Nathaniel Caleb Atkinson (born 13 June 1999) is an Australian 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 plays as a

right 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 ...

for

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

side Heart of Midlothian.

Club career

Early career

Born in Launceston,

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, Atkinson was part of the youth setup at

Riverside Olympic Riverside Olympic Football Club, is a soccer club which represents Launceston in the National Premier Leagues Tasmania. The club also fields 37 teams across all junior divisions. Riverside Olympic play their home games at Windsor Park, in Launce ...

before joining the NTC program at

Football Tasmania Football Tasmania (FT) is the governing body for soccer in the Australian state of Tasmania. The federation oversees competitions across Tasmania, Tasmanian representative teams, and development of the sport in the state. The federation was kn ...

. In 2016, Atkinson joined the Melbourne City academy after a successful trial with the club. He played with the Melbourne City NPL side in the

NPL Victoria The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional association football, soccer league in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the high ...

from 2016 to 2017. Towards the end of the 2016–17 season, Atkinson began training with the Melbourne City first team.

Melbourne City

Going into the 2017–18 season, Atkinson was given the 37 shirt. He made his competitive debut for the first team in a FFA Cup match against Peninsula Power at

Dolphin Oval Dolphin Stadium (also known as Kayo Stadium and previously Moreton Daily Stadium under naming rights) is a sports stadium in the suburb of Kippa-Ring, Queensland, Kippa-Ring in the Moreton Bay Region, north of the adjoining Brisbane metropolita ...

on 1 August 2017. He came on as a late stoppage time substitute for

Bruno Fornaroli Bruno Fornaroli Mezza (; born 7 September 1987) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder for Melbourne Victory. Born in Uruguay, he plays for the Australian national team. Club career Fornaroli was born in ...

as Melbourne City won the match 2–0. On 10 December 2017, due to the suspension of Melbourne City's regular right-back

Manny Muscat Emmanuel "Manny" Muscat (born 7 December 1984) is a former professional footballer who last played as a defensive midfielder or right back for Green Gully in the NPL Victoria. Born in Australia, he represented the Malta national team. Club ca ...

, Atkinson made his

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 ...

debut for the club against the

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Ma ...

. Despite being named as a right back before the match, Atkinson played the match as a right winger as Melbourne City managed to win 1–0. After the match, Melbourne City head coach

Warren Joyce Warren Garton Joyce (born 20 January 1965) is an English football manager and former player, who is currently the lead coach of Nottingham Forest F.C.'s U18 Squad. As a player, he played in The Football League for Bolton Wanderers, Preston ...

praised Atkinson, saying "I thought he took his opportunity well. He’s one that caught my eye as soon as I came to the club." On 12 January 2018, after a promising start, Atkinson signed a two-year senior contract with Melbourne City. In September 2020, Atkinson signed a two-year contract with

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 ...

. However, three weeks later, his contract was terminated due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

situation, allowing him to sign another two-year contract with Melbourne City. On 24 December 2021, Atkinson signed a three-and-a-half year contract with

club Heart of Midlothian, with the deal going through on 10 January 2022.

International career

In January 2017, Atkinson was selected to train with the Australia U20 side. In November 2019 he was one of four players suspended by the Australia U23 due to "unprofessional conduct". Atkinson qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He was part of the

Olyroos 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 ...

Olympic squad. The team beat Argentina in their first group match but were unable to win another match. They were therefore not in medal contention. He was called up to the senior

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers on 24 and 29 March 2022. Atkinson was named in Australia's squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

in November 2022.

Honours

Melbourne City *

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 ...

Premiership:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Championship:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Individual *

Joe Marston Medal The Joe Marston Medal is an A-League award given to the player of the match in the A-League Grand Final each year. Introduced in 1990, previously the award was also given to the best player in the National Soccer League grand final. The medal i ...

: 2021

Career statistics

Club

International

Notes

References

External links

Melbourne City FC Profile
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Nathaniel 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Launceston, Tasmania Soccer players from Tasmania Australian soccer players Melbourne City FC players Perth Glory FC players Association football midfielders National Premier Leagues players A-League Men players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players of Australia 2022 FIFA World Cup players