Socceroos winger Awer Mabil has joined the Czech Republic’s most successful club Sparta Prague on loan with an option to buy from La Liga side Cadiz for the remainder of the 2022/23 season.
The 27-year-old who appeared twice for the Socceroos at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar makes the switch after playing just five times for Cadiz in the first half of the 2022/23 season.
Mabil has been capped 31 times by the Socceroos, scoring eight goals with the winger’s most recent strike coming in a 1-0 win over New Zealand at Suncorp Stadium in September last year.
Sparta is the eighth club of Mabil’s career which has seen him play in the top flight in Denmark, Portugal, Turkey and Spain.
Sparta Prague is the most successful club in Czech Republic with a record 36 league titles to their name, in Europe only Benfica (37), Olympiacos (47), Celtic (52), Rangers (55) and Linfield (56) have been crowned domestic Champions more times than Sparta.
Sparta currently sit third on the the Czech First League table, seven points shy of league leaders Viktoria Plzen.
Mabil links up with a familiar face at Sparta in Head Coach Brian Prisk, who coached Mabil at FC Midtjylland in Denmark.
"I played my best football under coach Prisk. We know each other really well. He's an ambitious guy, so we have those ambitions in common. And it will be our goal to prove it here," Mabil told Sparta’s website.
I want to fight for titles. So the main motivation why I came here is to win, to fight for the title and also to play European cups again. I played the Champions League with my former team in Denmark.
“It was a great feeling and I would really like to experience it again. That's my goal here.”
Sparta sporting director and former Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky said: “Awer is an attacking winger, a hard-working player who can go over opponents in one-on-ones.
“He has experience from international matches, which he played both in the jersey of the national team of Australia and in UEFA competitions. He is a team player with a winning mentality. The advantage is that the coach knows him well from working together in Midtjylland.”
Sparta’s next match league match is on the road against Sigma Olomouc on the 29th of January.