Mitchell Daniel Mallia (born 22 March 1992) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays for

Blacktown City Blacktown City Council is a local government area in Western Sydney, situated on the Cumberland Plain, approximately west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1906 as the Blacktow ...

in the NPL NSW.

Playing career

Club

Central Coast Mariners

On 31 January 2010 he made his first team debut for the Mariners in a 3–1 loss against

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

, becoming the youngest player to represent the Mariners in the

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 ...

Sydney FC

In 2011, after he was told he wasn't in the plans of Central Coast manager

Graham Arnold Graham James Arnold (born 3 August 1963) is an Australian soccer manager and former player. Arnold was appointed to work as an assistant coach of the Australian national soccer team in 2000. After head coach Frank Farina was sacked in 2005, Ar ...

, Mallia moved to

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 ...

to take up a contract in their National Youth League setup. After an impressive start to the youth season where he was the leading goalscorer, Sydney FC manager

Vítězslav Lavička Vítězslav Lavička (; born 30 April 1963) is a Czech football manager and former player. Playing career As a player, Lavička played for several Czech clubs, including Škoda Plzeň, RH Cheb and Sparta Prague. He played one season towards ...

gave Mallia his first Sydney FC senior appearance on 17 December 2011 against Newcastle Jets where he would then go on to make 6 appearances in the

2011–12 A-League The 2011–12 A-League was the 35th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the seventh season of the Australian A-League soccer competition since its establishment in 2004. At the end of the previous season, the North Queensland Fury wer ...

season. Mallia scored his first senior goal for Sydney FC on 19 February 2012 against Adelaide United in his team's 2–1 win at

Hindmarsh Stadium Hindmarsh Stadium (currently known as Coopers Stadium due to sponsorship from Adelaide-based company Coopers Brewery) is a multi-purpose stadium in Hindmarsh, an inner western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is the home of the Austral ...

. After impressing throughout the season, Mallia signed his first senior contract on 21 January 2012, sealing a two-year deal with Sydney FC along with fellow youngsters from the youth league team

Daniel Petkovski Daniel Petkovski (Macedonian: Даниел Петковски) (born 6 June 1993 in Sydney) is an Australian football (soccer) player. Club career Sydney FC Petkovski joined Sydney FC's National Youth League team in 2011 after being signed fr ...

and Hagi Gligor.

Blacktown City

In 2014, after the end of his contract with Sydney FC, Mallia signed with NPL NSW club

. Mallia scored a first half

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

on the opening match day of the 2015 National Premier Leagues NSW Men's 1 season against Sydney United in their 3–2 victory.

Perth Glory

Following

Joel Chianese Joel Joseph Chianese (born 15 February 1990) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or forward. Career Sydney FC Chianese made his senior debut in the first game of the 2011 Asian Champions League as a sub ...

being sidelined with a collar bone injury,

signed Mallia on an injury replacement contract on 11 October 2017. After Chianese's recovery from his injury, Mallia was released from the club.

Retirement

After spending nearly 5 years playing in the 2nd tier of Australian football, Mallia chose to retire before the start of the 2023 NPL NSW season due to continuous injuries.

Return to Blacktown City

On 12th December 2023, it was revealed that Mitch had come out of retirement to play for

for the 2024 NPL NSW season.

International career

On 7 March 2011 he was selected to represent the

Australia Olympic football team The Australia national under-23 soccer team represents Australia in international under-23 soccer and at the Olympic Games. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia (FA), which is currently a membe ...

in an Asian Olympic Qualifier match against

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. He is also eligible to play for the

Malta national football team The Malta national football team ( mt, Tim nazzjonali tal-futbol ta' Malta) represents Malta in international football and is controlled by the Malta Football Association, the governing body for football in Malta. The first official game playe ...

. In March 2018, Mallia was called up to the Maltese squad for two friendly matches, but never made an appearance.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

; Marconi Stallions *

Waratah Cup The Waratah Cup is a knockout cup competition in New South Wales, run by the governing body of football in NSW, Football NSW. Teams competing in the Waratah Cup come from the National Premier Leagues NSW, National Premier Leagues NSW 2, Natio ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

;

* National Premier Leagues:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

* National Premier Leagues NSW Championship:

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 ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

* National Premier Leagues NSW Premiership:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mallia, Mitchell 1992 births Living people Australian men's soccer players Australia men's youth international soccer players Australian people of Maltese descent A-League Men players Central Coast Mariners FC players Central Coast Mariners Academy players Sydney FC players Blacktown City FC players Perth Glory FC players Men's association football forwards Soccer players from Sydney