Marcelo Adrián Carrusca (; born 1 September 1983), is an Argentine-Australian former 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 played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

. Born in

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...

, Carrusca started his professional career at

Estudiantes de La Plata Club Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "Students from La Plata"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata , is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, wh ...

before moving to Turkish side

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

in 2006. After spending a season on loan for Mexican club

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

, Carrusca returned to Estudiantes in 2009, playing one further season at the club and one on loan at Banfield. After one season with

San Martín de San Juan Club Atlético San Martín, mostly known as San Martín de San Juan, is an Argentine football club from the city of San Juan. The team currently plays in the Argentine Primera B Nacional, the second division of the Argentine football league system ...

, Carrusca moved to

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

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 ...

in 2012, where he played for five seasons. Carrusca has represented Argentina under-20, including in the victorious

2003 South American U-20 Championship The 2003 South American Youth Championship (Sudamericana sub-20) is a football competition contested by all ten U-20 national football teams of CONMEBOL. The tournament was held in Uruguay between 4 January and 28 January 2003, it was the 21st ti ...

team and the

2003 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in United Arab Emirates between 27 November and 19 December 2003. U20 Brazil claimed their fourth title. The 2003 championship was the 14th contested. The tournament was originally planned to be ...

. He obtained Australian citizenship in 2017.

Club career

Carrusca is a product of

's youth divisions. He made his first appearance for the club in 2001, and played 103 league games (12 goals) for the team until 2006. On 27 July 2006 he signed for Turkish club

, opting for a five-year contract worth around €1.8 million. He played one year for the club, but on 25 July 2007 Galatasaray manager Karl Heinz Feldkamp reported officially that he did not wish to keep Carrusca on the team and asked the board to sell him in order to open space for a new foreign transfer. After lack of first team appearances in Galatasaray, he was loaned for one year to

Mexican Primera División The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in al ...

team

for 2008–09 football season. He then re-joined Estudiantes to play with the team during the 2009-10 Argentine Primera División season and the

2009 FIFA Club World Cup The 2009 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2009 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was a football tournament played from 9 to 19 December 2009. It was the sixth FIFA Club World Cup and was played in A ...

. On 8 July 2010, Carrusca joined Banfield on loan from Estudiantes to replace recently transferred left winger

James Rodríguez James David Rodríguez Rubio (born 12 July 1991) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for Super League Greece club Olympiacos and the Colombia national team. He has been praised in the past ...

Adelaide United

On 3 August 2012, it was announced Carrusca had agreed to sign with

club

on an undisclosed two-year contract. Carrusca scored a goal and assisted a further two in a

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

performance during Adelaide United's 4–2 home win over

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 ...

on 7 December 2012, in Round 10 of the A-League. On 23 May 2017, Carrusca became an

Australian citizen Australian nationality law details the conditions in which a person holds Australian legal nationality. The primary law governing nationality regulations is the Australian Citizenship Act 2007, which came into force on 1 July 2007 and is applic ...

, and can be included as a non-visa player in the A-League. In July 2017 it was confirmed that Carrusca would not re-sign with Adelaide under new coach

Marco Kurz Marco Kurz (born 16 May 1969) is a German football manager and former player who played as a defender. He last managed Australian side Melbourne Victory. Playing career Kurz, who played as a defender, started playing football at SV Sillenbuch, ...

Melbourne City

On 12 September 2017, A-League club Melbourne City announced it had signed Carrusca on a one-year deal.

Western Sydney Wanderers

On 11 January 2018, Carrusca and Melbourne City mutually terminated his contract, and he signed for

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

until the end of the

2017–18 A-League The 2017–18 A-League was the 41st season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the 13th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season began on 6 October 2017 and ended with the Grand Final on 5 May 2018. Sydney FC won the A-Le ...

season.

Retirement

In May 2019, Carrusca announced his retirement from playing to focus on coaching. He now runs his own academy in Adelaide for children and young players.

International career

Carrusca played as an U-20 Argentina international. He scored 2 goals in 16 appearances and was a member of the Argentina Under-20 team at the

Honours

Galatasaray *

Turkish League Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

: 2007–08 Adelaide United *

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 ...

: 2015–16 * A-League Premiership: 2015–16 *

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 ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Argentina * CONMEBOL U-20 Championship:

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Individual * A-League PFA Team of the Season:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2013–14, 2014–15 * A-League All Star:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Notes

References

External links

Argentine Primera statistics
at Fútbol XXI
Statistics
at

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carrusca, Marcelo 1983 births Living people Footballers from La Plata Argentine footballers Argentine expatriate footballers Estudiantes de La Plata footballers Galatasaray S.K. footballers Cruz Azul footballers Club Atlético Banfield footballers Club Deportivo Palestino footballers San Martín de San Juan footballers Chilean Primera División players Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players Süper Lig players Expatriate footballers in Chile Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Mexico Adelaide United FC players Melbourne City FC players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players A-League Men players National Premier Leagues players Argentine emigrants to Australia Expatriate soccer players in Australia Argentina youth international footballers Argentina under-20 international footballers Association football midfielders Naturalised soccer players of Australia Marquee players (A-League Men) West Adelaide SC players