Jackson Irvine #22

Profile

The Australia midfield leader plays with the calm authority and tactical nous of someone who has seen the grind of the lower leagues and now relishes playing on the grandest stages for club and country. Born and raised in Melbourne, battle-hardened in Scotland and England, Irvine is thriving in Germany. Since arriving at St Pauli in 2021, he has become the heartbeat of their midfield, the club captain, and a key player in their return to the German top tier. The promotion celebrations were so wild that Irvine forgot to take his passport to his own wedding two days later. The otherwise thoughtful and articulate Socceroo is not afraid to express his political and social views and, in April, hit out at Fifa for awarding a peace prize to Donald Trump. “As an organisation, you would have to say decisions like the one that we saw awarding this peace prize makes a mockery of what they’re trying to do with the human rights charter,” he said. Yet a lighter side hides in plain sight, with Irvine’s many tattoos including one on his right leg of Simpsons character Moe Szyslak.

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