Luke Wilkshire (born 2 October 1981) is an Australian soccer coach and a former player who is currently head coach of Australian Championship side Wollongong Wolves.
Born in Wollongong, Wilkshire played youth football for Albion Park, Wollongong Wolves, and the Australian Institute of Sport before making his professional debut for English club Middlesbrough. In 2003, he moved to Bristol City, where he spent three seasons before moving to the Netherlands to play for Twente in 2006. Wilkshire next played in Russia for Dynamo Moscow, but later moved back to the Netherlands to play for Feyenoord in 2014. He was released from the club in August 2015 by mutual consent.
Wilkshire has played eighty times for the Australian national team. This includes matches at both the 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cups, as well as the 2007 and 2011 AFC Asian Cups. He was also a member of the squad at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup. Previously, with Australia's youth sides, Wilkshire took part in the 2001 FIFA U-20 World Cup and the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Wilkshire played his junior football with his home town club of Albion Park and attended Albion Park High School. He moved on to represent his region by joining the Wollongong Wolves youth setup and spending several seasons there. Wilkshire then travelled to Canberra to spend a year at the AIS football program, Australia's elite sports academy. He then moved overseas and was part of Middlesbrough's youth system.
After progressing through the first team, Wilkshire made his Middlesbrough debut on 6 March 2002, where he played the whole game, in a 1–1 draw against Southampton. After making eight appearances in all competitions in the 2001–02 season, he signed a contract extension with the club, keeping him until 2004.
He went on to make further senior appearances for them in the Premier League, including a sending off against Arsenal, and also started in an FA Cup semi-final., but ultimately never established himself in the first team.
In search of regular football, Wilkshire decided on a move to Second Division club Bristol City for an undisclosed fee. The transfer fee was revealed as £220K.
Wilkshire made his Bristol City debut, making his first start and playing 90 minutes, in a 5–0 win over Notts County in the opening game of the season. Since making his debut, he established himself in the first team and it wasn't until on 7 November 2003 when he scored his first Bristol City goal, in the first round of the FA Cup, in a 5–2 win over Bradford Park Avenue and scored again eight days later on 15 November 2003, in a 4–1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion. His second goal later came on 21 February 2004, scoring the only goal in the game, in a 1–0 win over Wrexham. Wilkshire finished his first season at the club, making forty-five appearances and scoring two times in all competitions.
The 2004–05 season saw Wilkshire missing out the start of the season, due to international commitment. After this, Wilkshire returned to the first team and then scored twice, in a 4–1 win over Brentford on 30 August 2004. By the end of 2004, he scored six more goals, which came against Huddersfield Town, Hull City, MK Dons, Tranmere Rovers (twice) and Blackpool. However, during the season, Wilkshire was a subject to diving during a match against Blackpool after he dived in the penalty spot from a challenge to win a penalty, a claim that was denied by Wilkshire, himself. Later in the 2004–05 season, Wilkshire went on to score two more goals against Oldham Athletic and Sheffield Wednesday and went to finish the season, scoring ten times in forty-one appearances in all competitions.
However, the 2005–06 season saw Wilkshire sent-off after a second bookable offence, in a 1–0 loss against Huddersfield Town on 9 August 2005. After the match, Manager Brian Tinnion expressed shock over Wilkshire's sending off and served a one match ban. Despite this, Wilkshire returned to the first team soon after and scored his first goal of the season, in a 3–2 win over Brentford on 24 September 2005. By the end of 2005, he scored two more goals against Tranmere Rovers and Chesterfield. After coming on as substitute in the second half against Walsall on 2 January 2006, he scored his third goal of the season, in a 3–0 win. His fifth goal of the season later came on 18 March 2006, in a 6–0 win over Gillingham. Wilkshire finished the 2005–06 season, making thirty-eight appearances and scoring five times in all competitions.
At the end of the 2005–06 season, Wilkshire left the club after not returning to the club for pre-season training. He previously wished to leave the club in hopes of being called up for the World Cup squad in Germany.
His solid performances at the 2006 FIFA World Cup earned him a trial and subsequent three-year deal with Dutch top flight club FC Twente despite reported interest from other Dutch clubs, including Ajax and PSV Eindhoven.
His league debut for FC Twente ended badly when he was sent off in the first half, in a 3–0 loss against Heracles Almelo. After serving a two match suspension, Wilkshire made his return to the first team from injury, where he assisted one of the goals, in a 2–2 draw against AZ on 17 September 2006. It wasn't until on 12 November 2006 when Wilkshire scored his first Twente goal, in a 7–1 win over Groningen. The following month, on 27 December 2006, he scored his second goal of the season, in a 3–0 win over AZ Alkmaar. After suffering from a knee injury against ADO Den Haag on 28 January 2007, which saw him out for weeks, he made his return to the first team, coming on as a substitute in the second half, in a 0–0 draw against Willem II on 24 February 2007. He continued to feature in the first team for the remainder of the season and finished his first season, making thirty appearances and scoring two times in all competitions. Nevertheless, Wilkshire would go on to play regularly in the 2006–07 campaign which saw FC Twente qualify for the UEFA Cup.
In the 2007–08 season, Wilkshire started well in the opening game of the season against Excelsior when he set up one of the goals, in a 2–0 win. Despite coming off in the five minutes to the game against Willem II on 16 September 2007, He then scored his first goal of the season, as well as, setting up one of the goals, in a 3–0 win over NEC on 23 September 2007. After setting three goals in two matches, including assisting twice against Feyenoord on 27 October 2007, Wilkshire scored his second goal of the season, in a 1–1 draw against NAC Breda on 10 November 2007. His third goal of the season later came on 23 March 2008, in a 2–1 win over Ajax. Despite being left out of the squad, either due to suspension and once left out of squad after he was late, due to an international commitment, he finished his second season at the club, making thirty-six appearances and scoring three times in all competitions. Subsequently, in the 2007–08 campaign, FC Twente and Wilkshire accomplished an even bigger achievement: for the first time in the club history, FC Twente qualified for the preliminary round of the Champions League.
For his performance, Wilkshire signed a contract with the club, keeping him until 2012. He then made his only appearance for the club in the 2008–09 season, in the UEFA Champions League, in a 2–0 loss against Arsenal.
On 26 August 2008, Wilkshire moved to Russian side Dynamo Moscow for a reported €6 million transfer fee; while other sources suggested transfer fee was only €2 million.
He made his Russian Premier League debut for Dynamo Moscow on 31 August 2008, playing the full 90 minutes against FC Moscow at the Dynamo Stadium in Moscow. He scored his first goal for Dynamo from a penalty on 27 September 2008, playing against Krylya Sovetov in Samara, Russia. Wilkshire then scored his second goal of the season, in a 3–1 loss against CSKA Moscow on 27 October 2008. Wilkshire became a first team regular at the club and finished his first full season, making eleven appearances and scoring two times in all competitions.