Valeri with Melbourne Victory in 2014Valeri training for Melbourne Victory.
Valeri was signed as a teenager by Italian giants Inter Milan. He was loaned out to various clubs in Italy to gain further experience, including Grosseto. He joined Grosseto permanently in June 2007.[6]
In January 2010 Valeri joined Sassuolo. Representing Australia in the starting 11 for the 2010 World Cup is his greatest achievement to date.[7]
In May 2013, Valeri and his club Sassuolo finished as Serie B champions, thus securing automatic promotion to Serie A for the first time in their history.[8]
In January 2014, he returned to Serie B with relegation battling Ternana until 30 June in hopes of securing a World Cup place with the Socceroos[9]
In June 2014, Carl Valeri returned to his home country signing a 3-year deal with Melbourne Victory.[10] Valeri was an integral part of Victory's 2015 Championship team, starting all 29 games that season.[11]
In September 2015 he was appointed captain of the team.[12] Following an interrupted 2015/16 season,[13] Valeri bounced back and became a regular starter for Victory in both the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons.
In April 2019, Valeri announced that he would retire at the conclusion of the 2018–19 A-League season.[14]
After being an unused substitute in an 2007 Asian Cup qualifier against Bahrain in 2006, the 22-year-old received his second call up to the senior Australian national team in March 2007, as a replacement for the injured defensive midfielder Vince Grella.
He made his international debut on 24 March 2007 in a friendly game against China, which Australia won 2–0. This made him the 501st player to be capped for Australia. He made his home debut in a friendly against Uruguay.[16]
Former Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has described Valeri as a key player of the future, and possible successor to Grella. This led to certain sections of the Australian media dubbing him "Mini Vinnie."