John Aloisi

John Aloisi

Aloisi signing for Sydney FC in 2008
Personal information
Full name	John Aloisi
Date of birth	(1976-02-05) 5 February 1976
Place of birth	Adelaide, Australia
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current team	Brisbane Roar (manager)
Youth career
	AIS
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1991	Adelaide City	20	(8)
1991–1992	Adelaide City Force	1	(0)
1992–1993	Standard Liège	0	(0)
1993–1995	Antwerp	35	(7)
1995–1997	Cremonese	48	(4)
1997–1998	Portsmouth	60	(26)
1998–2001	Coventry City	41	(10)
2001–2005	Osasuna	121	(29)
2005–2007	Alavés	58	(16)
2007–2008	Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	15	(7)
2008–2010	Sydney FC !Sydney FC	40	(12)
2010–2011	Melbourne Heart !Melbourne Heart	20	(8)
Total		459	(127)
National team
1992	Australia U20	6	(1)
2004	Australia U23	7	(3)
1997–2008	Australia	55	(27)
Teams managed
2011–2012	Melbourne Heart !Melbourne Heart (youth)
2012–2013	Melbourne Heart !Melbourne Heart
2015	Melbourne Victory !Melbourne Victory (youth)
2015–	Brisbane Roar
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

John Aloisi (born 5 February 1976) is a retired Australian football (soccer) player and the manager of A-League club Brisbane Roar !Brisbane Roar. In a professional career that spanned 20 seasons, with league totals of 459 games and 127 goals, he was the first Australian ever to play and score in La Liga, the Premier League and Serie A.

He returned to his country in 2007, with four seasons in the A-League. Aloisi was an integral member of the Australia national team for more than one decade, and represented the nation at the 2006 World Cup, being an essential figure in the qualifying stages.^[1] He also appeared for the Socceroos in two Confederations Cups. Aloisi was described as a goal poacher who was able to "hold the ball up well and create opportunities for his teammates."^[2]

Club career

Early years and England

Born in Adelaide, Aloisi arrived in Europe aged only 16, signing with Standard Liège from Adelaide City. He did not appear in any official games for the club, and also played sparingly for his next team, fellow top division outfit Royal Antwerp FC.

In November 1995, Aloisi moved countries and signed for Italian side US Cremonese. On the 25th, only two minutes after being on the pitch, he scored in a 2–1 home win against Calcio Padova, becoming the youngest foreign player to ever score in a Serie A match.^[3] Ultimately, the Lombardy team suffered two consecutive relegations, and he left the club.

Aloisi arrived in English football early in the 1997–98 season, signing for Portsmouth in the Division One, under the chairmanship of Australia national football team manager Terry Venables. He scored 12 goals in his first season in England as Pompey narrowly avoided relegation, bettering that total to 13 in the following campaign.

On 17 December 1998, Aloisi moved to the Premier League with Coventry City, who paid £650,000 for his services. He made his Sky Blues debut in a 1–1 home draw against Derby County, appearing as a late substitute; also coming from the bench, he netted in the next match, 1–1 against Tottenham Hotspur.

Aloisi's next notable performance came almost 12 months later, in a historic 4–1 win against Aston Villa at Villa Park. He scored twice in Coventry's first ever away victory in the league against their Midlands rivals. Starting in the next game, against Charlton Athletic, he was sent off for punching Danny Mills, receiving a considerable ban; both Portsmouth and Coventry combined, he finished the season with 18 goals.

Aloisi never really got a proper run at Coventry during his spell, as the team was constantly threatened with relegation, which befell at the end of the 2000–01 season after a 34-year top flight stay, with the player scoring just three times (he did net a hat-trick against Preston North End for the season's Football League Cup – 4–1 home win, 7–2 on aggregate^[4]). In June, he was allowed to leave Highfield Road, and came close to signing for Crystal Palace,^[5] but nothing came of it.

Spain

In 2001, Aloisi moved to Spain, joining Pamplona's CA Osasuna. He scored nine goals in 30 games in his first season in La Liga, being regularly used during his four-year spell in Navarre. On 11 April 2004, he played the full 90 minutes in a 3–0 away win against Real Madrid^[6][7] and, on 11 June of the following year, he netted in the Copa del Rey final, equalising in an eventual 1–2 extra time loss against Real Betis.

After a move to Panathinaikos F.C. collapsed,^[8] Aloisi signed for another Spanish outfit, Deportivo Alavés, on a free transfer. Even though he scored a career-best (in Spain) ten goals in 2005–06, the Basque suffered top flight relegation.

Return to Australia

On 20 October 2007, it was announced that Aloisi had signed with the Central Coast Mariners FC for the remainder of the season.^[9] The team was able to not include his wages in the salary cap due to a loop hole relating to injured players.^[10] He made his debut in the A-League on the 28th against Sydney FC, in a 2–3 defeat.^[11]

On 3 March 2008, after failing to re-sign with the Mariners, Aloisi penned a two-year deal with Sydney FC, for an undisclosed fee reported to be $1.4 million a season,^[12] making him the highest-paid player based in Australia in any of the four football codes. He made his debut as a second-half substitute against Perth Glory FC at the Sydney Football Stadium, and scored his first goal for Sydney in a 2–0 upset win over archrivals Melbourne Victory FC.

