Valeri playing for Australia in 2010
| |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Carl Valeri[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1984-08-14) 14 August 1984 (age 39) | ||
| Place of birth | Canberra, Australia | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | O'Connor Knights | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2001 | AIS | ||
| 2002–2004 | Inter Milan | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2004–2005 | Inter Milan | 0 | (0) |
| 2004–2005 | → SPAL (loan) | 25 | (0) |
| 2005–2010 | Grosseto | 133 | (7) |
| 2010–2014 | Sassuolo | 70 | (4) |
| 2014 | Ternana | 8 | (0) |
| 2014–2019 | Melbourne Victory | 113 | (2) |
| 2019 | Dandenong City | 12 | (0) |
| Gisborne SC 2023-Present | |||
| Total | 349 | (13) | |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2000–2001 | Australia U17 | 13 | (1) |
| 2001–2003 | Australia U20 | 12 | (1) |
| 2004 | Australia U23 | 15 | (1) |
| 2007–2014 | Australia | 52 | (1) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 30 September 2019 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 27 May 2015 | |||
Carl Valeri (born 14 August 1984) is an Australian retired professional soccer player.
Valeri was born in Canberra and played youth football for Tuggeranong United and at the Australian Institute of Sport before moving to Italy to sign with Inter Milan in 2002. Valeri spent over ten years in Italy, most notably at Sassuolo and Grosseto.
Valeri made over 50 appearances for the Australian national team from 2007 to 2014, including at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He also represented Australia's under-23 side at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Valeri was born and raised in Canberra, the son of a former National Soccer League midfielder, Walter Valeri.[3] Carl attended Mary MacKillop College and later Lake Ginninderra College.[4][5]
Valeri was signed as a teenager by Italian giants Inter Milan. He was loaned out to various clubs in Italy to gain further experience, including Grosseto. He joined Grosseto permanently in June 2007.[6]
In January 2010 Valeri joined Sassuolo. Representing Australia in the starting 11 for the 2010 World Cup is his greatest achievement to date.[7]
In May 2013, Valeri and his club Sassuolo finished as Serie B champions, thus securing automatic promotion to Serie A for the first time in their history.[8]
In January 2014, he returned to Serie B with relegation battling Ternana until 30 June in hopes of securing a World Cup place with the Socceroos[9]
In June 2014, Carl Valeri returned to his home country signing a 3-year deal with Melbourne Victory.[10] Valeri was an integral part of Victory's 2015 Championship team, starting all 29 games that season.[11]
In September 2015 he was appointed captain of the team.[12] Following an interrupted 2015/16 season,[13] Valeri bounced back and became a regular starter for Victory in both the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons.
In April 2019, Valeri announced that he would retire at the conclusion of the 2018–19 A-League season.[14]
In May 2019, it was announced that Valeri had signed on for National Premier Leagues Victoria side Dandenong City, along with former A-League players Adrian Leijer and Brendon Santalab.[15]
Valeri has played for Australia at all international youth levels; Under-17, Under-20 and Under-23.
He captained the Australian Under-17 team, the 'Joeys', at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship and competed with the Under-23 squad, the 'Olyroos', at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
After being an unused substitute in an 2007 Asian Cup qualifier against Bahrain in 2006, the 22-year-old received his second call up to the senior Australian national team in March 2007, as a replacement for the injured defensive midfielder Vince Grella.
He made his international debut on 24 March 2007 in a friendly game against China, which Australia won 2–0. This made him the 501st player to be capped for Australia. He made his home debut in a friendly against Uruguay.[16]
Former Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has described Valeri as a key player of the future, and possible successor to Grella. This led to certain sections of the Australian media dubbing him "Mini Vinnie."
With Melbourne Victory:
With Grosseto:
With Sassuolo:
Individual
| Season | Club | League | Cup | Continental | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| 2004–05 | SPAL | Serie C1 | 25 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 27 | 0 |
| 2005–06 | Grosseto | 27 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 29 | 1 | |
| 2006–07 | 30 | 2 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 33 | 2 | ||
| 2007–08 | Serie B | 37 | 2 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 38 | 2 | |
| 2008–09 | 28 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 1 | ||
| 2009–10 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 10 | 1 | ||
| Grosseto total | 133 | 7 | 11 | 0 | – | – | 144 | 7 | ||
| 2009–10 | Sassuolo | Serie B | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 15 | 0 |
| 2010–11 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 23 | 0 | ||
| 2011–12 | 31 | 3 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 32 | 2 | ||
| 2012–13 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 5 | 1 | ||
| 2013–14 | Serie A | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 | 0 | |
| Sassuolo total | 70 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75 | 5 | ||
| 2014–15 | Melbourne Victory | A-League | 29 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 31 | 2 |
| 2015–16 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | – | 14 | 0 | ||
| 2016–17 | 27 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 0 | ||
| 2017–18 | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 33 | 0 | ||
| 2018–19 | 4 | – | 2 | – | – | – | 0 | 0 | ||
| Melbourne Victory total | 95 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 114 | 2 | ||
| Career total | 298 | 12 | 27 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 333 | 14 | ||
| Australia national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 2007 | 4 | 0 |
| 2008 | 10 | 0 |
| 2009 | 5 | 0 |
| 2010 | 10 | 0 |
| 2011 | 16 | 1 |
| 2012 | 5 | 0 |
| 2014 | 2 | 0 |
| Total | 52 | 1 |
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 25 January 2011 | Al-Gharafa Stadium, Doha, Qatar |  Uzbekistan |
6–0 | Win | 2011 Asian Cup |
