Adrian Leijer

Adrian Leijer
Leijer in the jersey of Melbourne Victory (2010)
Personnel
birthday	March 25, 1986
place of birth	Dubbo ,  Australia
size	186 cm
position	Central defender
Juniors
Years	station
	SASS Strikers
	Geelong
2002-2003	Victorian Institute of Sport
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2003-2004	Melbourne Knights	20 (0)
2005-2007	Melbourne Victory	41 (1)
2007-2009	Fulham FC	0 (0)
2009	→  Norwich City  (loan)	4 (0)
2009–	Melbourne Victory	70 (3)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
2003	Australia U17	11 (0)
2004-2005	Australia U-20	10 (1)
2006-2008	Australia U-23	23 (1)
2008	Australia	1 (0)
1 Only league games are given. As of March 30, 2012

Adrian Leijer (born March 25, 1986 in Dubbo , New South Wales ) is an Australian football player . The defender has been under contract with Melbourne Victory since 2009 .

Club career

Leijer was trained from 2002 to 2003 at the Victorian Institute of Sport and played in the 2003/04 season for the Melbourne Knights in the last edition of the National Soccer League . In 2005 he was signed by the newly founded club Melbourne Victory , which took part in the newly created Australian professional league A-League . His trainer there was Ernie Merrick , under whom he had already trained at the Victorian Institute.

In his first season he was a regular at Melbourne and played 20 of 21 games this season, the season the club closed on the penultimate place in the table. The following season should be much more successful. In the regular season they finished first in front of Adelaide United , which they then defeated in the major semifinal with 2-1 in addition. In the Grand Final they met Adelaide again, dominated the game at will and became Australian champions with a 6-0 win. Leijer was named “ A-League Young Player of the Year” for his achievements during the season .

After the league title, he moved to the English Premier League club Fulham for an unpublished transfer fee and signed a three-year contract. There he was only used in his first season in reserve and sat in two league games of the first team on the bench. In early February 2009 he was awarded to the second division club Norwich City until the end of the season , before returning to Melbourne Victory in Australia for the following season without having completed a competitive game for Fulham. In Melbourne, he immediately re-established in the defensive line and reached the championship final of the 2009/10 season with the team, in which he scored against Sydney FC to an interim 1: 1 equalizer before Sydney won the championship on penalties.

National team

Leijer took part with the Australian U-17 selection at the 2003 World Cup in Finland and played there all three games as a right-back in the preliminary round of his team. In 2005 he was in the 23-man squad at the Junior World Championships in the Netherlands, but remained without use. He trained with the Australian senior team in preparation for the 2006 World Cup in Germany , but was not considered for the tournament. Leijer made his debut in the senior national team in a friendly against Singapore in March 2008.

With the Olympic selection (U-23) , the defender qualified for the 2008 Olympic tournament in China and was appointed to the 18-man squad in July, but was not used during the tournament.

Achievements / titles

With his clubs

• Australian champion: 2006/07

Individual awards

• A-League Young Player of the Year: 2006/07
• Melbourne Victory Player of the Year: 2005/06
• Melbourne Victory Clubman of the Year: 2005/06

Web links

• Adrian Leijer in the database of weltfussball.de
• Profile at the Australian Association

Individual evidence

1. ↑ bbc.co.uk: Fulham swoop for defender Leijer (Aug. 4, 2007)
2. ↑ au.fourfourtwo.com: Victory Bring Back Leijer (Aug. 21, 2009)