Benjamin Garuccio (born 15 June 1995) is an Australian professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Western United Western United Football Club is an Australian professional football club. The club is based in the western Melbourne suburb of Truganina, the club aims to represent western Victoria, incorporating the western suburbs of Melbourne; the region ...

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 ...

. Born in Adelaide, Garuccio played youth football at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

before making his professional debut for

Melbourne Heart Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the south–eastern Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne East, that plays in the A-League, the top level of Australian soccer, under licence from Australian Profession ...

. In 2016, he moved back to Adelaide to play for

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional Association Football, soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under North American professional sports league organization#Systems ar ...

. Garuccio signed for Scottish club Hearts in May 2018. He returned to Australia in October 2020 with Melbourne City. Garuccio represented the Australian under-20 side on many occasions.

Career

Melbourne Heart

On 19 September 2012, Garuccio signed for

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 ...

side

, who have since been rebranded as Melbourne City.

Adelaide United

On 16 June 2016, Garuccio returned to his hometown, signing a 2-year contract with

Heart of Midlothian

Garuccio signed a pre-contract agreement with

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club Hearts in May 2018. He scored his first goal for Hearts in a 5–0 win against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on 29 July 2018, with a 25-yard free-kick.

Melbourne City

Garuccio returned to Australia in October 2020, signing for Melbourne City.

Western United

In July 2021, Garuccio secured a mutual termination of contract with Melbourne City, so he could join rival Melbourne club

Career statistics

Honours

;Melbourne City *

Premiership:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Championship:

;Western United *

A-League Men 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 ...

Championship: 2021–22 ;Individual * A-Leagues All Star:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

* PFA A-League Men Team of the Season: 2021–22

References

External links

* * * 1995 births Living people Australian people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent Australian men's soccer players Soccer players from Adelaide Men's association football defenders Australian Institute of Sport soccer players A-League Men players Melbourne City FC players Adelaide United FC players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Western United FC players Australia men's under-20 international soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Scottish Professional Football League players {{Australia-footy-defender-stub