Noah Vinko Botic (born 11 January 2002) is an Australian

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 striker for

Western United Western United Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club. The club is based in the western Melbourne suburb of Tarneit, the club aims to represent western Victoria, incorporating the western suburbs of Melbourne; the regional ci ...

. Noah was named in The Guardians Next Generation 2019: 60 of the best young talents in world football

Club career

Early career

Botic was born 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 ...

, Australia, and played for numerous different clubs in Australia at youth level.

Hoffenheim

Following trials with English sides

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, as well as interest from Everton and German champions

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

, Botic signed a two-year scholarship deal with

Hoffenheim Hoffenheim () is a village in Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It belongs to the municipality of Sinsheim and, as of 2020, it has a population of 3,191. History The village, settled since prehistoric times, and first mentioned ...

in 2019. In October 2019, he was named among the 60 best young talents in the world by English newspaper ''The Guardian''. Due to his potential, Botic has been tipped to be Australia's successor to clinical striker

Mark Viduka Mark Antony Viduka ( ; born 9 October 1975) is an Australian former Association football, football player who played as a centre forward. Viduka captained the Australia men's national soccer team, Australia national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup ...

, who captained Australia to their best finish at a World Cup, as well as being the top-scoring Australian in the UEFA Champions League.

Western United

On 1 August 2021, Botic returned to Australia to sign for

International career

Botic has represented Australia at under-16 and under-17 level. He was joint-top scorer at the

2018 AFC U-16 Championship The 2018 AFC U-16 Championship was the 18th edition of the AFC U-16 Championship, the biennial international youth association football, football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-16 national team ...

with five goals from five games, as Australia went out 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 ...

at the semi-final stage. He followed this up with four goals in four games at the

2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 18th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was ...

in Brazil. He also scored in a friendly against England under-17s. For his performances at youth level, Botic received the inaugural

Dylan Tombides Dylan James Tombides (8 March 1994 – 18 April 2014) was an Australian professional Association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker for West Ham United F.C., West Ham United and the Australia nation ...

medal, awarded to the best Australian soccer player from under-17 to under-23 level, in 2019. In June 2023, he took part in the

Maurice Revello Tournament The Maurice Revello Tournament (officially French: the ''Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello''), previously known as the Toulon Tournament, is a football tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams comp ...

in France with Saudi Arabia.

Personal life

Born in Australia, Botic is of Croatian descent and holds dual-citizenship. He is the cousin of Australian international soccer player

Tomi Juric Tomi Juric ( ; , ; born 22 July 1991) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a striker for Slovenian club Koper. Club career Adelaide United On 10 February 2013, after spending a number of seasons abroad in Croatia playing fo ...

and his brother, Deni.

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Botic, Noah 2002 births Living people Soccer players from Sydney Australian men's soccer players Australia men's youth international soccer players Croatian men's footballers Australian people of Croatian descent Men's association football forwards A-League Men players St George FC players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Sydney Olympic FC players Rockdale Ilinden FC players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players Western United FC players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany 21st-century Australian sportsmen