On 18 February 2009, 33-year-old Aloisi was linked with a loan move to Shanghai Shenhua F.C. in China. He soon decided against the deal, opting instead to spend the entire pre-season with Sydney FC, under the club's new coach Vítězslav Lavička.^[13] He scored twice in a friendly with the Newcastle United Jets FC,^[14] and eventually started repaying the faith the team had in him by scoring a double in a 3–2 win against North Queensland Fury FC in Townsville, in the first game of the season; he finished the campaign – winning both the minor and the major championships – as the first Sydney player ever to reach double digits in a single season.

On 29 March 2010, Melbourne Heart FC signed Aloisi on a free transfer.^[15] He impressed at the new club and scored eight goals, including three against rivals Melbourne Victory, both the first goal ever in a Melbourne derby, and a brace which equalised the game at 2–2 after the Heart had been 2–0 down. On 12 February 2011, he played the final game of his career against former team Sydney FC, in the last round of the A-League season, scoring and being replaced by in the 83rd minute by Kristian Sarkies, to a standing ovation from the home crowd.^[16]

International career

Aloisi made his debut for the Australian national team in 1997. Also in that year, he was selected to the FIFA Confederations Cup, scoring in a 3–1 group stage win against Mexico for the eventual runners-up.

After representing Australia at the 2004 Summer Olympics as one of the three overage players, scoring three goals in an eventual quarterfinal exit,^[17] Aloisi finished second in the scoring charts at the 2005 Confederations Cup, netting braces against Germany and Argentina as the Socceroos did not manage one single point in three games.

On 16 November 2005, Aloisi scored the decisive penalty against Uruguay in the 2006 FIFA World Cup playoffs, after a 1–1 aggregate tie. That goal meant Australia qualified to the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1974.^[1] He was selected in the squad for the final stages in Germany and, on 12 June, came off the bench to score the third goal in a 3–1 group stage victory against Japan, thus becoming only the second Australian in history to score a goal at the World Cup finals, after teammate Tim Cahill.^[18]

On 21 July 2007, Aloisi scored in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup's quarterfinal match against Japan (1–1), in an eventual penalty shootout exit in Australia's first ever participation in that tournament.^[19] It would be the last of his 27 international goals, second-best behind Damian Mori at the time of his retirement.

After his return to the A-League, Aloisi ceased to be recalled by the national team. In early 2008, his penalty kick against Uruguay which took the Socceroos to the 2006 World Cup was voted by the Sport Australia Hall of Fame as one of three greatest moments in Australian sporting history.^[20]

Coaching career

Melbourne Heart

After retiring, Aloisi started his coaching career, being appointed youth manager at Melbourne Heart.^[21] On 8 May 2012, it was announced that he had accepted a three-year contract to be the manager of Melbourne Heart.^[22] On 5 October 2012, he got his first win as manager as Melbourne Heart beat rivals Melbourne Victory 2–1. Aloisi struggled in his first season as head coach, with Melbourne Heart coming ninth in the 2012–13 season and winning only one away game all season. The 2013-14 season did not start any better with the Heart managing 0 wins, 4 draws and 6 losses from 10 starts. On 28 December 2013, Aloisi was sacked as the manager of Melbourne Heart following the club's seventeenth competitive match without a win.

Melbourne Victory

On 9 February 2015, Aloisi joined Melbourne Victory FC as the development coach of its National Youth League and National Premier League sides.^[23][24]

Brisbane Roar

On 26 May 2015, Aloisi was named manager of Brisbane Roar.^[25]

Statistics

^[26]

Club

Club	Season	Domestic	League		Cup		Continental		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Adelaide City	1991–92	National Soccer League	20	8	0	0	0	0	20	8
Adelaide City Force			1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Adelaide City total			21	8	0	0	0	0	21	8
Standard Liège	1992–93	Belgian Pro League	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	0
Standard Liège total			0	0	1	0	1	0	2	0
Antwerp	1993–94	Belgian Pro League	10	1	1	0	0	0	11	1
	1994–95		25	6	2	2	0	0	27	8
Antwerp total			35	7	3	2	0	0	38	9
Cremonese	1995–96	Serie A	22	2	1	2	0	0	23	4
	1996–97	Serie B	26	2	3	1	0	0	29	3
Cremonese total			48	4	4	3	0	0	52	7
Portsmouth	1997–98	First Division	38	12	3	0	0	0	41	12
	1998–99		22	14	4	3	0	0	26	17
Portsmouth total			60	26	7	3	0	0	67	29
Coventry City	1998–99	Premier League	16	5	2	0	0	0	18	5
	1999–2000		7	2	0	0	0	0	7	2
	2000–01		18	3	3	3	0	0	21	6
Coventry City total			41	10	5	3	0	0	46	13
Osasuna	2001–02	La Liga	30	9	2	2	0	0	32	11
	2002–03		32	8	1	0	0	0	33	8
	2003–04		33	6	2	4	0	0	35	10
	2004–05		26	6	3	2	0	0	29	8
Osasuna total			121	29	8	8	0	0	129	37
Alavés	2005–06	La Liga	33	10	1	1	0	0	34	11
	2006–07	Segunda División	25	6	1	0	0	0	26	6
Alavés total			58	16	2	1	0	0	60	17
CC Mariners	2007–08	A-League	15	7	0	0	0	0	15	7
CC Mariners total			15	7	0	0	0	0	15	7
Sydney	2008–09	A-League	16	2	3	2	0	0	19	4
	2009–10		24	10	0	0	0	0	24	10
Sydney total			40	12	3	2	0	0	43	14
Melbourne Heart	2010–11	A-League	20	8	0	0	0	0	20	8
Melbourne Heart total			20	8	0	0	0	0	20	8
Australia total			96	35	3	2	0	0	99	37
Belgium total			35	7	4	2	1	0	40	9
Italy total			48	4	4	3	0	0	52	7
England total			101	36	12	6	0	0	113	42
Spain total			179	45	10	9	0	0	189	54
Career total			459	127	33	22	1	0	493	149

