Paul Wade (born 20 March 1962) is an Australian retired

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 is best known for his long-term role as captain of the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

Club career

Born in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England, Wade moved to Australia with his parents at age 11. By 1984, he had attained Australian citizenship and represented his adopted country for the first time, playing for Australia's "B" side against Tasmania. That same year, he made his debut in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

with the Green Gully Cavaliers. Wade played just one season with Green Gully before joining Brunswick Juventus the following season and helping them win the 1985 NSL Championship.

South Melbourne FC

He played two seasons with Brunswick before joining

South Melbourne FC South Melbourne Football Club is an Australian semi-professional Association football, soccer club based in suburb of Albert Park, Victoria, Albert Park, in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The club currently competes in the National P ...

. Wade would become a key player in the Hellas midfield and become a fan favourite known for his intense work rate and tackling. He would spend eight seasons at the club, winning another NSL title in 1991 under the guidance of

Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; né Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian footballer and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward and an attacking ...

. He would also win the NSL Cup in 1990 and a minor premiership (first overall at the end of the regular season) in 1993. Wade's performances for Hellas also led to him being named the ''NSL Player of the Year'' in 1988.

Later career

He joined the Canberra Cosmos in 1995 for what would be his final two seasons, but was unable to help the team from the bottom of the standings in either campaign. He announced his retirement from competitive football in 1997 at the end of the NSL season. Wade's club career was spent entirely in Australia, a rarity for players from that country who often go to Europe on the lure of a better quality of football, more passionate fan support and higher salaries. Wade played a total of 345 games in the NSL.

International career

Wade would become known as Mr Socceroo for his longevity and performances for the national side. Wade's 84 "A" international appearances for Australia make him the second most capped player in the country's history (only Alex Tobin, with 87, had more). In total, Wade played 118 games for Australia between 1986 and 1996. He represented the Socceroos at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

Seoul, South Korea Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

and in two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

qualifying campaigns (1990 and 1994). One of his most famous moments came in 1993, during qualifying for the 1994 World Cup when Australia faced

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. Faced with the dubious honour of marking star

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

, Wade was valiant in helping Australia stay in the two games, although they would eventually lose 2–1 on aggregate goals following a 1–0 defeat in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. His final international game was on 1 November 1996 in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

against

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

in the

1996 OFC Nations Cup The 1996 OFC Nations Cup was not held as a cohesive tournament, but consisted of semi-finals and a final played on a two-legged basis, stretched out between November 1995 and November 1996. The four participating teams were Australia and New Ze ...

final, which Australia won.

International goals

After retirement

In 1995 Wade released his autobiography, ''Captain Socceroo: The Paul Wade story''.

References

External links

Australian Honours profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wade, Paul 1962 births Living people Australian men's soccer players Australia men's international soccer players Australia men's B international soccer players Olympic soccer players for Australia English men's footballers English emigrants to Australia Brunswick Zebras Football Club players South Melbourne FC players People with epilepsy National Soccer League (Australia) players Men's association football midfielders Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics 1996 OFC Nations Cup players OFC Nations Cup–winning players Australian soccer commentators Footballers from Cheshire 20th-century Australian sportsmen