Ahmad Elrich ( ar, أحمد الريش; born 30 May 1981) is an Australian professional association

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Australian club

Parramatta FC Parramatta Football Club, commonly known as Parramatta Melita Eagles or just Melita, are a semi-professional Australian soccer club based in South Granville, New South Wales. The club was established by Maltese migrants in 1956 and played sever ...

. Born in Australia to Lebanese parents, Elrich represented his native country internationally, both at youth and senior level. Elrich played seventeen games for the

Australia national soccer team Australia national soccer team may refer to: * Australia men's national soccer team ** Australia men's national under-23 soccer team ** Australia men's national under-20 soccer team ** Australia men's national under-17 soccer team ** Australia ...

and played for

Fulham F.C. Fulham Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, London, which compete in the . They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spent at Loftus Road whilst Craven Cottage unde ...

in the English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. He is the older brother of professional football player

Tarek Elrich Tariq ( ar, طارق) is an Arabic word and given name. Etymology The word is derived from the Arabic verb , ('), meaning "to strike", and into the agentive conjugated doer form , ('), meaning "striker". It became popular as a name after Tariq ...

Club career

Australia

Elrich began his professional career at the

Parramatta Eagles Parramatta Football Club, commonly known as Parramatta Melita Eagles or just Melita, are a semi-professional Australian soccer club based in South Granville, New South Wales. The club was established by Maltese migrants in 1956 and played sev ...

, his home club, being born just west of the club's home ground. At the end of his first season with the Eagles, he toured Lebanon with a team of Lebanese-Australians. He was offered a contract with

Nejmeh SC Nejmeh Sporting Club ( ar, نادي النجمة الرياضي, lit=The Star Sporting Club) is a football club based in Manara, a district in Ras Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the . The club was established in Beirut in 1945, and ...

in Beirut, but declined in favour of returning to Australia. Returning to Australia he signed with new NSL club

Parramatta Power Parramatta Power Soccer Club were a professional association football club who were based in the Western Sydney city of Parramatta. They played in the National Soccer League from season 1999-00 until the league folded in 2004. The Power were ...

in the club's inaugural squad. Elrich cemented a first-team spot as a free-flowing winger here, including a memorable 2003–04 season where he was one of the league's leading assist getters, and played in the Grand Final at just 22. His time at the

was cut short, as the club and NSL met its demise.

South Korea and Fulham

Elrich then moved to South Korean side Busan I'cons. After a protracted contract dispute that saw him on the sidelines for five months, he made his move to the English

. Elrich signed a 3-year deal with

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

in the Summer of 2005 from

K-League K League (Hangul: K리그) is South Korea's professional football league. It includes first division K League 1 and second division K League 2. History Until the 1970s, South Korean football operated two major football leagues, the National S ...

club Busan I'cons. He was loaned out to

FC Lyn Oslo Lyn 1896 Fotballklubb () is a Norwegian football club and a department of the sports club Ski- og Fotballklubben Lyn based in Oslo, whose members also participate in Nordic skiing and orienteering. Until 2010, SFK Lyn had two football departm ...

from April to May 2006. After signing for Fulham and making his debut against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in a

match, Elrich's first team appearances were few and far between, but despite signing a 3-year contract in 2006, his future at the club looked in doubt after not being given a squad number for the 2007–08 season and

confirmed Elrich's departure on 4 September 2007.

Return to Australia

Elrich signed a contract with the

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

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 ...

as their

marquee player A marquee player is an athlete who is considered exceptionally popular, skilled, or otherwise outstanding, especially in professional sports. Its name comes from theater marquees, on which the names of the stars of productions in said theater ar ...

on 21 September 2007. Elrich scored his first goal, in his first home game, for the

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 Ma ...

on 21 October 2007, which he described as the 'best goal of his career'. At the end of the 2007–08 season, Ahmad left the

to move back to Australia, moving to

to link up with several former

teammates. After limited appearances and poor form, he was released by the Central Coast Mariners at the end of the 2009–10 A-League season.

Comeback

Elrich returned to soccer to play for semi-professional team Rydalmere Lions FC in

National Premier Leagues NSW 3 The NSW League Two Men is an Australian semi-professional association football league comprising teams from New South Wales. The league sits at Level 3 on the New South Wales league system (Level 4 of the overall Australian league system). The c ...

in 2017 after playing regional league soccer with Auburn District in 2016.

International career

Elrich represented Australia at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. His inactivity for

Fulham FC Fulham Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, London, which compete in the . They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spent at Loftus Road whilst Craven Cottage unde ...

was seen as the key factor in him not being selected for the Australian

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

squad. On 6 September 2006, Elrich suffered a serious knee injury whilst playing for Australia in an Asian Cup qualifier against

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

Personal life

Elrich was born on 30 May 1981 to Lebanese parents Mahmoud and Ahmad. He also has a younger brother, Tarek, who also plays professional football. In May 2011, Elrich was charged with a number of gun offences and possession of a drug after being pulled over on his motorcycle because of a faulty tail light. He was sentenced to four years and released on 12 October 2015.

Career statistics

International

International goals

:''Results list Australia's goal tally first.''

Honours and achievements

International

Australia *

OFC Nations Cup The OFC Nations Cup is an international association football tournament held among the OFC member nations. It was held every two years from 1996 to 2004; before 1996 there were two other tournaments held at irregular intervals, under the name ...

: 2004

Individual

Awards *

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 i ...

: 2003–2004 with

References

External links

* * *
Ahmad Elrich
at ozfootball.net * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Elrich, Ahmad 1981 births Living people Prisoners and detainees of Australia Australian people of Lebanese descent Sportspeople of Lebanese descent Men's association football wingers Australia men's international soccer players Australia men's youth international soccer players Australia men's under-20 international soccer players Parramatta Power SC players Busan IPark players Fulham F.C. players Lyn Fotball players Wellington Phoenix FC players Central Coast Mariners FC players National Soccer League (Australia) players K League 1 players Premier League players Eliteserien players A-League Men players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand Expatriate men's footballers in South Korea Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Australian expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Australian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in Norway 2004 OFC Nations Cup players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players for Australia Soccer players from Sydney Parramatta FC players Marquee players (A-League Men) Australian men's soccer players Rydalmere Lions FC players People from Parramatta