Brendon_Santalab

Brendon Santalab

Brendon Santalab

Australian soccer player

Brendon James Santalab (Croatian: Šantalab; born 9 September 1982) is an Australian professional football player who plays as a striker for Victorian State League Division 1 side FC Strathmore.

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Club career

Santalab originally started out as an apprentice at Parramatta Power before moving to Sydney United under the tutelage of Branko Culina. At the end of the 2003–04 National Soccer League season, he moved to K.V. Oostende in the Belgian First Division. After a brief stint, he moved to another Belgian First Division club, Sint-Truidense V.V. before moving to Hungary for a six-month period with Újpest FC. On 23 June 2007, Santalab was signed by A-League club Sydney FC on a two-year contract, thus reuniting him with Branko Culina.

Santalab made 23 appearances for Sydney FC between 2007 and 2009, scoring four goals. During a game against Adelaide United, Santalab scored a goal from outside the box, that curled into the top corner – a goal that was later ruled the 2007–08 season A-League goal of the year.[3] He scored another goal against Adelaide in the 2008–09 season at the Sydney Football Stadium, when he took a shot from 35 metres out, that slammed into the top corner. Sydney won the match 3–0. His fourth goal came during Sydney's 2–1 upset loss against Perth Glory.

On 14 November 2008, it was announced that Santalab had signed a two-year contract with then-new A-League side the North Queensland Fury for the 2009–10 season. It was announced by North Queensland, that Chinese Super League club Chengdu Blades may make an offer to him, before the start of the season.[4] North Queensland accepted an offer from Chengdu on 21 July.[5] He scored 9 goals during his 12 appearances with the Chengdu Blades.

Brendon Santalab #11 Western Sydney Wanderers

In 2012, Santalab signed with Chongqing Lifan for one season before signing with the A-League Western Sydney Wanderers.[6]

Santalab scored his first goal for Western Sydney Wanderers in the 7th round of the 2013–14 A-League season, losing to Brisbane Roar 3–1 at Suncorp Stadium.

On 14 May 2014, in the Asian Champions League game against Sanfrecce Hiroshima with 5 minutes to go, Santalab scored the equalising goal that sent Western Sydney Wanderers into the quarter finals of the AFC Champions League.[7]

In the 16th round of the 2014–15 A-League season during a home game at Penrith Stadium against Wellington Phoenix, Santalab scored the second goal in a 2–0 win for his first of the season.

During Santalab's five seasons with the Western Sydney Wanderers he was awarded the Western Sydney Wanderers Player of the Year in the 2016/17 and received two of the Club's Golden Boot Awards in 2015/16 and 2016/17. He is also the Western Sydney Wanderers highest goal scorer of all time.

In June 2018, Santalab signed a one-year deal with Perth Glory, reuniting with former coach and mentor, Tony Popovic.[8] Santalab won the minor premiership with the Glory, but missed a penalty in the shoot-out in the 2019 A-League Grand Final and subsequently lost the final.

In May 2019, Santalab signed for semi-professional side Dandenong City who compete in the National Premier Leagues Victoria.[9] When he joined City, they were in 13th place. Santalab ended the season with 8 goals in 13 games,[10] propelling the club to 7th place.[11]

In September 2019, Caroline Springs George Cross FC announced that Santalab would be joining the club for the 2020 season, also appointing him as the "Commercial & Football Sales Manager".[12]

Honours

Western Sydney Wanderers

Perth Glory

Individual

References

  1. [1]
    "Brendon Santalab". wswanderersfc.com.au. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  2. [2]
    "Brendon Šantalab". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  3. [3]
    Prichard, Greg (28 February 2008). "Loophole to shut as Griffiths nets awards". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 3 February 2017. [dead link]
  4. [4]
    David Williams' coincides with Brendon Santalab's likely departure
  5. [5]
    North Queensland’s Santalab signs with Chengdu Blades
  6. [6]
    BRENDON SANTALAB JOINS WANDERERS Archived 6 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  7. [7]
    Philip Micallef (14 May 2014). "Wanderers reach ACL quarter-finals". The World Game. SBS. Archived from the original on 14 May 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  8. [8]
    "Brendon Santalab to Perth Glory: Club legend moves on after Wanderers snub". Fox Sports. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  9. [9]
    "From the Finals Series to the NPL: Valeri and Santalab join new club". Hyundai A-League. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  10. [10]
    "Brendan Santalab - Player Statistics". SportsTG. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  11. [11]
    "Ladder for NPL VIC Men". SportsTG. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  12. [12]
    George Cross FC [@georgecrossfc] (16 September 2019). "Former A-League star Brendon Santalab signs with George Cross / In an ambitious move for both Brendon and the club, Brendon will wear the George Cross colours in 2020 and will also embark on a new career as Commercial & Football Sales Manager. / #georgiescourgagepic.twitter.com/6fmVDWVQ6L" (Tweet). Retrieved 16 September 2019 – via Twitter.
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