International Migrants Day: A snapshot of the incredibly diverse Socceroos squad

In celebration of International Migrants Day, we have decided to give a breakdown of our incredibly diverse Socceroos squad with many players and their families hailing from all parts of the world.

International Migrants Day focuses on the courageous individuals and families who took a leap of faith and made their way to a new country as they went in search of a better life for themselves and future generations.

Millions of migrants from across the world have made the journey to Australia and contributed to making the country a much more diverse and inclusive place.

Their standout contributions to Australian sport can be seen in none other sport than football with many of Australia’s oldest clubs formed by these immigrant groups: the Greeks of South Melbourne and Sydney Olympic, the Italians of Marconi and Adelaide City, the Croatians of Melbourne Knights, Sydney United and Perth's Western Knights.

Throughout the 20th century, these clubs acted as new homes for migrants arriving in Australia as it gave them a place to play and share their love of the world game.

This rich migrant history is there for all to see in the current Socceroos’ crop, with players’ backgrounds ranging from the likes of South Sudan to Serbia.

Current Socceroos born overseas include Martin Boyle and Harry Souttar, who were both born in Scotland, while Awer Mabil is of South Sudanese descent but was born in Kenya prior to coming to Australia as a refugee.

Then there is Mabil’s childhood friend, Thomas Deng, who was also a South Sudanese refugee when he arrived in Adelaide as a youngster.

Milos Degenek was born in the Croatian town of Knin, while James Jeggo hails from Vienna where he spent two years with his hometown club Austria Wien and Apostolos Giannou was born in the Greek town of Naousa.

And, of course, even those Socceroos that were born in Australia come from rich and diverse roots.

Sydney-born Mustafa Amini boasts both Afghan (father) and Nicaraguan (mother) heritage, Brisbane-boy Kenneth Dougall is a blend of Scottish and Thai ancestry, Massimo Luongo has Italian (father) and Indonesian (mother) heritage, and Melbourne-born Ajdin Hrustic has a Bosnian father and Romanian mother.

There is also Tom Rogic and Danny Vukovic whose parents hail from Serbia while both of Brandon O’Neill’s parents were born in Ireland.

Adam Taggart, Jackson Irvine and Jamie Maclaren’s father’s all have Scottish backgrounds. Maclaren even represented Scotland at U19 level before pledging his allegiances to the Green and Gold.

And then there are those who have English backgrounds like Bailey Wright and Brad Smith.

Smith was another player who represented a different nation at youth level with 16 appearances amassed across England’s U17, U19 and U20 teams.

Aaron Mooy was also eligible to represent both Germany and Netherlands through his parents.

Another player with a similar story is Aziz Behich. As the son of Turkish Cypriot parents, he was eligible to represent Turkey, Cyprus or Australia.

Others do not have any migrant stories and come from the ‘big smoke’ like Mathew Leckie (Melbourne), Craig Goodwin, Brandon Borrello and Riley McGree (Adelaide), Mitchell Duke and Mathew Ryan (Sydney) and Trent Sainsbury (Perth).

While Rhyan Grant (Canowindra), Mitchell Langerak (Emerald), Andrew Redmayne (Gosford) and Josh Risdon (Bunbury) forged their path to the national team from more rural regions within Australia.

This is just a taste of the truly incredible migrant stories that run through the Socceroos.

They represent us as a nation on the grandest stages, but they also represent us as a society, a microcosm of Australia on a football field.

Australian football’s story is Australia’s migrant story, and the game will continue to be enriched by the contributions of communities from all over the world as new stars emerge to don the green and gold.

Can you guess all of the Socceroos' birth countries since 1922?

Take our quiz below:

More Socceroos quizzes:
Name every Socceroos captain since 1990
Name the longest-serving Socceroos