Aivi Belinda Kerstin Luik (born 18 March 1985) is an Australian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Swedish club

BK Häcken FF Bollklubben Häcken Fotbollsförening () is a women's football club based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Founded in 1970 as Landvetters IF () and known as Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC () between 2004 and 2020, the club became the women's section of the men' ...

. She represented the Australia national team, making over 30 appearances. She previously played for

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's football pyramid. When Queensland Lions F.C. were ...

and

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

in the W-League,

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a Danish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Brøndbyvester. Brøndby IF denotes the professional football section of Brøndbyernes ...

in Denmark's

Elitedivisionen The Danish Women's League () is a professional top-flight league for women's football in Denmark. It is organised by the Danish Football Association (DBU) as part of the nation-wide Danmarksturneringen i kvindefodbold (Kvinde-DM) and is placed a ...

Fylkir Íþróttafélagið Fylkir (, ) is a multi-sport club in Árbær, in the eastern part of Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. It features departments in football, handball, volleyball, gymnastics and karate. Kit The Fylkir official home kit is ...

in Iceland's Úrvalsdeild kvenna,

Notts County F.C. Notts County Football Club is a professional football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of English football, following promotion from the National League in the 2022–23 season. Founded in 1862, ...

in England's

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for i ...

in Norway and for Spanish Primera División club

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

Early life and collegiate career

Luik was born in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

to Estonian and Swedish parents and moved to the Gold Coast at a young age where she played junior football for Palm Beach and attended

Elanora State High School Elanora State High School is the high school serving the Elanora, Queensland, Elanora area of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1990, it currently has a student body of 950. Music department The schoo ...

. Following high school graduation, she enrolled at

Brescia University Brescia University is a private Catholic college in Owensboro, Kentucky, United States. It was founded as a junior college for women and is now a coeducational institution, offering undergraduate and master's programs. History Brescia Universit ...

in Kentucky before transferring to the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and prim ...

where she was a two-year starter for the

Nevada Wolf Pack The Nevada Wolf Pack are the athletic teams that represent the University of Nevada, Reno. They are part of NCAA's Division I's Mountain West Conference. It was founded on October 24, 1896 with football as the Sagebrushers in Reno, Nevada. H ...

from 2005 to 2006. During her senior year, she captained the squad and scored the game-winning penalty kick to win the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC) and lift the NCAA College Cup for the first time. Luik ended her collegiate career at Nevada having made 41 starts in 42 games. She scored nine goals, served seven assists for 25 points. , she ranked second in the history of the team for game-winning goals and seventh for goals scored. She earned All-WAC second team honors in 2005 and was named Nevada's most valuable player in 2006. Luik played for

FC Indiana F.C. Indiana, also known as F.C. Indiana Lionesses, is an American women's soccer team based in Indiana. Founded in 2003, the team is currently a member of the United Women's Soccer league. They play their home games at Newton Park in Lakevill ...

and Ottawa Fury in the

USL W-League USL W-League may refer to: * USL W League * USL W-League (1995–2015) The USL W-League was a North American amateur women's soccer developmental organization. The league was a semi-professional, open league, giving college players the oppor ...

Club career

Brisbane Roar, 2009–2011

In 2009, Luik joined

in the Australian W-League. During the 2009 season, she started in all eleven games for Brisbane. Brisbane finished in third place and advanced to the semi-finals where they defeated Central Coast Mariners 1–0. Brisbane lost the 2009 W-League Grand Final to

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

Brøndby IF, 2011–12

Luik moved to Europe where she played for

in Denmark's

during the 2011–12 season. Brøndby finished in first place with a record.

Melbourne City FC, 2015–2020

In 2015, Luik joined Melbourne City FC for their inaugural season in the W-League. During a match against the Melbourne Victory, she converted a free-kick to score the game-winning goal. City won all 12 of its regular season games and finished in first place during the regular season with Luik starting in the midfielder in all games. After advancing to the semi-finals, Melbourne City won the

2016 W-League Grand Final The 2016 W-League Grand Final was the final match of the 2015–16 W-League season and decided the champions of women's football in Australia for the season. The match took place at AAMI Park in Melbourne, Australia on 31 January 2016 and w ...

