Steven Lustica (; born 12 April 1991) 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

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Gold Coast

On 24 April 2009, it was confirmed that Lustica had been signed by Gold Coast United, after impressing United's assistant coach,

Paul Okon Paul Michael Okon (born 5 April 1972) is a former Australian soccer player who played as a defender or midfielder. He previously captained the Australia national team and has represented Australia Olympic Football Team at the 1992 Summer ...

, during his tenure as under-18s coach at the Australian Olympic Youth Festival. On 19 September 2009, he made his senior debut for Gold Coast, coming off the bench in the 88th minute against

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Mar ...

Hajduk Split

On 8 June 2011, it was announced that Lustica signed a four-year contract with Croatian giant

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

. He made his debut against F.C. Barcelona on 23 July 2011. He made his

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establish ...

debut on 13 August 2011 against NK Istra in a 3–0 away win with Lustica getting an assist. On 5 June 2011, Lustica scored his first goal for

HNK Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Split, Croatia, Split, that competes in the Croatian First Football League, Cro ...

in a man of the match performance against NK Varazdin also getting an assist in the game.

Dugopolje (loan)

On 25 January 2012 it was announced that Lustica would join Croatian 2. HNL side

NK Dugopolje NK Dugopolje is a Croatian professional football club based in the town of Dugopolje on the outskirts of Split, a city on the Adriatic coast. They were founded in 1952, and they currently play in the Prva nogometna liga (English: First footbal ...

for the second half of the 2011–12 season. Lustica made 10 appearances for Dugopolje, scoring one goal and assisting the club in achieving promotion to

as they beat NK Pomorac Kostrena to the 2. HNL Championship by one point. Lustica returned to Hajduk Split at the conclusion of Dugopolje's season.

Brisbane Roar (loan)

On 26 January 2013,

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's football pyramid. When Queensland Lions F.C. were ...

in the Australian

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 ...

signed Lustica on a loan deal which would see him stay at the club until the end of the

2012–13 A-League The 2012–13 A-League was the 36th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the eighth season of the Australian A-League since its establishment in 2004. The 2012–13 season saw the introduction of a new Western Sydney-based team, the r ...

season. Prior to his signing, Brisbane were having a disappointing season, losing 10 of their opening 17 games of the season and picking up just 17 points. Reunited with former coach

Mike Mulvey Mike Mulvey (born 25 February 1963) is an Australian-English football manager, who is the technical director of South West Queensland Thunder. He had previously been in charge of clubs in Australia, Thailand and Malaysia. Mulvey is best known ...

, Lustica would help turn around Brisbane's season. The club lost only two league games in the remaining 10 games of the regular season, qualifying for the post-season

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, a feat which looked unlikely after the first two-thirds of the season. Despite the Roar being interested in retaining Lustica, Hajduk Split refused to release him and he returned to Hajduk in June 2013. Luštica scored two goals in his 12 appearances on loan with Brisbane.

Adelaide United

In September 2013, Hajduk Split changed their mind about releasing him and Lustica was granted a release from his contract which allowed him to return to the A-League with

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 ...

where he agreed a one-year contract for the 2013–14 season. Lustica impressed in his appearances for United, earning himself a place in the Team of the Week in Round 13.

Departure from Adelaide United

Lustica's time at Adelaide was to be short-lived however, when on 29 January 2014 he requested an early termination to his contract in order to make himself available to former club Brisbane Roar. As Lustica entered the final six months of his contract, he was in negotiations with Adelaide over a one-year extension. According to Adelaide, an agreement was reached in principle but not formalised. Around the same time, Brisbane approached him and an enquiry was made as to whether Adelaide would consider releasing him to join the club immediately, which Adelaide refused. Following this, Adelaide head coach Josep Gombau reported that Lustica had failed to attend training and declared that Lustica was no longer welcome at the club. Lustica was subsequently released from contract with Adelaide United on 2 February 2014.

Return to Brisbane Roar

On 4 February 2014, it was announced that Lustica had re-signed with former club,

until the end of the 2015–16 season. Lustica scored his first return goal for Brisbane Roar against the Newcastle Jets in a Round 6 clash which ended in a 4–0 victory for Roar, courtesy of an Henrique hattrick. He scored another goal in the 5–4 battering of Roar against

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, ...

. He rounded off his fairly prolific goalscoring season with a hattrick in a 6–1 win against the Central Coast Mariners at

Suncorp Stadium Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Queensland, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rect ...

, also providing an assist for Brandon Borrello. The first season of his second spell at the club, Lustica made 25 appearances, scoring five goals and notching two assists. Lustica opened his goal tally for the 2015–16 season netting a composed finish against the

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League Men, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the 2007–08 ...

, a 2–1 win to the Roar, as they braved hot conditions in Cairns. Brisbane Roar tabled Lustica a new contract offer in December 2015.

Western Sydney Wanderers

On 23 May 2016, Lustica signed with the

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in t ...

on a 2-year contract. The versatile midfielder will forever be etched in Wanderers history for his goal against

English Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

giants

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in July 2017. On 30 June 2018, after making 35 appearances in all competitions, Lustica departed from Western Sydney Wanderers to pursue offers in Europe.

Inter Zaprešić

In July 2018, shortly after leaving

, Lustica joined Croatian club Inter Zaprešić. Romanian top-tier team F.C Botosani offered Lustica a contract that he declined.

Personal life

Lustica is of

Croat The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

heritage. He is related to former

player

Slavko Luštica Slavko Luštica (11 January 1923 – 14 July 1992) was a footballer who represented Yugoslavia at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He played club football in Yugoslavia with NK Osvit and Hajduk Split. Playing career Club Born in a small fishing com ...

, who was his grandfather Božidar's cousin.

Career statistics

Honours

Player

Sydney FC Youth * National Youth League Championship: 2008–09 * National Youth League Premiership: 2008–09 Gold Coast Youth * National Youth League Championship: 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

* National Youth League Premiership:

Dugopolje *

Croatian Second Football League The Croatian Second Football League (), commonly Druga NL or 2. NL, is the third tier of the Croatian football league system. The league was established in 1991, following the dissolution of the Yugoslav League. It is operated by the Croatian ...

: 2011–12 Brisbane Roar *

Championship: 2013–14 *

Premiership: 2013–14 Western United *

A-League Men A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as ...

Championship: 2021–22 Australia U-20 * AFC U-20 Asian Cup: runner-up

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 ...

AFF U-19 Youth Championship The ASEAN U-19 Boys' Championship (formerly AFF U-19 Youth Championship) is an annual international football competition contested by the national teams of the members of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and occasionally invited nations fro ...

Individual

* National Youth League Player of the Season:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lustica, Steven 1991 births Living people Australian men's soccer players Australian people of Croatian descent Gold Coast United FC players HNK Hajduk Split players NK Dugopolje players NK Inter Zaprešić players A-League Men players Croatian Football League players First Football League (Croatia) players Uzbekistan Super League players Brisbane Roar FC players Adelaide United FC players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Qizilqum FC players Western United FC players Men's association football midfielders Australian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Uzbekistan Sportspeople from Canberra Soccer players from the Australian Capital Territory Australia men's under-20 international soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Australian expatriate sportspeople in Uzbekistan 21st-century Australian sportsmen