Bruce Djite facts for kids
Djite with Australia
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Bruce José Djité | ||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 25 March 1987 | ||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Arlington County, Virginia, United States | ||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | Northern Spirit | ||||||||||||
| 2005 | NSWIS | ||||||||||||
| 2006 | AIS | ||||||||||||
| 2004–2006 | Marconi Stallions | ||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||
| 2006–2008 | Adelaide United | 20 | (6) | ||||||||||
| 2008–2010 | Gençlerbirliği | 33 | (6) | ||||||||||
| 2010 | → Diyarbakırspor (loan) | 9 | (0) | ||||||||||
| 2010–2011 | Gold Coast United | 23 | (10) | ||||||||||
| 2011–2016 | Adelaide United | 113 | (29) | ||||||||||
| 2011 | → Jiangsu Sainty (loan) | 13 | (4) | ||||||||||
| 2016–2017 | Suwon FC | 39 | (11) | ||||||||||
| 2018 | PSM Makassar | 9 | (0) | ||||||||||
| Total | 259 | (66) | |||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||
| 2006 | Australia U-20 | 13 | (5) | ||||||||||
| 2007–2008 | Australia U-23 | 13 | (2) | ||||||||||
| 2008–2015 | Australia | 9 | (0) | ||||||||||
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Medal record
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||
Bruce José Djité (born 25 March 1987) is an Australian business leader and former association football (soccer) player. He is currently the South Australian executive director of the Property Council of Australia.
Djite became well-known for playing in the AFC Champions League, where his team reached the final in 2008. He was also named the Australia League Young Footballer of the Year in 2008. He became the Gold Coast United's second-highest goal scorer ever and Adelaide United's all-time highest goal-scorer. Bruce also played for the Australia national team, playing nine international games. He played for clubs in Turkey, China, Korea, and Indonesia. In 2019, he returned to Adelaide United as their director of football for two years. Since then, he has held other important jobs in the business world.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Bruce José Djité was born on 25 March 1987 in Arlington County, Virginia, United States. When he was three years old, he moved to Sydney, Australia, with his parents. His father, Paulin, was from Ivory Coast and became a professor at the University of Western Sydney. His mother, Lyn, was born in Togo. Bruce also has two brothers.
Bruce first played soccer in 1993 during a four-month visit to Ivory Coast with his family. He loved it so much that he joined his local amateur club when they returned. He later said that by age eight, he knew soccer was all he wanted to do. In 2004, at 16, he joined the Marconi Stallions. He had previously signed with Northern Spirit FC in 2002–03. He continued playing with Marconi Stallions until August 2006. He also trained at the NSW Institute of Sport in Sydney.
Bruce finished all his schooling in Sydney. He then studied at Macquarie University for six months. After that, he received a football scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. He spent nine months there in 2006, training at the FFA Centre of Excellence with another player, Nikita Rukavytsya.
Later, starting in 2011, he studied for a Bachelor of Business degree online through Open Universities Australia. He took classes from the Griffith Business School at Griffith University for eight years. He even won the Griffith Award for Academic Excellence for his great grades.
Club Career Highlights
Adelaide United: Early Years
Starting Strong in 2006–07
In November 2006, when Bruce was 19, he tried out for two weeks at SV Werder Bremen in Germany, but it didn't work out. When he came back to Australia, he signed with Adelaide United for the rest of the 2006–07 A-League season. He scored three goals and made one assist in thirteen games.
Success in 2007–08
Bruce signed a three-year contract with Adelaide United in March 2007. He scored his first goal for Adelaide United in a big game on 11 April 2007. This was in the AFC Champions League against South Korean team Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma. He skillfully controlled the ball in the penalty box and then kicked it into the goal net.
He scored his first A-League goal for Adelaide United against Brisbane Roar on 25 August 2007. That game ended in a 2–2 draw. Adelaide United then reached the 2008 AFC Champions League final. Bruce had a great season, scoring 10 goals in 22 matches.
Playing in Turkey: Gençlerbirliği
Joining a European Club in 2008–09
On 15 May 2008, it was announced that Bruce was leaving Adelaide United to join a European club. On 21 May 2008, he signed a three-year contract with Süper Lig club Gençlerbirliği in Turkey for the 2008–09 season.
Bruce played his first game in the Süper Lig on 24 August 2008. It was a 1–1 draw with Kocaelispor. He scored his first league goal for Gençlerbirliği on 25 October 2008 against Denizlispor. The game ended in a 2–2 draw. Bruce was known for his amazing speed and strength in the penalty area. He finished the 2008–2009 Süper Lig season with 6 goals and two assists in twenty-eight games.
2009–10 Season
During the break before the 2009–10 Süper Lig season, Bruce mentioned that a club in Croatia, Hajduk Split, was interested in him, but he decided not to move. In the 2009–10 Süper Lig season, he played nine games on loan for Turkish club Diyarbakırspor and five games for Gençlerbirliği, where he made one assist.
Return to Australia: Gold Coast United
2010–11 Season
On 28 August 2010, it was announced that Bruce would return to Australia to play for Gold Coast United for three years. He took the place of New Zealand striker Shane Smeltz.
Bruce was given the number 11 jersey. He was a key player for Gold Coast United's attack. He used his incredible speed, strength, and ability to head the ball to score 10 goals and make 3 assists in 23 matches. This included an amazing hat-trick (three goals in one game) on 22 January 2011. He scored in the 37th, 80th, and 87th minutes in Gold Coast's 5–1 win against Newcastle Jets.
Adelaide United: Second Time Around
2011–12 Season
On 23 March 2011, Bruce signed a two-year contract to return to Adelaide United, the club where he started his A-League career. This contract was for the 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons.
