Patrick Kisnorbo

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Patrick Kisnorbo bigraphy, stories - Association footballer

Patrick Kisnorbo : biography

24 March 1981 –

Patrick Fabio Maxime Kisnorbo (born 24 March 1981) is an Australian football (soccer) player of Mauritian and Italian heritage who plays for Leeds United in The Championship of the English Football League. Kisnorbo is also an Australian international with 18 caps. He is also known by his nickname Paddy.

Kisnorbo plays at centre-back but in the past he has also played as a defensive midfielder. He was a fans’ favourite at Leicester City, accumulating over 100 appearances in his four years at the club. During his time with Leicester, he was at the centre of a number of refereeing controversies in which officiating calls were later shown to be wrong. He has also suffered some injuries that affected his playing ability for a time. Kisnorbo has represented Australia at international level in three tournaments; the 2002 and 2004 Nation Cups and the 2007 Asian Cup. He started his professional career at South Melbourne and later played for the Scottish club Hearts before joining Leicester and then transferring to Leeds United.

Kisnorbo won the 2009–10 fans Player of The Season award and also the Players Player Award for Leeds United in his debut season. During his first 2 years at Leeds, Kisnorbo wore a headband bandage when playing football as ‘tradition’ after initially wearing it after suffering a head injury on his Leeds debut.

National team statistics

Australia national team
Year Apps Goals
2002 4 0
2003 0 0
2004 3 0
2005 0 0
2006 1 0
2007 6 0
2008 0 0
2009 4 1
Total 18 1

Honours

Club

Leeds United

  • League One Runners Up (Promoted): 2009–10
Leicester City
  • League One Champions: 2008–09
Personal
  • League One PFA Team of the Year: 2009–10
  • Leeds United Fans Player of the Year Award: 2009–10
  • Leeds United Players’ Player of the Year 2009–10
International
Australia
  • OFC Nations Cup Champions: 2004
  • OFC Nations Cup Runners-Up: 2002

Career

Kisnorbo began playing football as a youth in his hometown with Essendon City and Bulleen. He then played in the South Melbourne youth team for two seasons before being selected for the senior team, which was competing in the now defunct National Soccer League.

Hearts

Following the collapse of the Australian National Soccer League, he made his move from South Melbourne to the Edinburgh-based Scottish Premier League club Hearts in July 2003, signing a two-year contract. He was recommended to Hearts by former player Dave McPherson. Kisnorbo quickly became a regular for the first team where he made 48 appearances in two seasons, scoring his only league goal in a 2–1 win over Hibernian on 24 October 2004.

Kisnorbo also played in the UEFA Cup against such clubs as Bordeaux, Feyenoord, Schalke 04 and Ferencváros, and scored a goal against Portuguese club SC (Sporting Club) Braga. He spent 18 months at Hearts, playing a total of 64 competitive games, before his contract expired at the end of the 2004–05 season. It was not renewed by the club.

Leicester City

Kisnorbo joined Leicester City in April 2005 after leaving Hearts, signing a pre-contract agreement in January. He followed former Hearts boss Craig Levein, teammates Mark de Vries and Alan Maybury across the border to the Midlands club.

Kisnorbo’s first goal for Leicester came on 15 October 2005 against Watford at Vicarage Road, which turned out to be the match winner. His initial appearances for Leicester were as a midfielder, and at first he failed to adjust and was booed by his own fans during a 2–1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday. However, a move back to defence resulted in a change in fortunes for Kisnorbo, and his partnership with then-teammate Paddy McCarthy was instrumental in helping Leicester avoid relegation to League One that season.