Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Melbourne Victory favourite Nishan Velupillay has become the latest World Cup Socceroo to be snapped up by a European club, after a deal with third-tier FC Ingolstadt 04 was completed.
After seven years representing his boyhood club, ending up with 141 senior appearances and 25 goals, Victory saluted their departing star on Wednesday night, hailing Velupillay as “one of our own”.
There will doubtless be disappointment, though, at losing the services of a 25-year-old whose rise from being a Victory graduate had taken him all the way to the World Cup in North America, where he played in two matches.
A Melburnian who was the first person of Tamil heritage to play at a World Cup, Velupillay made his A-League debut against Sydney FC in 2021.
He’s become a favourite there, lifting the Australia Cup and reaching consecutive A-League grand finals in 2024 and 2025, before going on to captain the side in an Original Rivalry fixture versus Adelaide United.
Vellupillay is the 10th player from the Socceroos’ World Cup squad to make a close-season move, with Australian internationals seemingly flavour of the last couple of months.
If there’s any surprise, it’s just perhaps that Velupillay hasn’t joined a higher-level club in Europe. Ingolstadt are in 3.Liga, but have demonstrated they’re an innovative club after hiring Sabrina Wittmann, who’s become the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.
Velupillay sent an emotional message to the club, saying: “I want to thank everyone connected with Melbourne Victory for making me the person that I am today.
“The coaches and staff have helped me develop and excel; my teammates have inspired and pushed me; and the members and fans have given me more support than I could ever have imagined.
“Playing for the club, who I have always supported, in the city I call home, has been a huge honour, and I will be following Victory wherever I go.”
The club’s director of football John Didulica added: “We are so proud of the journey that Nish has been on with Melbourne Victory – from being part of our junior set-up to playing NPL3 to starting for the Socceroos at a FIFA World Cup.
“Everyone at the Club is obviously very close to Nish, and it is clear that he has earned the right, through his contribution to Victory over many years and his emergence with the Socceroos, to experience European football and live that dream.
“I remember Nish scoring the winner at Hindmarsh in 2021, which was his first ever goal for the Club and the way his face lit up, and he instinctively ran to the away bay with the Victory fans.
“We knew that night we had a player, but we also knew that we had someone who cared deeply about Victory.”
