Alexander William Wilkinson (born 13 August 1984) is an Australian international football (soccer) player who plays as a central defender and is the captain for Sydney FC in the A-League. Wilkinson was born in Sydney and made his senior debut for Northern Spirit in 2002. After moving to Ryde City Gunners and Manly United in 2004, Wilkinson joined A-League club Central Coast Mariners, where he eventually became club captain and made over 200 appearances. After spending time in China on loan to Jiangsu Sainty, Wilkinson played for Korean club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors for 4 seasons (2012–2015). Wilkinson has made eleven appearances for the Australian national team, including three at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Club career Alexander's bright career began in Ryde East Primary School and Epping Boys' High School where he showed excellent talents on the field as a sportsman and off the field in his sportsmanship. His main junior football club was North Ryde and then with Gladesville Hornsby/Northern Spirit youth team where he played alongside Brett Holman. Two years after breaking into the first team of the Northern Spirit, the NSL would be shut down and went back to finding a job, where he would eventually work at a surf shop in his local Macquarie Centre. On Sunday 12 November 2006, Noel Spencer was dropped from the starting eleven and in his absence Alex Wilkinson was named captain of the team. Spencer was then struck down with injury and Alex filled in as captain until round 18 when Spencer returned. He was named Captain for Season 3 (2007–2008) and only injury has interrupted that (with ex-Socceroo Tony Vidmar and midfielder John Hutchinson filling in). On 17 March 2011 it was announced that Wilkinson had signed a short-term loan deal with Chinese side Jiangsu Sainty. On 18 July he had signed a two and a half-year contract with K League 1 team Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. The reported transfer fee paid to the Mariners upon completion of the deal is $450,000. Following a lengthy and successful stint in Asia, Wilkinson signed with Melbourne City in February 2016, for the remainder of the 2015–16 A-League season. Sydney FC After Melbourne City were eliminated from the finals series Wilkinson signed a two-year contract with Sydney FC, rejoining former Mariners manager Graham Arnold In 2017, Wilkinson made sporadic appearances as captain on the pitch with skipper Alex Brosque off and vice-captain Sebastian