He wore the number 11 jersey again. He scored his first goal back with Adelaide United on 19 November 2011 in the 2011–12 A-League season. He showed his great speed and strength to get past defenders and shoot the ball past the goalkeeper Tony Warner. This goal came in the 44th minute of a 1–1 draw against Wellington Phoenix. Bruce scored five goals and made two assists in twenty-four matches. His goals helped Adelaide United qualify for the 2012 AFC Champions League.
Loan to Jiangsu Sainty
In March 2011, because the 2011–2012 A-League season had a long break, Adelaide United allowed Bruce to go on loan to the Chinese club Jiangsu Sainty.
He was given the number 19 jersey and played his first game for Jiangsu Sainty on 3 April 2011. He scored his first goal for them on 30 April 2011, which was an equalizer in a 1–1 draw. He then scored the winning goal in a 1–0 win on 18 June 2011. Bruce scored 4 goals and made one assist in 13 Chinese Super League matches. He helped Jiangsu Sainty finish 4th in the league.
2012–13 Season
On 4 April 2012, Bruce scored a header in the 90th minute for Adelaide United in the 2012 AFC Champions League. This goal helped Adelaide United win 1–0 against South Korean club Pohang Steelers. This win put Adelaide United at the top of their group and moved them into the next round. Bruce then led Adelaide United's attack to beat J.League club Nagoya Grampus 1–0 on 29 May 2012, moving them into the quarter-finals.
On 1 December 2012, Bruce scored for Adelaide United against the Central Coast Mariners. He shot the ball from about 51.5 meters away, past the goalkeeper, to give Adelaide United a 1–0 lead.
On 3 February 2013, he scored again for Adelaide United against Western Sydney Wanderers. He dribbled past three defenders and then shot the ball from about 60.2 meters away, past the goalkeeper, into the net.
He played two more seasons for Adelaide United in Australia. In the 2012–13 season, he scored two goals and made two assists in 17 A-League games. He also played 10 times in the 2012 AFC Champions League, scoring once and making two assists.
Playing in Korea and Indonesia
On 26 July 2016, after a great season where Adelaide United won the championship, Bruce signed with the Korean club Suwon FC. In mid-2018, at 31 years old, Bruce moved to Indonesia and played for PSM Makassar.
International Career
Bruce Djite is an American Australian. He chose to play for Australia, even though he could have also played for the Ivory Coast, United States, or Togo national teams.
Australia U20 National Team
Bruce was a key striker for the Young Socceroos. In their 2006 tournament in South America, he scored five goals in thirteen games. He was also chosen for the Australia Under-20 team to play in the 2006 AFC Youth Championships in India.
Australia Olympic Team
Bruce was a main striker for the Australia Olympic football team during their qualification games for the 2008 Olympics. He helped the team, known as the Olyroos, qualify for the Beijing Olympics. He played thirteen games and scored two goals.
Australia National Team
Three days before his 21st birthday, on 22 March 2008, Bruce played his first international game for the Australia national team, the Socceroos. The national coach, Pim Verbeek, chose him as a possible future star to replace Mark Viduka. Bruce came on as a substitute at half-time. His best chance to score for Australia came when he went around the Singapore goalkeeper, but his shot was blocked.
Bruce's first game for Australia in a competitive match was on 1 June 2008. He came on as a substitute for Harry Kewell in Australia's 2010 World Cup Qualifier against Iraq. He then played again in the Socceroos' next match on 15 June 2008 against Qatar, coming on as a Super-sub in Doha. He played a total of nine international games for Australia.
Playing Style
"Bruce Djité is a fine football player, powerful and quick, intimidating and sharp around the penalty area. "Djité is a future Socceroo star, himself and many of his football colleagues are now multi-millionaires, playing in the most taxing of the world's professional football leagues."
As a player, Bruce Djite was known for his speed, strength, and good height. He was also skilled at heading the ball. He played for the professional football team, Gençlerbirliği S.K. in Turkey.
Bruce was a fast and strong left forward or striker. He had great speed and could shoot the ball well with either foot. He used his extreme physical strength and speed to get past defenders. In the 2007–08 A-League season, he won the Rising Star Award after scoring 10 goals. He then scored six goals and made two assists in his first season in Turkey. In 2011, Bruce was among the top goal-scorers in the league, with 10 goals and three assists in twenty-three matches.
Other and Later Roles
Bruce was a member of the Professional Footballers Australia Board from 2012 to 2016. He helped with important agreements for football players. During this time, he also started his own investment portfolio and worked as a commentator for Fox Sports.
In 2016, he worked part-time at PKF, an accounting firm in Adelaide, while still playing for the Reds.
Bruce was an ambassador for All Together Now, a charity that works to stop racism. He was also an ambassador for Little Heroes Foundation, a South Australian charity that helps sick children and their families. He also supported Roger Rasheed's Sports Foundation.
On 3 June 2019, Bruce returned to his old club, A-League team Adelaide United FC, as their director of football. In his first six months in this job, the club won the FFA Cup and started their A-League season well. Bruce signed two new young players, Al Hassan Toure and Louis D'Arrigo.
He left this role in July 2021 to become the CEO of the Committee for Adelaide.
On 30 November 2022, Bruce was appointed as the South Australian executive director of the Property Council of Australia. He still holds this position.
Personal Life
Bruce is multilingual, meaning he speaks several languages. He can speak French, English, and Turkish.
He is married and has two children.
Honours
Adelaide United
- A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup: 2007
- FFA Cup: 2014
- A-League Premiership: 2015–16
- A-League Championship: 2015–16
Individual Awards
- A-League Young Footballer of the Year: 2007–08
- Rising Star Award: 2007–08
- Best Team Man Award: 2012–13
