Kristian Sarkies

South Melbourne

Sarkies was born in Melbourne, Australia. He grew up in Dingley Village, a suburb in Melbourne's South-East 10 kilometres from his current club in Beaumaris. After impressing at the VIS in the youth league, he was signed to Australian Football powerhouse South Melbourne FC at 16-Years old. Sarkies made his league debut in round 5 against the Newcastle Breakers as a 16-Year old. Sarkies performance as a youngster for South led to his first international youth call up for Australia. In his one and only season with South Melbourne, Sarkies made 17 appearances and scored 1 goal. Following the demise of the NSL, Sarkies was allowed to leave South Melbourne and made the jump to the newly formed A-League. Sarkies played in the A-league Grand Final with Melbourne Victory, he scored his third goal for the club in his team's 6–0 thrashing of Adelaide in the 90th minute and scoring from long range. However it was upon collecting his championship medal that he made headlines around the country by kissing Australian Prime Minister John Howard on his bald head.

Adelaide United

On 30 March 2007, Sarkies signed a one-year deal with Adelaide United, linking up with his Australian U23 teammates Bruce Djite, Nathan Burns and Robert Cornthwaite. Days after his arrival, captain Ross Aloisi signed with new team Wellington Phoenix, paving the way for Sarkies to become a key player in the Reds midfield brigade. On 28 December after Adelaide's loss to Sydney 3–1 at…

Sarkies was called up by coach Guus Hiddink to be part of the "train-on" squad leading up to Australia's appearance at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He won his first cap in the dying minutes of Australia's 3–1 friendly win against Liechtenstein on 8 June 2006. He was then kept in Germany with the Socceroos after he was given a personal invitation from Guus Hiddink to stay with the team until after the first group match with Japan. Sarkies has represented his country at all youth levels and was involved in Australia's qualifying campaign for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. The first game of this campaign was against Chinese Taipei at Hindmarsh Stadium on 7 February 2007. Australia won the match 11–0, with Sarkies scoring four goals.

As of 29 December 2008

Melbourne Victory

A-League Championship: 2006–07 A-League Premiership: 2006–07 Adelaide United

Asian Champions League runner-up: 2008 Australia U20

OFC U-20 Championship: 2005 Australia U17

OFC U-17 Championship: 2003