Paul Wade

Paul Wade or ‘Wadey’ as he is known around the world had a remarkable international career, including the 1988 Olympic Games, the 1990 and 1994 World Cup campaigns and one of the toughest tasks in world football to ‘mark Diego Maradona’ (probably the best player in the world at that time) in the 1993 World Cup play off with Argentina.

In a career with over 100 appearances for his country, Paul Wade also won two National Soccer League championships and was voted NSL player of the year in 1988. No less than 46 of his 84 first class international matches were as captain of the Socceroos.

Born in Cheshire, England in 1962, Paul came to Australia in 1973 at the age of 11. Paul made his NSL debut in 1984 for Green Gully in Victoria & won the 1985 NSL Championship with Brunswick Juventus. Eight years later & another NSL Championship with South Melbourne, Paul finished career with Canberra Cosmos the most capped Socceroo of all time.

Of the thousands of fans who turned out to farewell this Australian soccer legend in his final match, there was one thing none of them knew. That Paul has epilepsy.

Paul Wade didn’t know it either, even though he had epilepsy since childhood. “Would I have ended up representing my country in all those matches, if I knew I had epilepsy? I just don’t know…everybody responds to epilepsy differently… some people let it change the whole way they see themselves and what they can do.”

“To deal with epilepsy well, you need the right attitude and you can’t do it alone … you need teamwork.”

Paul Wade’s passion for the game carried on after his retirement to both extensive work in the media as an expert TV presenter and in a variety of junior development roles.

Wadey now takes great pride in consulting to Sports Education Group (SEG) to develop the countries leading soccer development programs “Headstart”, the flagship advanced development program of the Paul Wade National Soccer Schools. Paul aims to help kids experience the joy of “playing like a socceroo legend”.

Paul Wade worked with Channel Nine and Sportal for their coverage of the 2006 World Cup in Germany. In 2010 Wade provided commentary for the Age newspaper of Melbourne in the lead up to the 2010 World Cup.

Paul Wade is a highly entertaining speaker who can also incorporate some very strong business and motivational messages.

International Career:

• 1986 – 1996: 118 appearances of which 84 were “A” internationals
• Debut v Czechoslovakia in Melb. 3/8/86 (24 years old)
• 2 World Cup campaigns. 1990 & 1994
• Seoul Olympics (1988)
• Retired v Tahiti in Canb. 31/11/96 (34 years old)

NSL Experience (345 games):

• 1984 Green Gully Vic.
• 28 games 4goals
• Soccer Action newspaper media player of the year.
• 1985-1986 Brunswick Juventus Vic
• 1985 NSL champions.
• 1987-1994/95 South Melbourne Vic.
• 1988 NSL player of the year
• 1989/1990 NSL Cup winners
• 1990/1991 NSL Champions
• 1992/1993 NSL minor premiers
• 1995/1997 Canberra cosmos

Paul Wade talks about:

• Teamwork
• Leadership
• Persistence
• How to win when others say you can’t