Selin Kuralay (born 25 January 1985 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia) 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 of Turkish ancestry. She plays at national league level for Australian W-League team

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

Club career

Junior football

Kuralay took up football as a six-year-old, playing for North Coburg. She later played with Ringwood City and Box Hill United. In 2001, she was jointly awarded (with Spase Dilevski) the Weinstein Medal as Victorian Junior Player of the Year. She is the only female footballer to have won the medal.

WNSL

Kuralay made her debut at national league level in 1999 when she played for Victoria Vision in the Australian Women's National Soccer League. She won the Rising Star award for the league in the 2000–01 season. In 2004 Kuralay played for the

Queensland Academy of Sport The Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) is an elite sports institute set up in 1991 by the Queensland Government to support athletes in the state of Queensland. Its headquarters are currently located at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre in ...

in the WNSL, scoring two goals.

W-League (USA)

In 2005 Kuralay played 12 matches for the Hampton Roads Piranhas in the American W-League.

College soccer

Florida State University

Kuralay began her college soccer career for

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

. In 2005, her first season for FSU, she scored 16 goals and made nine assists both of which were records for a first year player. Kuralay was a first team

National Soccer Coaches Association of America The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of United States, American soccer Coach (sport), coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization i ...

All-America team member. She was a semifinalist in the 2005

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and th ...

. She was one of 11

Soccer America Magazine ''Soccer America'', the oldest soccer-specific media publisher in the United States, was founded in 1971 by Clay Berling in Albany, California. The magazine is headquartered in Oakland, California. History The magazine was founded by Clay Ber ...

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

s for 2005. In 2006, her second season, she tied the FSU record for game-winning goals. She was also selected in Soccer Buzz Magazine's All-America team

Savannah College of Art and Design

Kuralay played in 2008 for

Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a private art school with locations in Savannah, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; and Lacoste, France. It was founded in 1978 to provide degrees in programs not yet offered in the southeast of the United ...

The Sun Conference The Sun Conference (TSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Eight of the ten full member institutions are located in Florida, with two in Georgia. The Sun Conference com ...

. In her only season at SCAD she scored 10 goals and laid off five assists in 15 matches. She was named in the 2008

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

All-America team.

W-League (Australia)

In 2008 Kuralay joined the

. She scored two goals on her debut to help Victory defeat

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 ...

International career

Under 19

In 2002 Kuralay played for the Australian team at the FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in Canada. In May 2002 she scored five goals in Australia's 13–0 win in a World Cup Qualifying match against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

. She was selected for her second U-19 World Championship in 2004, which was held in Thailand.

Senior women's team

After making her debut against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in February 2004, Kuralay played 22 times for the Australia women's national football (soccer) team and scored two goals. Kuralay played three matches for the Australian women's football team at the Athens Olympics and also represented Australia at the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

FIFA Under-19 Women's World Championship finals.

Honours

Individual

*Weinstein Medal – Joint Winner – 2001 * Women's National Soccer League Rising Star – Winner – 2001 *

All-America team member *

Semifinalist – 2005. *Soccer America Magazine MVP – 2005 *Soccer Buzz Magazine – All-America team – 2006 *

All-America team – 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuralay, Selin 1985 births Living people Australian women's soccer players Australian people of Turkish descent Soccer players from Melbourne Florida State University alumni Melbourne Victory FC (women) players Adelaide United FC (women) players Olympic soccer players for Australia Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Victorian Institute of Sport alumni Australia women's international soccer players Women's association football midfielders Florida State Seminoles women's soccer players Ringwood City SC players Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Australian expatriate women's soccer players Sportswomen from Victoria (state) 21st-century Australian sportswomen