Michael Ferrante (born 28 April 1981) is an Australian former

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 ...

. He is currently the senior men's head coach of

Essendon Royals SC Essendon Royals Soccer Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the North-Western Melbourne local government area of Moonee Valley. The club's senior men's squad currently participates in the National Premier Leagues Victo ...

Biography

He attended St. Joseph's College Melbourne from years 1992–1997 being a star week in week out for his school side. He came through the ranks at the Australian Institute of Sport and from there he moved on to the youth team at

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. He captained the team in one of the games of the 9–0 aggregate FA Youth Cup Final triumph over Coventry in 1999. The team included

Joe Cole Joseph John Cole (born 8 November 1981) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or winger in the Premier League, Ligue 1, League One and United Soccer League. He is regarded as on ...

Michael Carrick Michael Carrick (born 28 July 1981) is an English professional football manager and former player who is currently head coach of Middlesbrough. He is one of the most decorated English footballers of all time and is best known for his 12-year p ...

who went on to become established Premiership and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

players plus fellow Australian and current Australian international

Richard Garcia Richard Garcia (born 4 September 1981) is an Australian association football manager and former player. He is currently an assistant coach for Australia's U23 team, having previously managed A-League Men's side Perth Glory. As a player, Garc ...

. He had a spell in Italy with Comprensorio Stabia and

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

side Benevento Calcio before returning to Australia to join Fawkner Blues in 2004. He joined Melbourne's inaugural A-League squad for season 2005–06 and featured in all of

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), Victor ...

league games. Following the signings of

Fred Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rod ...

and Grant Brebner he was frozen out of the squad for the second season and struggled to make appearances. He made 21 appearances for Melbourne in 2005–06, scoring one goal, and five appearances in 2006–07. After Victory released him from his contract by mutual consent in February 2007, new A-League team

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

signed Ferrante on a two-year deal for the start of the A-League 2007-08 season. In 2010, he returned home to Melbourne, signing for local club Richmond Eagles mid-season. On 12 July 2012 he announced that a major back injury would prevent him participating in the VPL for the remainder of the 2012. By mutual consent his contract was terminated and Richmond released him to sign with Pascoe Vale who sit top of League State 1 and who are managed by his brother Vitale.

A-League career statistics

:''Correct as of 24 February 2010''

Honours

;

* A-League Championship: 2006–07 * A-League Premiership: 2006–07

References

External links

Wellington Phoenix profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrante, Michael 1981 births Living people Australian people of Italian descent Soccer players from Melbourne Australian expatriate soccer players Association football midfielders West Ham United F.C. players Melbourne Victory FC players Wellington Phoenix FC players A-League Men players Benevento Calcio players Expatriate association footballers in New Zealand Australian soccer players People educated at St Joseph's College, Melbourne Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Australian expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand