Nicholas Alberto Carle (born 23 November 1981 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian retired

football (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 t ...

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played for

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales, that plays in the National Premier Leagues NSW. The Club was founded as Pan-Hellenic Soccer Club in 1957 by Greek immigran ...

Troyes AC Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne (ESTAC), commonly known as Troyes, is a football in France, French association football club, based in Troyes, who play in Ligue 1, Football in France, the highest level of France's football league syst ...

Marconi Stallions Marconi Stallions Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Fairfield, Sydney, New South Wales. The club has been crowned Australian champion four times. The Stallions are the soccer team of Club Marconi, a socia ...

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 Australia ...

, Gençlerbirliği, Bristol City, Crystal Palace,

Baniyas Baniyas ( ar, بَانِيَاس ') is a Mediterranean coastal city in Tartous Governorate, northwestern Syria, located south of Latakia (ancient Laodicea) and north of Tartous (ancient Tortosa). It is known for its citrus fruit orchards an ...

and

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 ...

Club career

Carle is of Uruguayan and Chilean descent. As a junior, Carle won five national

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is t ...

titles. During his days as a teenage schoolboy, he played football for his high school, Patrician Brothers' College, Fairfield. He helped his school win the Bill Turner Cup competition in 1996.

Sydney Olympic

Carle began his career as a 15-year-old at

in the NSL, making his NSL debut on 5 October 1997. After coming on as a substitute in the 75th minute, he scored an injury time winner against

. He had a brief stint at French club

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near ...

before returning to Australia with

and Ryde City Gunners.

Newcastle Jets

When 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 competit ...

was formed in 2005 Carle joined the

. He played for the Jets in the first two seasons of the

and was popular with the Jets fans. Carle played as an attacking midfielder during his time at the

. In February 2007 Carle won the prestigious Johnny Warren Medal for the players' player of the year for his performance throughout the A-League 2006–07 season, beating

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), Victo ...

's Daniel Allsopp,

Archie Thompson Archie Gerald Thompson (born 23 October 1978) is an Australian former professional footballer. He also is serving as a club ambassador for Melbourne Victory FC. Born in New Zealand, Thompson played youth football at the New South Wales Institu ...

and Kevin Muscat. Carle also won the goal of the year award for his 70-metre run followed by a strike from 20 metres with the outside of his left boot, which proved to be the winning goal in the Round 10 clash against

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...

(Adelaide had only seconds earlier missed a penalty to win the match) and was arguably the catalyst for turning around the Jet's poor season up until that point.

Gençlerbirliği SK

At the end of the 2006–07 season Carle expressed his concern that the

season was not long enough. He felt that playing more games would improve his chances of selection for the national team and said that offers from Europe would be tempting. Despite being initially linked with Fenerbahçe in the media, Carle eventually signed with Gençlerbirliği. The

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club paid a transfer fee of about $650,000 for Carle, with the

also receiving a percentage of any further transfer fees should Carle be sold by the

Turkish 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 ...

club. The Newcastle Jets received a total of $800,000 for Carle after his transfer to Bristol City.

Bristol City F.C.

In early January 2008 Carle transferred to

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

side Bristol City for an undisclosed fee after impressing against

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

in an international friendly. He signed a contract for three and a half years, helping the Robins to the play-offs where they were beaten in the final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. Carle made the move because he was unhappy at Gençlerbirliği, especially because he was not able to see his family enough.

Crystal Palace

Carle's stay at Ashton Gate was short-lived however, moving to Crystal Palace for £1m less than six months later. Carle was unable to command a regular first team place under either

Neil Warnock Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English former football manager and player. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed sixteen different clubs from the Premier League to ...

or Paul Hart and in May 2010, Palace released him with two years remaining on his contract.

Sydney FC

Carle signed with

in May 2010 for a reported A$1.95m over three years. In his first season, Nick struggled with form and injuries in a season to forget, as Sydney slumped to 3rd last on the table. Carle scored a goal against Adelaide United to seal a win for Sydney, their first of the season, on 22 October 2011.