. She was named W-League Player of the Year by the club. After re-signing with Melbourne City for the 2016–17 season, Luik started in the midfield in 13 of the 14 matches she played, including the semifinal and Grand Final. Melbourne finished in fourth place during the regular season with a record and advanced to the semi-finals. After defeating Brisbane Roar in penalty kicks, Melbourne City advanced and won the

2017 W-League Grand Final The 2017 W-League grand final was the final match of the 2016–17 W-League season and decided the champions of women's football in Australia for the season. The match took place at nib Stadium in Perth, Western Australia on 12 February 201 ...

for the second consecutive year.

Notts County, 2016

In March 2016, Luik signed with English side

on a two-year deal. During the

2016 FA WSL The 2016 FA WSL 1 was the sixth edition of the FA WSL since it was formed in 2010. The WSL 1 was expanded to nine teams. The season started on 23 March and Chelsea were the defending WSL 1 champions. Manchester City Manchester Cit ...

season, she made 14 appearances including 9 starts. Notts County finished in sixth place with a record.

Pomigliano

In August 2021 Luik signed for newly- promoted Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club Pomigliano.

International career

Luik made her debut for the Australian national team in February 2010 in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. A year later she was part of the squad for the

2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup was held from 19–30 May at the Chengdu Sports Centre in China PR. The winners, Australia, runners-up, Korea DPR, and third-place team, Japan qualified for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. With this victory, Aus ...

, which Australia won. In the summer of 2021, she was part of Australia's squad for the delayed

2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

and made three appearances during the tournament. Shortly after the Olympic Games, in August 2021, she announced her retirement from the national team, having made over 30 appearances. Five months later, Luik returned from retirement and was named in Australia's

2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup was the 20th edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, the quadrennial international women's football tournament in Asia competed by the national teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). India was selected as ...

squad. Luik was selected for the Australian

Matildas The Australia women's national soccer team is overseen by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) s ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team which qualified for the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. The Matildas advanced to the quarter-finals with one victory and a draw in the group play. In the quarter-finals they beat

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

4-3 after extra time. However, they lost 1–0 to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in the semi-final and were then beaten 4–3 in the bronze medal playoff by USA. Luik missed Australia's second match of the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

due to concussion.

International goals

Honours

Brisbane Roar * W-League Champion:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Brøndby IF *

: 2011–12 Melbourne City * W-League Premier: 2015–16, 2019–20 * W-League Champion: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2019–20 Vålerenga *

Norwegian Women's Cup The Norwegian Women's Cup () is a single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Norwegian women's association football, football. It has been organised annually since 1978. The final is usually played on a Saturday, the day before the ...

: 2017 Australia *

AFC Women's Asian Cup The AFC Women's Asian Cup (formerly known as the AFC Women's Championship) is a quadrennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the oldest women's international football ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

* AFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

References

External links

* * *
Melbourne City FC player profile

Perth Glory profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luik, Aivi 1985 births Living people Australian women's soccer players Australian people of Estonian descent Australian people of Swedish descent Brisbane Roar FC (women) players Brøndby IF (women) players Perth Glory FC (women) players Melbourne City FC (women) players Notts County L.F.C. players Women's Super League players Expatriate women's footballers in Denmark Expatriate women's footballers in Iceland Expatriate women's footballers in England Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Australia women's international soccer players Women's association football midfielders Australian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Nevada Wolf Pack women's soccer players Vålerenga Fotball Damer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark F.C. Indiana players Levante UD Femenino players Liga F players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Avaldsnes IL players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players for Australia Sevilla FC (women) players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate women's footballers in Italy Serie A (women's football) players Pomigliano CF players IFK Kalmar players Damallsvenskan players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Toppserien players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate women's footballers in Norway Fylkir women's football players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Iceland Australian expatriate women's soccer players Ottawa Fury (women) players Expatriate women's soccer players in Canada USL W-League (1995–2015) players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Soccer players from Perth, Western Australia Soccer players from the Gold Coast, Queensland Sportswomen from Western Australia 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players 21st-century Australian sportswomen