Osama "Ozzie" Malik ( ar, أسامة ملك ; born 30 September 1990) 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

defensive 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 ...

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 ...

for

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

club

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

Club career

Malik signed for Adelaide United's youth squad at the commencement of the

A-League 2008–09 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 ...

season. Prior to this he had been plying his trade for local clubs

Croydon Kings Croydon FC, formerly known as Croydon Kings, is an Australian semi-professional soccer club in Adelaide, South Australia. Croydon FC currently competes in the National Premier Leagues South Australia. They play home games at Polonia Reserve at C ...

and Adelaide Raiders where he made his senior debut at the age of 17. In early 2008, Malik spent two weeks on trial at Italian club

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

. Adelaide United manager

Aurelio Vidmar Aurelio Vidmar ( ; born 3 February 1967) is an Australian association football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Thai League 1 club Bangkok United. He is a former captain of the Australia national team and former coach ...

called up Osama to the first team squad as a replacement for injured striker

Paul Agostino Paul Agostino (born 9 June 1975) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He played the majority of his club football outside Australia, most notably with 1860 Munich in Germany for ten years. He played 18 times f ...

for the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

. There, Malik made his professional debut on 14 December 2008 in the match against

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Gamba'' comes from the Japanese , meaning "to do your best" or "to st ...

, replacing Cristiano in the 77th minute. On 3 June 2009, Malik signed a one-year deal with the

North Queensland Fury Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from t ...

as an under-21 player after playing most of the last year at Adelaide Galaxy. For the 2011–12 season, Malik signed with Adelaide United and manager

Rini Coolen Rini Coolen (born 10 February 1967) is a Dutch retired football defender and currently the Head of the Feyenoord Academy. Club career Coolen played professionally for Go Ahead Eagles, Heracles, De Graafschap and AZ. Managerial career He r ...

. However, on 17 May 2011

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional Association Football, soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under North American professional sports league organization#Systems ar ...

approached North Queensland Fury asking for an early release, which was granted, allowing Malik to play for Adelaide United for the remainder of the 2010–11 Season. Malik was signed by Melbourne City in January 2016.

Odisha

In June 2022, it was announced that

club

have signed Malik on a year-long deal. On 23 August, he made his debut for the club against

Kerala Blasters Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to as The Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of football in India. The club was established i ...

in the

Durand Cup The Durand Football Tournament, commonly known as Durand Cup, is an annual domestic football competition in India which was first held in 1888 in Shimla. Hosted by the Durand Football Tournament Society (DFTS) and All India Football Federation ...

, in a 2–0 win.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Adelaide United *

FFA Cup The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Australia ...

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 ...

Melbourne City *

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 ...

Individual *

Rising Star: 2011–12 * Best Team Man Award: 2013–14

References

External links

Adelaide United profile

Osama Malik
at

goal.com GOAL is an international association football news website for FC Barcelona fans founded in 2004 by Chicco Merighi and Gianluigi Longinotti-Buitoni. It is published in 19 languages, with 38 national editions and 600 contributors. It is owned by ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malik, Osama 1990 births Living people Association football midfielders A-League Men players FFSA Super League players Croydon Kings players Northern Fury FC players Adelaide United FC players Melbourne City FC players Al Batin FC players Perth Glory FC players Australian soccer players Soccer players from Adelaide Saudi Professional League players Australia youth international soccer players Australia under-20 international soccer players Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Australian people of Sudanese descent Australian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia