Australian football great Carl Valeri has opened up about fearing he would lose his eyesight – and how he proved a doctor wrong who said he would never play professionally again.
Valeri, 39, enjoyed a decorated career, and was signed by Italian giants Inter Milan when he was a teenager.
The Canberra raised midfielder also featured for Australia at the 2010 World Cup, before becoming a Melbourne Victory fan favourite in the twilight of his career.
It was when on the books of Victory where Valeri was left shaken to the core.
Struck down by a mystery illness, Valeri had blurry vision and a loss of balance during a training session.
Decorated ex-Socceroo Carl Valeri has opened about fearing he would lose his eyesight – and how he proved a doctor wrong who said he would never play professionally again
The father of three is still involved in the code in regional Victoria and is on the board of directors at Melbourne Victory
He was rushed to a hospital emergency department in late 2015 and feared the worst.
‘My whole left side shut down. I thought I was having a stroke,’ Valeri told News Corp.
He was diagnosed with an inflammatory condition that was like a ‘short circuiting of wires’ in his brain – and a neurologist told him his playing days were over.
Valeri was fine with that outcome initially – but his competitive juices remained.
Remarkably, he managed to return to the pitch with his Victory teammates a few months later following intensive rehabilitation, which included learning to see again.
Now happily retired, in 2022 Valeri started working with Convera, a global payments firm, before joining the board of directors at Melbourne Victory last year.
Armed with a Master of Business Administration geared towards sport from Victoria University, Valeri is enjoying the next phase of his life.
He gives back to the code by coaching his kids, and is president of his local football club.
Carl Valeri is one of Melbourne Victory’s favourite sons, playing for the A-League club between 2014 and 2019
When it comes to the future of football in Australia, Valeri – who lives in Gisborne, north-west of Melbourne – pointed to pathways needing to be better and organisations being united.
‘I feel like a lot of us are doing great work in isolation in our own little areas; for example Melbourne Victory does a great job, Football Australia and the Matildas are doing a great job,’ he said.
‘How do we all work together to make football the go-to sport, to make a better team than that Socceroos 2006 World Cup squad?
‘We need to make sure the opportunity is there for a five-year-old, with a clear pathway to becoming a professional footballer.’
