Joshua John Cavallo (born 13 November 1999) is an Australian professional association footballer 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 ...

and central midfielder for

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 ...

club Adelaide United. Cavallo has represented the Australian under-20 national team.

Early life

Joshua John Cavallo was born on 13 November 1999 in

Bentleigh East, Victoria Bentleigh East is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Bentleigh East recorded a population of 30,159 at the 2021 census. ...

. He is of Italian and

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...

descent.

Career

Youth

Cavallo represented both

Melbourne Victory FC Youth Melbourne Victory Football Club Youth is the youth system of Melbourne Victory based in Melbourne, Victoria. The team plays in the National Premier Leagues, the second level of Australia's soccer pyramid in Australia. The club also competes in ...

and Melbourne City FC Youth.

Western United

On 15 April 2019, Melbourne City announced that Cavallo would leave the club at the expiration of his contract at the end of the 2018–19 season. On 24 June 2019, new

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 Western United announced that Cavallo would join the club ahead of its inaugural season. He made his debut on 3 January 2020 in a 3–2 loss at his previous club. On as a 71st-minute substitute for

Apostolos Stamatelopoulos Apostolos Vasilios Stamatelopoulos (born 9 April 1999) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a forward for A-League Men club Newcastle Jets . Career Adelaide United On 22 September 2017, Stamatelopoulos signed a 2-year scholarsh ...

, he earned a penalty when fouled by goalkeeper

Dean Bouzanis Dean Anthony Bouzanis (born 2 October 1990) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for EFL Championship side Reading. He played junior football in Australia before joining English side Liverpool, appearing for the Ac ...

, which was converted by Besart Berisha. Western United announced that Cavallo was leaving the club on 10 February 2021 to seek more playing time with another A-League club.

Adelaide United

On 18 February 2021, Cavallo signed a short-term contract to play for Adelaide United. After a successful stint in the

2020–21 A-League The 2020–21 A-League was the 44th season of national level soccer in Australia, and the 16th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season was started on 28 December 2020 and concluded with the Grand Final on 27 June 2021. The st ...

, he signed a two-year contract extension on 11 May. He was rewarded with Adelaide United's A-League Rising Star award after a successful 2020–21 campaign, in which he started 15 games and made 18 appearances.

Personal life

Cavallo came out as gay in October 2021. At the time, there were no other openly gay male footballers playing professional top-flight football. He said in a statement, "I hope that in sharing who I am, I can show others who identify as LGBTQ+ that they are welcome in the football community."

Career statistics

References

External links

* 1999 births Living people Sportsmen from Victoria (Australia) Australian soccer players Association football midfielders Gay sportsmen Melbourne Victory FC players Melbourne City FC players Western United FC players Adelaide United FC players National Premier Leagues players A-League Men players Australian LGBT soccer players Australian LGBT sportspeople Australian people of Italian descent Australian people of Maltese descent People from Bentleigh, Victoria Soccer players from Melbourne {{Australia-footy-midfielder-stub