Alexander William Wilkinson (born 13 August 1984) is a retired Australian professional soccer player who is currently the Head of Football Operations at Sydney FC.[3]
Wilkinson was born and raised in Sydney and made his senior debut for Northern Spirit in 2002. After moving to Ryde City Gunners and Manly United in 2004, Wilkinson joined A-League club Central Coast Mariners, where he eventually became club captain and made over 170 appearances. After spending time in China on loan to Jiangsu Sainty, Wilkinson played for Korean club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors for 4 seasons (2012–2015), before returning to Australia to play for Melbourne City FC. After a brief stint at the club, Wilkinson moved to Sydney FC where he enjoyed the most success, and captained the side for four years until his retirement at the conclusion of the 2022–23 A-League Men season.
Wilkinson made eleven appearances for the Australian national team, including three at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Alexander's bright career began in Ryde East Primary School and Epping Boys' High School where he showed excellent talents on the field as a sportsman and off the field in his sportsmanship. His main junior football club was North Ryde and then with Gladesville Hornsby/Northern Spirit youth team where he played alongside Brett Holman. Two years after breaking into the first team of the Northern Spirit, the NSL would be shut down and went back to finding a job, where he would eventually work at a surf shop in his local Macquarie Centre.
On Sunday 12 November 2006, Noel Spencer was dropped from the starting eleven and in his absence Alex Wilkinson was named captain of the team. Spencer was then struck down with injury and Alex filled in as captain until round 18 when Spencer returned. He was named captain for Season 3 (2007–2008) and only injury has interrupted that (with ex-Socceroo Tony Vidmar and midfielder John Hutchinson filling in). On 17 March 2011 it was announced that Wilkinson had signed a short-term loan deal with Chinese side Jiangsu Sainty.[4] On 18 July he had signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with K League 1 team Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. The reported transfer fee paid to the Mariners upon completion of the deal is $450,000.[5] Following a lengthy and successful stint in Asia, Wilkinson signed with Melbourne City in February 2016, for the remainder of the 2015–16 A-League season.[6]
After Melbourne City were eliminated from the finals series Wilkinson signed a two-year contract with Sydney FC, rejoining former Mariners manager Graham Arnold[7][8]
In 2017, Wilkinson made sporadic appearances as captain on the pitch with skipper Alex Brosque off and vice-captain Sebastian Ryall injured for the majority of the season.
In July 2019, following the retirement of captain Brosque and after spending 3 years as vice-captain, Wilkinson was appointed captain of Sydney FC.[9]
In August 2020, Wilkinson captained Sydney FC in their sixth A-League Grand Final, winning the championship courtesy of a Ryan Grant header in the 100th minute. Wilkinson featured in the 2021 A-League Grand Final, a 3-1 loss to Melbourne City, before featuring for two more seasons as club captain until his retirement in May 2023.[10]
He represented Australia in 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship. In August 2006, Alex was selected for the first time to join the 22-man Socceroos squad, training for the Asian Cup against Kuwait.[11] He has also joined the 37-man training squad for the Socceroos against Qatar. He made his full national team debut against Ecuador in a friendly at The New Den in London on 5 March 2014.
He was a surprise inclusion for Australia's 2014 World Cup squad and started in Australia's 3–1 opening loss to Chile. After he cleared a certain goal off the line he was the first player in history to be involved in FIFA's new goal line review system which showed he successfully saved a goal.
On 30 March 2015 in a friendly match against FYR Macedonia, at the 72nd minute as captain Mile Jedinak was substituted off the ground, Wilkinson was handed the captain's arm band.
Central Coast Mariners
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
Sydney FC
