Harry Andrew Ascroft (born 1 July 1995) is an Australian professional

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 le ...

who plays as a

centre 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 ...

central midfielder 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

Dandenong Thunder Dandenong Thunder SC is a soccer club from Dandenong, a suburb in the South-East region of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They are an Albanian Australian-backed club. Thunder compete in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. In 2012, Dandenon ...

in the

National Premier Leagues The National Premier Leagues (NPL) is a national association football competition in Australia which acts as the second tier of the sport in the country below the A-League. The NPL consists of the highest level state league in each state-based ...

. Ascroft was born in Sydney, and played youth football with

Bankstown City FC Bankstown City FC is an Australian soccer club from the Sydney suburb of Sefton in New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the NSW League Two Men's and National Premier Leagues NSW Women’s, playing their home games at Jensen Oval. H ...

before starting his senior career with

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

. In 2013, he moved to the Netherlands to play for

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following ...

in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

and later moved back to Australia to play for

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 ...

in 2015. He has represented Australia at

under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

level.

Club career

In late 2013, aged 18, Ascroft signed with Dutch

side

. He was released by VVV along with fellow Australian

Travis Cooper Travis William Cooper (born 21 December 1993) is an Australian professional association football player. He plays as a striker or right winger for South West Queensland Thunder in the National Premier Leagues. Early life Cooper attended The ...

in early 2015 due to the club's financial difficulties On 29 July 2015, Ascroft was signed by

on a three-year deal. Ascroft made his Mariners debut against the

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

as the Mariners stole three points in the 3–2 win. He netted his maiden A-League goal as the Mariners were plundered 4–1 by

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

in Round 12. On 18 January 2018, Ascroft was released by Central Coast Mariners to join Maltese club

Balzan Balzan ( mt, Ħal Balzan) is a municipality in the Central Region of Malta, one of the so-called three villages, together with Attard and Lija. The village originally consisted of a group of small dwellings and farms but eventually grew, becom ...

. On 18 January 2019, Ascroft signed for

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

side

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chláirsigh na Finne) are an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. However, it was te ...

on a one-year deal, joining up with former Balzan team-mate Jacob Borg at the newly promoted Premier Division side.

International career

Ascroft was called up to the Australia U-20 team for the

2014 AFF U-19 Youth Championship The 2014 AFF U19 Youth Championship or AFF U-19 Nutifood Cup 2014 held from 5 September to 13 September 2014, hosted by Vietnam. 5 members of the ASEAN Football Federation have registered to take part in the competition, these being hosts Vietnam, ...

. Ascroft made his debut for the side in the tournament's group stage, scoring a goal in a loss to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

References

External links

* Living people 1995 births Australian men's soccer players Australia men's youth international soccer players Australia men's under-20 international soccer players Men's association football defenders VVV-Venlo players A-League Men players Central Coast Mariners FC players Balzan F.C. players Eerste Divisie players Finn Harps F.C. players Dandenong Thunder SC players Australian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Soccer players from Sydney {{Australia-footy-defender-stub

Club career

International career

See also

References

External links