Simon Colosimo (born 8 January 1979) is an Australian former soccer player who played as a centre back and defensive midfielder. He spent two years playing in Europe with spells in the Premier League with

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and in the Belgian First Division for Royal Antwerp. Aside a spells with Pahang FA in 2004 and Sivasspor in 2007, the rest of his career was spent in his native

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

notably in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

with South Melbourne,

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

, Parramatta Power and

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

. He also played for Carlton SC, Melbourne Heart, Dempo, Goulburn Valley Suns,

Werribee City Werribee City Football Club is an Australia semi-professional soccer club based in Werribee, Melbourne, currently playing in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 2 competition. The club plays its home games at Galvin Park Reserve (Benlor Ground ...

Dandenong Thunder Dandenong Thunder SC is a soccer club from Dandenong, a suburb in the South-East region of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They are an Albanian Australian-backed club. Thunder compete in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. In 2012, Dandeno ...

, Whittlesea Ranges, Bulleen Lions. He was capped 26 times by

, scoring 3 goals.

Club career

NSL years

Colosimo completed the Australian Institute of Sport football program in 1997 and signed with new

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 d ...

club Carlton for their inaugural year. Interest had been shown from

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and Panathinaikos to sign Colosimo, but a knee injury sustained in a horror tackle by

Andy Cole Andrew Alexander Cole (born 15 October 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. His professional career lasted from 1988 to 2008, and is mostly remembered for his time with Manchester United, who paid a Briti ...

while on Socceroos duty kept him out of the game for most of the 1999/00 season, but made his return on 14 March 2000 to score against South Melbourne, who would eventually acquire the midfielder after the demise of the Carlton club. After a year at Souths, he sought a move to Europe and joined English side

for a season followed by a move to Belgium with Royal Antwerp. Unable to settle, he returned to

in 2002 to join

in the NSL for a season, then moved to Parramatta Power until the demise of the league in 2004. Along with a number of Australian players he made a move into Asia in the newly restructured Malaysia Super League at Pahang FA, helping them win the 2004 championship.

A-League career

He was enticed back to Australia with the relaunch of the

returning to

signing a three-year deal. Colosimo received MVP for Perth Glory for the 2006–07 season. Colosimo joined

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

club Sivasspor on a four-month loan during the

off-season, and returned to

for the start of the

2007–08 A-League The 2007–08 A-League was the 31st season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the third season of the A-League competition since its establishment in 2004. Football Federation Australia hoped to build on the success of the previous two seas ...

season, and was handed the Perth Glory captaincy. With his contract at Glory at an end, Colosimo was linked with a move to

in 2008, receiving a hostile reception from Perth supporters who let him know he was no longer welcome and was dropped from the starting side for some final matches. Unable to reach a contract agreement, Perth released him from the club on 22 January 2008. It was announced by Sydney FC that Colosimo had signed a two-year deal, and he joined the club from the start of the 2008–09 season. Colosimo became a standout performer as a centreback, with consistent performances impressing through the new 2009–10 season. On 31 March 2010, the defender switched clubs to Melbourne Heart, along with his teammates Clint Bolton and John Aloisi. He became the captain of the new club and scored one goal in their debut season, an important equaliser against Adelaide in the final minutes of the game, which Heart triumphed 2–1 in stoppage time. As a result of the Heart finishing second-to-last on the A-League ladder, their worst finish in an A-League season, Colosimo, along with teammates Clint Bolton,

Matt Thompson Matthew or Matt Thompson may refer to: Entertainment * Matthew Thompson (actor), American actor * Matthew Thompson (writer), American-born Australian writer * Matt Thompson (animator), American producer, writer, and voice actor in animation * Mat ...

and Fred, were released by the Heart at the conclusion of the 2012–13 A-League season.

International career

Colosimo first entered the Australian national selection framework at

Under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

level in 1997 while at the AIS. This led quickly to a national team debut in 1998 against

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

at just 19 years of age. He remained in the national focus, selected as part of the squad at the

1999 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Nigeria between 3 and 24 April 1999. This was the 12th edition of the tournament. Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. :1.Teams that ...

. Later that year he was called up by then Socceroo manager Raul Blanco to make an appearance in the Socceroo's friendly against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

on 18 July at the MCG. What started as a spirited game finished in horror for Simon, as

lunged into a tackle with his leg raised and studs showing, felling the Australian midfielder in full-flight. Simon was stretchered off in pain by stewards, and was diagnosed with having sustained tears to his

anterior cruciate The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. ...

and medial ligaments, needing a complete knee reconstruction. He underwent surgery soon after, which included his anterior cruciate being replaced with a piece of his hamstring tendon. A rehabilitation process began, in which Simon would not kick a ball for six months. There was talk at the time of impending legal action against Cole by Carlton's General Manager Lou Sticca, though no formal proceedings were ever entered into. Following his recovery, he was selected for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, and was part of the national team squad for the

2005 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup football tournament was the seventh FIFA Confederations Cup. It was held in Germany between 15 June and 29 June 2005, as a prelude to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The tournament was won by 2002 FIFA World Cup winners ...

. Colosimo was selected in matches leading up to the

2007 AFC Asian Cup The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its h ...

, but was not included in the squad for the final tournament although he was named as a standby reserve.

Personal life

Colosimo is of Italian descent, and has a wife named Bianca, with whom he has two children. Simon attended St Monica’s College in Epping up until year 10 as he then moved to the AIS in Canberra for a scholarship His younger brother Anthony Colosimo played in the youth of Melbourne Knights FC and with Bulleen Lions.

National team statistics

Summary

International goals

Honours

Perth Glory * NSL Championship: 2002–03 Pahang FA * Malaysia Super League:

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 6 ...

Sydney FC * A-League Premiership: 2009–10 * A-League Championship: 2009–10 Australia * OFC Nations Cup:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

* OFC U-20 Championship:

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

Individual *

Joe Marston Medal The Joe Marston Medal is an A-League award given to the player of the match in the A-League Grand Final each year. Introduced in 1990, previously the award was also given to the best player in the National Soccer League grand final. The medal is ...

: 2003,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Most Glorious Player Award: 2006–07 * PFA A-League Team of the Season: 2009–10

References

External links

Melbourne Heart profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colosimo, Simon 1979 births Living people Soccer players from Melbourne Australian people of Italian descent People of Calabrian descent Australian expatriate soccer players Australia international soccer players Olympic soccer players of Australia Carlton S.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Parramatta Power players Perth Glory FC players Royal Antwerp F.C. players Sivasspor footballers South Melbourne FC players Sydney FC players Melbourne City FC players National Soccer League (Australia) players Sri Pahang FC players Dempo SC players English Football League players Süper Lig players Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in India Australian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in India 1998 OFC Nations Cup players 2000 OFC Nations Cup players Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics 2004 OFC Nations Cup players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Goulburn Valley Suns FC players Association football defenders Australian soccer players