1. Bruce Jose Djite is an Australian executive and former association football player.
32 Facts About Bruce Djite
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Bruce Djite was the Gold Coast United all-time second highest goal scorer and Adelaide United all-time highest goal-scorer.
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Bruce Djite played internationally for the Australia national team, debuting in 2008 and earning nine international caps, and has played for clubs in Turkey, China, Korea, and Indonesia.
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Bruce Jose Djite was born on 25 March 1987 in Arlington County, Virginia, United States.
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Bruce Djite moved to Sydney, Australia, with his parents when he was three years old, when his Ivorian-born father, Paulin, was appointed professor at the University of Western Sydney.
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Bruce Djite first played soccer during a four-month stay with his family in Ivory Coast in 1993, and loved it, so registered with his local amateur club.
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Bruce Djite later said "By the time I was 8 I knew soccer was all I wanted to do".
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Bruce Djite trained at the NSW Institute of Sport in Sydney.
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Bruce Djite completed all of his schooling in Sydney, and then attended Macquarie University for six months, before being offered an Australian Institute of Sport football scholarship, which took him to Canberra for nine months.
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Bruce Djite undertook a Bachelor of Business degree as an external student through Open Universities Australia, at the Griffith Business School at Griffith University over eight years, starting in 2011.
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Bruce Djite won Griffith Award for Academic Excellence, for maintaining a GPA of above 6.0.
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In November 2006 at age 19 years old, Bruce Djite unsuccessfully trialled for two weeks at SV Werder Bremen of the Bundesliga in Germany.
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Bruce Djite signed a three-year contract with Adelaide United in March 2007 and Bruce Djite scored his first goal for Adelaide United in a competitive fixture on 11 April 2007 in AFC Champions League against South Korea K-League champions Seongnam Ilhwa, deftly controlling the ball in the penalty box to volley it into the back of the goal net.
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On 15 May 2008, it was reported that Bruce Djite had been released from his contract with Adelaide United to sign for an unnamed European club.
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Bruce Djite scored his first league goal for Genclerbirligi in the 45th minute against Denizlispor on 25 October 2008.
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Bruce Djite scored 4 goals with an assist in 13 Chinese Super League matches, helping Jiangsu Sainty to 4th place in the league.
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On 26 July 2016, after showing good form in Adelaide United's championship-winning season, Bruce Djite signed with Korean club Suwon FC, joining countryman Adrian Leijer.
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In mid-2018, Bruce Djite moved to Indonesia, aged 31, and played for PSM Makassar.
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Bruce Djite is an American Australian and chose to play for Australia, although he would have been eligible for the Ivory Coast national football team, United States national football team and Togo national football team.
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Bruce Djite was a star striker for the Young Socceroos during their 2006 tournament in South America scoring five goals in thirteen caps and was chosen in the Australia Under-20 squad to compete at the 2006 AFC Youth Championships, in India.
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Bruce 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.
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Three days before his 21st birthday, on 22 March 2008, Bruce Djite received his first international cap for the Australia national team, the Socceroos, against Singapore, courtesy of national coach Pim Verbeek, as the replacement for, and heir apparent to Mark Viduka for the Australia national football team.
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Bruce 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.
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Bruce Djite was a quick bustling left forward or striker with great footspeed and acceleration who kicks and shoots the ball well with either foot.
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In 2011, Bruce Djite was among the top-goalscorers in the league, registering 10 goals and three assists in twenty-three matches.
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Bruce Djite was a member of the Professional Footballers Australia Board between 2012 and 2016, and became involved in negotiating the whole-of-football collective bargaining agreement.
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Bruce Djite was an ambassador for All Together Now, Australia's only national charity with the sole focus of erasing racism, for some time before 2019.
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On 3 June 2019, Bruce Djite returned to his former club, A-League side Adelaide United FC taking up the role of director of football.
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Bruce Djite signed two young newcomers, Al Hassan Toure and Louis D'Arrigo.
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Bruce Djite left the role in July 2021 to become the CEO of the Committee for Adelaide.
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On 30 November 2022, Bruce Djite was appointed as South Australian executive director of the Property Council of Australia.
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Bruce Djite married, and had two children under five as of 2019.