Loan to the UAE

Only weeks before the start of the 2012–13 A-League season, it was announced that Sydney FC had agreed to loan Carle out for an undisclosed fee to UAE club

Baniyas SC Baniyas Sports and Cultural Club is an Emirati Sports Club, based in Al Shamkha, in the Baniyas area of Abu Dhabi. The club competes in the UAE Pro-League. Presidency * SourcePresidency Honours President's Cup *Winners: 1991–92 Divisio ...

for 1-year. He will return to see out the remainder of his contract at Sydney FC during the 2013–14 season.

Return to Sydney FC

On 16 May 2013 it was announced that Carle would return to

for the 2013–14 season for the final year of his original contract. Additionally, it was announced that Carle had signed a one-year extension, keeping him at the club until the close of the 2014–15 season. "I’m really happy to be coming back to Sydney FC", Carle said. "I enjoyed my experience in Abu Dhabi with Bani Yas but Sydney is home and I want to finish my career with Sydney FC." On 3 June 2015, Carle was released from Sydney. In July 2016 Carle announced his retirement from professional football following his knee not healing properly after an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

injury. He accepted a job to work with the Sydney FC academy.

Career statistics

International career

Carle began his international career playing for Australia at under-17 level before representing Australia at the under-20s

2001 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Argentina between 17 June and 8 July 2001. The 2001 championship was the 13th contested. The tournament took part in six cities, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza, Rosario, Salta, and Mar del ...

. He also later played for the under-23s but missed out on selection for the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens. He earned his first senior cap against

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

in 2004 coming on as a substitute in the 84th minute replacing David Zdrilic. However it was his only appearance for the senior national team for three years. Carle regularly missed selection under Frank Farina and did not feature at all under

Guus Hiddink Guus Hiddink (; born 8 November 1946) is a Dutch former football manager and professional player. He enjoyed a long career playing as a midfielder in his native Netherlands. Retired as player in 1982, Hiddink went into management, leading both c ...

. Carle's form for Jets in the 2006–07

season saw calls for new coach Graham Arnold to bring him back into the national team. Carle ended three years in exile from the national squad by coming on as a substitute in a friendly against China in March 2007, and also made an appearance against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

in June, where in the dying stages of the game he attempted a rabona cross and completely missed, to the ire of commentators and spectators. Graham Arnold selected Carle in the Australian squad for the

2007 AFC Asian Cup The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its ...

. He made an appearance as a substitute during Australia's match against Japan, scoring in the penalty shoot out. Carle made his first starting appearance for the

Socceroos The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated ...

against

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against ...

, London on 18 November 2007. He put in a strong performance along with fellow former

player

David Carney David Raymond Carney (born 30 November 1983) is an Australian former association football midfielder and who is incoming coach for 2023 season NPL NSW side Wollongong Wolves FC. Born in Sydney, he began his playing career with the New South ...

. Under national coach Pim Verbeek, Carle's opportunities were limited and although he made the initial 30-man squad for the finals tournament in South Africa, he was subsequently omitted from the touring party.

Honours

Personal honours: * Johnny Warren Medal: 2006–2007 with

Goal of the Year: 2006–2007 with

References

External links

Sydney FC profile
*
FFA – Socceroo profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carle, Nick 1981 births Australian people of Chilean descent Australian people of Uruguayan descent Sportspeople of Uruguayan descent Australia international soccer players Australia youth international soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Australian expatriate sportspeople in France Australia under-20 international soccer players Bristol City F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Sydney Olympic FC players ES Troyes AC players Newcastle Jets FC players Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers Süper Lig players Marconi Stallions FC players Ligue 1 players National Soccer League (Australia) players English Football League players 2007 AFC Asian Cup players Sydney FC players Baniyas Club players UAE Pro League players Australian expatriate soccer players Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Soccer players from Sydney Living people Association football midfielders Marquee players (A-League Men) Australian soccer players