International

Australia national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1997	11	7
1998	1	0
1999	0	0
2000	2	1
2001	10	7
2002	0	0
2003	2	0
2004	5	2
2005	8	5
2006	10	4
2007	5	1
2008	1	0
Total	55	27

International goals

Scores and results list Australia's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	11 June 1997	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney, Australia	Solomon Islands	3–0	13–0	1998 FIFA World Cup Qualification
2				5–0
3				10–0
4				11–0
5				12–0
6	28 June 1997	North Harbour Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand	New Zealand	1–0	3–0	1998 FIFA World Cup Qualification
7	12 December 1997	King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Mexico	2–0	3–1	1997 FIFA Confederations Cup
8	4 October 2000	Al-Rashid Stadium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Kuwait	1–0	1–0	Friendly
9	9 April 2001	Coffs Harbour International Stadium, Coffs Harbour, Australia	Tonga	3–0	22–0	2002 FIFA World Cup Qualification
10				6–0
11				8–0
12				10–0
13				11–0
14				14–0
15	24 June 2001	Stadium Australia, Sydney, Australia	New Zealand	3–1	4–1	2002 FIFA World Cup Qualification
16	4 June 2004	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide, Australia	Vanuatu	1–0	3–0	2004 OFC Nations Cup
17				3–0
18	15 June 2005	Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt, Germany	Germany	2–2	3–4	2005 FIFA Confederations Cup
19				3–4
20	18 June 2005	Frankenstadion, Nürnberg, Germany	Argentina	1–3	2–4	2005 FIFA Confederations Cup
21				2–3
22	9 October 2005	Craven Cottage, London, England	Jamaica	4–0	5–0	Friendly
23	7 June 2006	Donaustadion, Ulm, Germany	Liechtenstein	3–1	3–1	Friendly
24	12 June 2006	Fritz-Walter-Stadion, Kaiserslautern, Germany	Japan	3–1	3–1	2006 FIFA World Cup
25	11 October 2006	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Australia	Bahrain	1–0	2–0	2007 AFC Asian Cup Qualification
26	14 November 2006	Loftus Road, London, England	Ghana	1–0	1–1	Friendly
27	21 July 2007	Mỹ Đình National Stadium, Hà Nội, Vietnam	Japan	1–0	1–1	2007 AFC Asian Cup

Managerial statistics

As of 15 November 2013.

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Melbourne Heart Youth		23 October 2011	4 March 2012	7001180000000000000♠18	7000700000000000000♠7	7000500000000000000♠5	7000600000000000000♠6	7001388900000000000♠38.89
Melbourne Heart !Melbourne Heart		8 May 2012	28 December 2013	7001390000000000000♠39	7000800000000000000♠8	7000700000000000000♠7	7001240000000000000♠24	7001205100000000000♠20.51
Brisbane Roar !Brisbane Roar		26 May 2015		7001100000000000000♠10	7000500000000000000♠5	7000300000000000000♠3	7000200000000000000♠2	7001500000000000000♠50.00
Total				7001590000000000000♠59	7001170000000000000♠17	7001120000000000000♠12	7001300000000000000♠30	7001288100000000000♠28.81

Honours

Club

• Adelaide City:
  • NSL Championship: 1991–92
• Central Coast Mariners:
  • A-League Premiership: 2007–08
• Sydney FC:
  • A-League Premiership: 2009–10
  • A-League Championship: 2009–10
• Osasuna:
  • Spanish Cup: Runner-up 2004–05

Country

• FIFA Confederations Cup: Runner-up 1997
• OFC Nations Cup: 2004

Individual

• FIFA Confederations Cup: Bronze Shoe 2005 (4 goals)

Personal

Aloisi's older brother Ross, was also a professional footballer Aloisi appeared on the cover of the Australian version of Pro Evolution Soccer 6.

References

External links

• FFA – Socceroo profile
• OzFootball profile
• John Aloisi career statistics at Soccerbase
  
• BDFutbol profile
• John Aloisi at National-Football-Teams.com