Bruce Djite

Bruce José Djité was born on 25 March 1987 in Arlington County, Virginia, United States. He moved to Sydney, Australia, with his parents when he was three years old, when his Ivorian-born father, was appointed professor at the University of Western Sydney. His mother, Lyn, was born in Togo. He has two brothers. There, in 2006, he attended the FFA Centre of Excellence on a football scholarship with Nikita Rukavytsya. through Open Universities Australia, at the Griffith Business School at Griffith University over eight years, ==Club career==

Adelaide United 2006–07 season In November 2006 at age 19 years old, Djite unsuccessfully trialled for two weeks at SV Werder Bremen of the Bundesliga in Germany. Upon his return to Australia, Djite signed for Adelaide United for the remainder of the 2006–07 A-League season, scoring three goals with an assist in thirteen matches. Djite made his debut in the Süper Lig on 24 August 2008 in a 1–1 draw with Kocaelispor. Djite scored his first league goal for Gençlerbirliği in the 45th minute against Denizlispor on 25 October 2008. Fellow Australian James Troisi also got off the mark in a game which ended in a 2–2 draw. Djite consistently displayed his lethal acceleration, footspeed and strength in the penalty area and finished 2008–2009 Süper Lig season with 6 goals and two assists in twenty-eight matches played. Djite appeared on nine occasions on loan to Turkish club Diyarbakırspor and on five occasions for Gençlerbirliği with an assist in 2009–10 Süper Lig. Djite was given the squad number 11 and Djite would unanimously be key to the success of Gold Coast United's attack utilizing his lightning footspeed, physical strength and aerial ability in the last third of the football pitch to score 10 goals and 3 assists in 23 matches including a fine hat-trick in the 37th, 80th and 87th minutes of Gold Coast's 5–1 win and 24th match of the 2010–2011 season at Skilled Park Stadium in Gold Coast against Newcastle Jets on 22 January 2011. Adelaide United return 2011–12 season On 23 March 2011, it was announced that Djite had signed a two-year contract until April 2013 for two seasons, the 2011–12 and the 2012–13 seasons with the club that gave him his first A-League contract, Adelaide United. Djite was given the squad number 11 and scored his first goal for Adelaide United in the 2011–12 A-League on 19 November 2011 by showing his exceptional footspeed and physical strength in the penalty area before sharply shooting past the goalkeeper Tony Warner and into the back of the goal net in the 44th minute of the 1–1 match draw against Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium in New Zealand. Djite's five goals and two assists in twenty-four matches helped Adelaide United in qualifying for the 2012 AFC Champions League with the fifth and final goal being on 12 February 2012 at Skilled Park Stadium in the 42nd minute of Adelaide United's 20th 2011–12 season match and 2–1 win over Gold Coast United. Loan to Jiangsu Sainty In March 2011, due to the long 2011–2012 A-League off season, Adelaide United agreed for Djite to be loaned to Chinese Super League club Jiangsu Sainty. Djite was given squad number 19 and debuted for Jiangsu Sainty in the 2011–2012 Chinese Super League season on 3 April 2011 in the match against Beijing Guoan. Djite scored his first goal in the 18th minute of the match, an equaliser for Jiangsu Sainty in a 1–1 draw against Henan Jianye on 30 April 2011, followed by the winning goal in the 55th minute of the match in a 1–0 win against Chengdu Blades on 18 June 2011. Djite scored 4 goals with an assist in 13 Chinese Super League matches, helping Jiangsu Sainty to 4th place in the league. He scored the fourth goal for Jiangsu Sainty in a 4–0 win against Dalian Shide on 2 July 2011, and played his 14th and last Chinese Super League match in a 1–0 win against Shanghai Shenxin on 6 July 2011. 2012–13 season Djite scored a header in the 90th minute and the 1–0 match winner in the 2012 AFC Champions League for Adelaide United against South Korea K-League club Pohang Steelers, heading the ball past goalkeeper Shin Hwa-Yong, The goal helped Adelaide United to top of 2012 AFC Champions League Group E on 4 April 2012 and into the 2012 AFC Champions League Round of 16, where Djite led the Adelaide United attack to defeat J.League club Nagoya Grampus 1–0 on 29 May 2012, and into 2012 AFC Champions League Quarter-finals on 3 October 2012. On 1 December 2012, Djite scored for Adelaide United to lead 1–0 against reigning A-League champions Central Coast Mariners in the 17th minute shot from past the goalkeeper Justin Pasfield and into the left-hand corner of the net at Central Coast Stadium. On 3 February 2013, Djite once again scored for Adelaide United against Western Sydney Wanderers on 61 minutes by dribbling past three Wanderers defenders and then taking a left-footed shot from past goalkeeper Ante Čović and into the right-hand corner of the net. He finished two years and two seasons playing in Australia for Adelaide United in 2012–13 season with two goals and two assists in 17 2012–13 A-League appearances, and played 10 times, scoring once with two assists in the 2012 AFC Champions League. Suwon FC On 26 July 2016, after showing good form in Adelaide United's championship-winning season, Djite signed with Korean club Suwon FC, joining countryman Adrian Leijer. PSM Makassar In mid-2018, Djite moved to Indonesia, aged 31, and played for PSM Makassar. ==International career==

. Djite is an American Australian and chose to play for Australia, although he would also have been eligible for the Ivory Coast national football team, United States national football team and Togo national football team. Australia Olympic team Djite was the key striker and a mainstay in the Australia Olympic football team qualification matches for the 2008 Olympics and helped the Australia Olympic football team, the Olyroos squad, to qualify for the Beijing Olympics contributing thirteen caps and scoring two goals. courtesy of national coach Pim Verbeek, as the replacement for, and heir apparent to Mark Viduka for the Australia national football team. Djite was substituted on at half-time and his best chance to score a goal for Australia came when he rounded the Singapore goalkeeper but his shot in the penalty area was blocked by Lionel Lewis, the ball going out for a corner kick. Djite then again appeared in the Socceroos next match on 15 June 2008 against Qatar, coming on as a Super-sub for the 2010 World Cup Qualifier in Doha, Qatar. He earned nine international caps. ==Playing style==

{{Quote_box As a player, Djite was known for his speed, strength and good height with ball heading skills and played in Turkey for professional football team, Gençlerbirliği S.K. of the Süper Lig. He used his extreme physical strength and footspeed to out-run defenders in an A-League 2007–08 season, where he was crowned and awarded with the Rising Star Award, after scoring 10 goals in his first full season and then followed by registering six goals and two assists in his first Süper Lig 2008–09 season in Turkey. In 2011, Djité was among the top-goalscorers in the league, registering 10 goals and three assists in twenty-three matches. ==Other and later roles==

Djite was a member of the Professional Footballers Australia Board between 2012 (then aged just 25) and 2016, and became involved in negotiating the whole-of-football collective bargaining agreement. for some time before 2019. and Roger Rasheed's Sports Foundation. In the first six months in this role, the club won the FFA Cup and began their A-League campaign well. Djite signed two young newcomers, Al Hassan Toure and Louis D'Arrigo. On 30 November 2022, Djite was appointed as South Australian executive director of the Property Council of Australia. He remains in the role . ==Personal life==

Djite is a multilingual, speaking French, English and Turkish. He married, and had two children under five as of 2019. ==Career statistics==

Club International ==Honours==

Adelaide United • A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup: 2007 • FFA Cup: 2014 • A-League Premiership: 2015–16 • A-League Championship: 2015–16 Individual • A-League Young Footballer of the Year: 2007–08 • Rising Star Award: 2007–08 • Best Team Man Award: 2012–13 ==References==