the area, but it ...

in their 3–2 victory.

Perth Glory

Following

Joel Chianese Joel Joseph Chianese (born 15 February 1990) is an Australian semi-professional footballer currently playing for Perth RedStar, in the NPL WA competition. Career Sydney FC Chianese made his senior debut in the first game of the 2011 Asian Ch ...

being sidelined with a collar bone injury,

signed Mallia on an injury replacement contract on 11 October 2017. After Chianese's recovery from his injury, Mallia was released from the club.

Retirement

After spending nearly 5 years playing in the 2nd tier of Australian football, Mallia chose to retire before the start of the 2023 NPL NSW season due to continuous injuries.

Return to Blacktown City

On 12 December 2023, it was revealed that Mitch had come out of retirement to play for

for the 2024

season.

International career

On 7 March 2011 he was selected to represent the Australia Olympic football team in an Asian Olympic Qualifier match against

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 ...

. He is also eligible to play for the

Malta national football team The Malta national football team () represents Malta in men's international Association football, football and is controlled by the Malta Football Association, the governing body for football in Malta. The first official game played by Malta ...

. In March 2018, Mallia was called up to the Maltese squad for two friendly matches, but never made an appearance.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;

Marconi Stallions Marconi Stallions Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football club based in Fairfield, Sydney, New South Wales. The club has been crowned Australian champion four times. The Stallions are the soccer team of Club Marc ...

Waratah Cup The Waratah Cup is a knockout cup competition in New South Wales, run by the governing body of football in NSW, Football NSW. Teams competing in the Waratah Cup come from the National Premier Leagues NSW, NSW League One, NSW League Two, and n ...

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 ...

;

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- ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

National Premier Leagues NSW The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, one of the two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier L ...

Championship:

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 ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Premiership:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mallia, Mitchell 1992 births Living people Australian men's soccer players Australia men's youth international soccer players Australian people of Maltese descent A-League Men players Central Coast Mariners FC players Central Coast Mariners Academy players Sydney FC players Blacktown City FC players Perth Glory FC players Men's association football forwards Soccer players from Sydney 21st-century Australian sportsmen