Football: Del Piero primed for A-League debut

SYDNEY: The eighth season of Australia’s A-League season kicks off today amid unprecedented interest sparked by the signings of overseas stars Alessandro Del Piero, Emile Heskey and Shinji Ono. The Juventus legend, with 91 international appearances, may now be 37 but Sydney FC has secured a coup with Del Piero opting to come to Australia’s fledgling A-League rather than play for Liverpool in the English Premier League. “I’m happy to have signed with Sydney and for the next two years I will play with them,” said Del Piero. “A lot of clubs contacted me, Italian teams too and I thank all of them. But now my new adventure starts and I thank Sydney for this opportunity.” Del Piero is in line to make his A-League debut in New Zealand when Sydney FC travel to play Wellington Phoenix.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2012.