Matthew John Jurman ( ; ) is an Australian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a

centre-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 captains

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

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 Australian ...

Club career

Youth career

After graduating from

Westfields Sports High School , motto_translation = Courage and Valour , established = , location = 406A Hamilton Road, Fairfield West, Western Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , type = Government-funded co-educational comprehensiv ...

in 2007, Jurman furthered his football development at the AIS before signing for the

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 f ...

youth team in 2008. In his first year at the club, Jurman helped

to their first youth championship in the competition's inaugural campaign and later earned himself a senior deal at the club under then manager, John Kosmina.

Sydney FC

Jurman made his senior debut for Sydney FC off the bench on 9 September 2007 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 ...

. Throughout his time at Sydney, he went on to make 22 appearances in the league as well as a number of appearances for the club in the

2011 Asian Champions League The 2011 AFC Champions League was the 30th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 9th under the current AFC Champions League title. The winners, Al-Sadd qualified for ...

. He scored his only goal for Sydney in a 2–1 away loss to

Kashima Antlers are a football club in Kashima, Ibaraki, currently playing in the J1 League, top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The name ''Antlers'' is derived from the city name, Kashima, which literally means "deer island". The club has fin ...

. Along with a strong finish to the season where he became a first team regular, Jurman is remembered for an incident that occurred during the 2010–11 season after Sydney FC striker

Juho Mäkelä Juho Mäkelä (born 23 June 1983) is a Finnish footballer who plays as a striker. He is especially known for his pace. Club career Early career Mäkelä started his career with Tervarit in his home-town, before moving to Veikkausliiga club H ...

scored a crucial goal to put Sydney FC 2–0 ahead over

Gold Coast United Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first era of Gold Coast Unit ...

. Mäkelä jumped the fence to celebrate with the club's fans followed by the rest of the squad. During the jubilant celebrations, the fence collapsed and pinned Jurman's causing fears that he may have broken his leg. Jurman eventually played on and confirmed after the game that there was moderate swelling and bruising but no significant damage sustained.

Brisbane Roar

On 10 February 2011, it was confirmed Jurman had signed for A-League club

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 a two-year contract. He would be available for the beginning of the 2011–12 season. He won another league championship the first season and left after the second season to re join Sydney FC.

Return to Sydney FC

On 2 May 2013, Sydney FC announced that Jurman would be returning to the club for a second stint after signing a 1-year deal to join the Sky Blues. Jurman made his first appearance in the 2013–14 season for Sydney away to

Melbourne Heart Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the south–eastern Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne East, that plays in the A-League, the top level of Australian soccer, under licence from Australian Profession ...

as a 64th-minute substitute for

Brett Emerton Brett Michael Emerton (born 22 February 1979) is an Australian former professional footballer who played for Sydney Olympic, Sydney FC, Feyenoord Rotterdam, Blackburn Rovers and the Australia national team. Able to play as a wide midfielder or ...

in a game that Sydney FC won 2–0. On 8 March 2014 Jurman scored his first ever

goal with a 59th-minute header to level the Sydney Derby at 1–1 after Shinji Ono's opening goal. Sydney FC would go on to win the game 3–1, their first ever home derby win.

Suwon Samsung Bluewings

On 3 January 2017, Sydney FC confirmed that Jurman had been released, allowing him to join South Korean side

Suwon Samsung Bluewings ''(The Blue, White and Reds)''Tricolor'' , short name = SSB , image = , caption = , founded = , ground = Suwon World Cup Stadium , capacity = 44,031 , owner = Cheil Worldwide( Samsung's subsidiary) , chairma ...

. During Jurmans time with the Suwons he received the K-League Newcomer of the Year Award after a fantastic season with the team.

Al-Ittihad

On 9 July 2018, the Saudi Arabia Professional League team

Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah) Al-Ittihad Saudi Arabian Club ( ar, نادي الإتحاد العربي السعودي), referred to as Al-Ittihad, is a professional football club based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, founded in 1927. The club has spent its entire history in the ...

announced Jurman would be joining them in Jeddah for the 2018–19 season.

International career

Jurman was first called up to the Australian squad in August 2017. He made his senior international debut on 5 October 2017 against

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in a 2018 World Cup qualifier which finished in a 1–1 draw. In May 2018 he was named in Australia's 23-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 d ...

for the

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

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

Career statistics

¹ – includes

final series statistics
² –

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

statistics are included in season ending during group stages (i.e. ACL 2007 and A-League season 2006–07 etc.); also includes

2005 OFC Club Championship The 2005 OFC Club Championship was the 4th edition of the top-level Oceanic club football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and the 1st since 2001. The tournament was held in Papeete, Tahiti. The preliminary rounds ...

statistics

Honours

Sydney FC *

Championship: 2009–10 * A-League Premiership: 2009–10 Brisbane Roar * A-League Championship: 2012–13 Australia *

AFF U-19 Youth Championship The AFF U-19 Youth Championship is an annual international football competition contested by the national teams of the members of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and occasionally invited nations from the rest of Asia. The tournament was pre ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Individual *

Player of the Season: 2015–16

References

External links

*
Football-lineups profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurman, Matthew 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Wollongong Association football central defenders Australian soccer players Australia international soccer players Australian people of Croatian descent Australian expatriate soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Expatriate footballers in South Korea Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia A-League Men players K League 1 players Saudi Professional League players Sydney Olympic FC players Sydney FC players Brisbane Roar FC players Parramatta FC players Ittihad FC players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Xanthi F.C. players Newcastle Jets FC players Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Suwon Samsung Bluewings players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia