Nick Rizzo

For the Canadian curler, see Nick Rizzo (curler)

Nick Rizzo

Personal information
Full name	Nicholas Anthony Rizzo
Date of birth	9 June 1979 (1979-06-09) (age 32)
Place of birth	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Left Winger
Club information
Current club	APIA Leichhardt Tigers
Youth career
1995–1996	Sydney Olympic
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1996–1998	Liverpool	0	(0)
1998–2000	Crystal Palace	58	(6)
2000–2003	Ternana	1	(0)
2001	→ Ancona (loan)	1	(0)
2003–2004	AC Prato	26	(5)
2004–2007	MK Dons	63	(7)
2007	→ Grimsby Town (loan)	1	(0)
2007	→ Chesterfield (loan)	7	(0)
2007–2009	Perth Glory	26	(1)
2009	Central Coast Mariners	0	(0)
2009–present	APIA Leichhardt Tigers	46	(12)
National team‡
1995	Australia U-17	7	(2)
1999	Australia U-20	6	(1)
2000	Australia U-23	9	(4)
1998	Australia	1	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18 August 2010. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19 January 2008

Nick Rizzo (born 9 June 1979 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian Football (soccer) player who plays for the APIA Leichhardt Tigers in the NSW Premier League.

Biography

Club career

Rizzo playing for Crystal Palace in 1998

After being educated at playing school football at Waverley College in Sydney, Rizzo arrived in England in 1996 joining English giants Liverpool. Although not capped in the first team, the then 18 year old was an unused substitute on six occasions in the Premier League season 1997/98. He was then lured to Crystal Palace by Terry Venables for two seasons and featured in 58 games before moving to Italian Serie B side Ternana in 2000.

Following three injury plagued seasons with a knee injury in Italy he then joined English League 1 side Milton Keynes Dons (formerly Wimbledon FC) on a free transfer in November 2004, where he became a firm favourite with the fans. He is a lively and tricky player, known for his crossing and readiness to shoot on sight as well as his hard work and discipline. The summer of 2006 was not the best of times for Nicky, who featured in the Dons' first pre-season game against Derby County but suffered with injury later in the season before going on loan to league 2 side Grimsby Town and then league 1 side Chesterfield in 2007. It was announced on 8 May 2007 that Rizzo's contract with the Dons had been terminated by mutual consent.

He then signed a two-year contract with Perth Glory FC on 19 May 2007, and made his Perth Glory debut on 26 August 2007, coming on in the 69th minute for Naum Sekulovski in the game against the Newcastle Jets.^[1]

Rizzo was not offered a new contract at Perth Glory, and went on to sign a short-term deal for the Central Coast Mariners to play in their AFC Champions League campaign. It was announced on 20 May 2009, that Nick Rizzo's contract with Central Coast Mariners would not be re-signed.^[2]

Rizzo now plays with NSW Premier League side APIA Leichhardt Tigers.^[3].

International career

Nicky has represented Australia at the U17, U20, U23 level and is a full Australian international when he played for the Socceroos against Croatia in 1998. He also played in the 2000 Olympics for the Australian U23 team which failed to go past the group stages.

A-League career statistics

(Correct as of 2 February 2009)

Club	Season	League			Finals			Asia			Total
		Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists
Perth Glory	2007–08	12	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	1	1
	2008–09	14	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	14	0	0
Central Coast Mariners		0	0	0	-	-	-	1	0	0	1	0	0
Total		26	1	1	-	-	-	1	0	0	27	1	1

References

1. ^ Rizzo to Razzle in Perth
2. ^ Central Coast Mariners release four, sign Nicky Travis
3. ^ Nick Rizzo snapped up by Sydney Tigers - Football NSW Article

External links

• Central Coast Mariners profile
• Oz Football profile
• Nick Rizzo UK career stats at Soccerbase

Persondata
Name	Rizzo, Nick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	9 June 1979
Place of birth	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Date of death
Place of death