Tate Russell (born 24 August 1999) is an Australian soccer player 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

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

in the A-League.

Career

From

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wa ...

, Russell began his career in 2003 with the Wollongong Olympic Junior club before joining

Football NSW Football NSW is the governing body for soccer in the Australian state of New South Wales, with the exception of the northern regions of NSW (the governing body for which is Northern New South Wales Football). Football NSW is a member of the nati ...

's Project 22 in 2008. He soon joined the South Coast Wolves in 2010 and stayed with the club for four years before joining the youth ranks at

Western Sydney Wanderers

Russell was part of the 2017-18 Y-League championship winning Western Sydney Wanderers Youth team. He played the full game as they beat Melbourne City Youth 3–1 in the 2018 Y-League Grand Final on 3 February 2018. Russell signed his first contract with Western Sydney Wanderers on 6 June 2018, penning a two-year scholarship deal with the club. He made his professional debut for Western Sydney in their Round 11 clash with

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), Victor ...

on 5 January 2019, playing the full game as the Wanderers lost 2–1 at

ANZ Stadium ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand * ...

. Russell scored his first professional goal in a Round of 16 clash against

Sydney United Sydney United 58 Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club and current NSW NPL Champions based in Edensor Park, Sydney, New South Wales Australia. The club was formed as Sydney Croatia in 1958, by Croatian Australians in the area, but ...

in the

2019 FFA Cup The 2019 FFA Cup was the sixth season of the FFA Cup, the main national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. 32 teams contested the competition proper (from the Round of 32), including 10 of the 11 A-League teams (with Western United n ...

on 28 August 2019, driving a low volley into the bottom corner for the Wanderers' fifth as they ran out 7-1 winners. In pre-season training for the 2022/23 A-League season Russell suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and th ...

injury, ruling him out for the entire season. 530 days after the injury he made his return to the league in Round 1 of the 2023/24 season. Despite the injury he earned an extended 2 season contract to keep him at the Wanderers until the 2024/25 season.

International

Russell has four caps for the Australia U20 side.

Personal life

Russell is an

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

. He is the son of former

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

player Ian Russell.

Honours

Club

Western Sydney Wanderers *

Y-League A-League Youth, formerly known as the National Youth League and Y-League, is an Australian national soccer youth developmental and under-21s league, founded by Football Federation Australia and now run by the Australian Professional Leagues. T ...

: 2017–18

References

External links

Western Sydney Wanderers Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Tate 1999 births Living people Soccer players from Wollongong Australian men's soccer players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Men's association football defenders Indigenous Australian soccer players A-League Men players