Jaiden Kucharski (born 25 June 2002) 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 lea ...

who plays as a winger for

Western United Western United Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club. The club is based in the western Melbourne suburb of Tarneit, the club aims to represent western Victoria, incorporating the western suburbs of Melbourne; the regional ci ...

Career

Kucharski made his NSW NPL1 debut in 2018 in a 0–5 loss to former

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

heavyweights

Wollongong Wolves Wollongong Wolves Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Wollongong, in the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW, the second-tier of soccer in Austral ...

. Kucharski signed a two-year scholarship contract with the Sydney

A-League Men A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as ...

's side after coming through the academy ranks and performing well in the National Premier League side, having scored 19 goals in the 2022 NPL season. He made his competitive debut for the senior men's team in the 2022 Australia Cup Round of 32 as a substitute against rival A-League side

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 Mar ...

Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Syd ...

, and scored in the penalty shootout which saw Sydney win and progress to the Round of 16. On 13 August 2023, Kucharski was included in the youth-bolstered Australia Cup squad to take on Central Coast Mariners at WIN Illawarra Stadium in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...

. The game provided 6 goals all together, with Sydney FC prevailing through the wind and rain to win 10–9 on penalties. In the 122nd minute, Kucharski received the ball on the wing and gracefully dribbled past numerous Central Coast defenders and curled a beautiful shot into the bottom corner to send the game to penalties.

Career statistics

Honours

Sydney FC *

Australia Cup The Australia Cup (currently known as the Hahn Australia Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the national association football, soccer single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Fo ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Individual * National Premier Leagues NSW Men's Player of the Year:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kucharski, Jaiden Living people 2002 births Australian men's soccer players Men's association football midfielders Australia men's youth international soccer players Sydney FC players Western United FC players A-League Men players National Premier Leagues players Australian people of Polish descent Place of birth missing (living people) Soccer players from Sydney 21st-century Australian sportsmen