Joshua Brillante (born 25 March 1993) 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 ...

who plays as a

defensive 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 Australian

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 ...

club

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

. He was named captain of Melbourne Victory ahead of the 2021/22 season. Brillante holds dual citizenship due to his Italian heritage.

Club career

Gold Coast United

Brillante made his

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 ...

debut for Gold Coast on 3 December in a 1–0 loss to the

North Queensland Fury Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from t ...

Newcastle Jets

On 12 May 2012 it was announced he had signed for

club the

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

ACF Fiorentina

On 15 July 2014, it was announced that Brillante decided to join Italian Serie A club

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

. He made his debut for La Viola against Roma in their 2014–15

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

opener at the

Stadio Olimpico The Stadio Olimpico (English: ''Olympic Stadium'') is the largest sports facility in Rome, Italy, seating over 70,000 spectators. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city. The structure is owned by the Italian Na ...

. He was subbed after 35 minutes.

Loan to Empoli

Joshua Brillante went on loan to Empoli whom are also in the Serie A during the January 2015 mid season transfer period.

Loan to Como

Initially starting the 2015–16 season on loan from Fiorentina to Empoli, Joshua Brillante signed a new loan deal on 28 August 2015 with Como of the Serie B for the remainder of the season. Joshua Brillante made his debut for Como on 12 September 2015 away to Livorno.

Sydney FC

On 12 July 2016 Brillante returned to the

, joining

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 ...

on a three-year deal. He scored his first domestic league goal against the

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat. Brisba ...

on 19 November that year. He scored his second goal of the season against Perth Glory in the semi final.

Melbourne City

At the end of his contract with

, Brillante was in talks to extend, but in the end was signed by Melbourne City, reportedly on a multi-year season contract.

Xanthi

In September 2020, Brillante left Melbourne City to join Greek club

Xanthi Xanthi ( el, Ξάνθη, ''Xánthi'', ) is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi (regional unit), Xanthi regional unit of the modern regions of Greece, region of East Macedonia and Thrace. A ...

under the coaching of

Tony Popovic Tony Popovic (born 4 July 1973) is an Australian association football manager and former player. He is the current manager of A-League club Melbourne Victory. As a player Popovic's usual position was centre-back. Starting in 1989 at Sydney Unit ...

Melbourne Victory

In July 2021, Brillante returned to his home country to play for the Melbourne Victory also under coach Tony Popovic. He was named captain ahead of the 2021/22 season despite not having played a competitive game for the team.

International career

In May 2018 he was named in Australia’s preliminary 26 man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

Gold Coast United * National Youth League: 2009–10, 2010–11 Sydney FC * A-League Premiership: 2016–17, 2017–18 *

A-League Championship A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professionalism in association football, professional men's association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Austral ...

: 2016–17, 2018–19 *

FFA Cup The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Australia ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Melbourne Victory *

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Individual

* FFA Male U20 Footballer of the Year: 2013 * PFA A-League Team of the Year: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2021–22

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brillante, Joshua 1993 births Living people Australian soccer players Australian expatriate soccer players Serie A players Serie B players Gold Coast United FC players Newcastle Jets FC players ACF Fiorentina players Empoli F.C. players Como 1907 players Sydney FC players Melbourne City FC players Xanthi F.C. players Melbourne Victory FC players Expatriate footballers in Italy Australian people of Italian descent Australia international soccer players Association football midfielders Association football fullbacks Sportspeople from Bundaberg