Matthew Spiranovic

He was substituted off of the field for Michael Beauchamp in the 46th minute due to a corked thigh.

Matthew Thomas Spiranovic (born 27 June 1988) is a former Australian soccer player who played as a defender.

Spiranovic started his career with Melbourne Victory, making one competitive appearance before being released with the consent of coach Ernie Merrick to join German Bundesliga club 1. FC Nürnberg.

Spiranovic struggled in his new climate with both injuries and form, making just 28 first team appearances over four seasons with the German club, playing more frequently for the club's second side.

He had a brief stint with former junior club and Victorian State League Division 2 North-West side North Geelong Warriors, scoring one league goal in a 5–0 home win against Albion Rovers on 5 June 2004.

In 2004, he earned a scholarship with the Victorian Institute of Sport under coach Ian Greener, and was awarded the Weinstein Medal for best junior player of the year by Football Federation Victoria in 2005.

Spiranovic was selected in a 20-man Australia U–17 national team by coach Ange Postecoglou for a five-match tour of Chile against Palestino U–17, Universidad Catolica U–17, Colo-Colo U–17 and Chile U–17.

He has also represented Australia at the 2005 OFC U-17 Championship, the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship, the 2006 AFC Youth Championship, the 2008 Summer Olympics, the 2011 AFC Asian Cup where Australia finished runners-up and the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, in which he was part of the starting line up in the final of the tournament, hosted & won by Australia.

In addition to holding an Australian passport, Spiranovic also has a UK passport.

Spiranovic played junior football in Geelong and Melbourne and had represented his state, Victoria, at U–14 and U–15 Australian national championship level.

The tour was preparation for the 2005 OFC U-17 Championship.

The Qantas U–17 Joeys were then crowned champions of the 2005 OFC U-17 Championship and qualified for the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Peru, where Spiranovic played in all three group-stage matches of the competition.

He was also selected for a Four-Nations tournament in Peru against Costa Rica U–17, Ecuador U–17 and Peru U–17 in July 2005.

Having trialled and trained semi-regularly for Melbourne Victory, Spiranovic played as a 16-year-old the club's first friendly match against Oakleigh Cannons in late April in 2005.

The friendly match was preparation for Melbourne Victory's first competitive match a few days later, where he again featured for the club in their 2004–05 OFC Club Championship qualifier against Adelaide United on 7 May 2005.

Melbourne Victory lost the game 4–1 in a penalty shootout.

Ultimately, Spiranovic was not offered a contract by its coach Ernie Merrick for the club's inaugural 2005–06 A-League, as Merrick believed that Spiranovic was too good to play in the A-League.

In 2006, Spiranovic then graduated to the Australian Institute of Sport where he joined future Socceroo teammates Dario Vidošić, Bruce Djite, Nikita Rukavytsya and Nathan Burns.

During his stint at the AIS, Spiranovic received a call up to a 20-man Australia U20 team for a five-match tour of South America in August 2006.

Spiranovic participated in matches against Colo-Colo U–20, Universidad de Chile U–20, Chile U–20 and Argentina U–20.

The South American tour was preparation for the 2006 AFC Youth Championship, the qualification campaign for the eventual 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

On 5 October 2006, it had been reported in that Spiranovic was signed to 1. FC Nürnberg after training with club's first-team for a week and playing in a friendly against a second division club.

"Ernie (Merrick) not picking me up has done me a favour in a sense because I'll probably be better off in the long run. I trained with Victory for three weeks and Nurnberg for one and the difference is massive. You've got 12 international players at Nurnberg. There's the Czech captain (Tomáš Galásek), Brazilian and Croatian internationals."

– Spiranovic on signing with 1.

FC Nürnberg

Spiranovic joined 1.

FC Nürnberg in October 2006, where he was handed the number 23 shirt.

He also made two appearances in the 2006–07 DFB-Pokal, his second appearance coming in the 3–2 final victory against Stuttgart on 26 May, where Spiranovic was substituted onto the field for Marek Nikl in the 72nd minute.

Winning the DFB-Pokal meant that 1.

Spiranovic completed the 2006–07 season having made 8 league appearances.

He debuted in the 2006–07 Bundesliga in a 0–0 away draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 30 January 2007, being substituted onto the field for Marek Nikl in the 92nd minute.

Days later, Spiranovic made his full debut for 1.

FC Nürnberg in a 3–0 home victory against Bayern Munich on 2 February.

Spiranovic briefly played for 1. FC Nürnberg U-19 in the Under 19 Bundesliga South/Southwest, he debuted in a 2–1 away defeat against Karlsruher SC U-19 on 25 February 2007.

Spiranovic scored his first goal for the youth-team in a 5–3 away defeat against 1. FC Kaiserslautern U-19 on 5 April 2007.

Spiranovic played his first full 90-minute game in a 1–1 home draw against Wolfsburg on 28 April.

FC Nürnberg had qualified for the first-round of the 2007–08 UEFA Cup.

In search of more consistent playing time, Spiranovic then joined Urawa Red Diamonds making 13 league appearances and scoring 1 goal during the 2010 J-League season.

Spiranovic has made appearances for Australia during the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

At the end of his loan spell, Spiranovic signed permanently for the club in 2011 for a fee of €450.000.