Matthew Špiranović

Matthew Spiranovic

Matthew " Matt" Spiranovic [ ʃpiranɔʋitɕ ] (* June 27, 1988 in Geelong, Croatian spelling: Matthew Špiranović ) is an Australian- English football player of Croatian descent.

Career

Association

Spiranovic played in the youth at the North Geelong Warriors, Keilor Park and the Melbourne Knights before the Victorian Institute of Sport in Melbourne and joined the local football school graduated.

2005 played a trained central defender for Melbourne Victory in a qualifying match for the FIFA Club World Cup against Adelaide, but got the age of 17 nor any of the three U-20 squad places in the A-League Team of Victory. He then moved to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS ) in the Australian capital Canberra.

There, the leaders of the 1st FC Nuremberg became aware of Spiranovic. After a trial, it was decided in late 2006 to undertake the tall defender (1.93 m). Since 1 January 2007, the Australians stands at the " Club" under contract. To be used in the Oberliga team can Spiranovic applied for a British passport before his move to Nuremberg. Thus he is regarded as EU nationals.

After he had delivered a convincing performance in several pre-season games for the second half of the season 2006/ 07, he was already in the second feedback round match on 30 January 2007, his debut when he came on against Borussia Moenchengladbach in injury time for Marek Nikl. On February 2, against Bayern Munich, Spiranovic was after an injury of Nikl first time in the starting lineup and played 45 minutes, twice he played in the season over a full 90 minutes. In the semifinals, and on May 26, 2007 final of the DFB Cup competition he came on as a substitute used and won with the 1st FC Nuremberg the trophy.

His first full season in Nuremberg was then little happy. On Matchday he first came to use and also played once in the UEFA Cup. But in his fifth season game because of an injury he had already fit again. For the rest of the season the club stuck in a relegation battle and the young Australian was also injured only used twice. Finally, the club had to make their way to the 2nd Bundesliga. In the 2008 /09 season he came there to eight inserts and also played in the second round of the DFB Cup against Bayern Munich, where he always stood in the square over ninety minutes. Then, however, forced him to a serious injury to a multi -month break, giving the club the second central defender failed in the long term. Only towards the end of the season he came back and was still used several times in the second team. Despite the changes in the defense of the 1st FC Nuremberg had seen over the season by far the best defense in the league and went after reaching the third place and successful relegation back to the first league. There, however, he came into the first round only to use one and changed into the winter break on loan to the Urawa Red Diamonds in the J. League.

National

Matthew Spiranovic was very early in the Australian youth national teams. In the U - 17 team in Australia he was a regular and was 17 times mobilized. In the U- 17 World Cup in Peru in 2005, he played all three matches of the Australian. After a year in the U-20 he was accepted at age 19 in the U-23 national team and on 23 May 2008, he even had his debut in the senior national team as a substitute in a friendly match, which shortly afterwards a second insert from the outset followed in the World Cup qualifiers. At the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 he competed in the Olympic team (U -23) in all group matches for his country.

Title / successes

• Weinstein Medal 2005 for the most outstanding young players in Victoria
• DFB Cup winner in 2007 with the first FC Nuremberg
• Promotion to the 1st League in 2009 with the first FC Nuremberg