Nicholas Pennington

#15 NICHOLAS PENNINGTON BIO – DOB 18/12/98

Nicholas Pennington joined the Phoenix in 2021 on a two-year deal from Olbia Calcio 1905 in Serie C, the third division in Italy.

The midfielder has an Australian passport thanks to his father but was born and raised in Italy. Before he joined the Nix he hadn’t set foot in Australia but he made his international debut for the Australian under-23 side in June 2021

Pennington began his football career with Serie A club Cagliari in the youth league, before being loaned to Olbia in 2017. He went on to make 117 appearances for the club across all competitions, registering six goals and 11 assists.

He made his Phoenix debut off the bench in November 2021 in the second round A-League win over Central Coast and made eight further appearances as a substitute before being thrust into the starting XI.

Pennington started the last 13 matches of the season, including the elimination final defeat to eventual champions Western United, after captain Alex Rufer suffered a season-ending knee injury in March 2022.

He earlier played a key role in the Phoenix’s history-making run to the FFA Cup semi-finals. He started all four of the team’s cup matches in December and January and scored the deciding penalty in the dramatic quarter-final victory over Melbourne City.

Pennington’s first goal from open play was also decisive. He scored with virtually the last kick of the game in the seventh minute of second-half stoppage time to secure the Nix a vital 2-1 win over Perth Glory in round 20.

> 2022-23 season

Nicholas Pennington was limited to 17 appearances for the Phoenix in his second season, starting just five matches, three of which came in pre-season, in the Australia Cup.

He started two of the team’s first four A-League matches, but fell to fourth in the defensive midfielder pecking order once Alex Rufer returned from injury.

Shortly after the season finished Pennington signed a new one-year deal with the Nix.

New head coach Giancarlo Italiano said it was a “no brainer” to re-sign Pennington.

“Nico has all of the qualities we’re looking for to move the team forward.

“He’s young, he’s a great defensive midfielder and is technically very good.

“He has the ability to score goals as well. I think that is one part of his game we really can accelerate.”