John Aloisi

Born in Adelaide, Aloisi arrived in Europe aged 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 signed for Italian side US Cremonese. On the 25th, after only two minutes on the pitch, he scored in a 2–1 home win against Calcio Padova, becoming the youngest foreign player ever to 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 Portsmouth 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 scored twice in a 4–1 win against Aston Villa at Villa Park, which was 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.. For Portsmouth and Coventry combined, he finished the season with 18 goals.

Coventry were constantly threatened with relegation during Aloisi's time at the club, and finally went down at the end of the 2000–01 season after a 34-year top flight stay, with Aloisi scoring just three times. He scored a hat-trick against Preston North End in 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.

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. He scored ten goals in 2005–06, his best Spanish total, but the Basque team suffered top flight relegation.

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]

After retiring, Aloisi started a 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.

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]

On 26 May 2015, Aloisi was named manager of Brisbane Roar.[25] In both of his first two seasons at the club, the Roar achieved a top 4 finish in the league, and made it to the semi-finals.

In May 2017, Aloisi signed a new three-year contract to stay on as manager of Brisbane.[26]

On 28 December 2018, Aloisi resigned as manager of Brisbane Roar following the club’s poor start to the season, with the Roar second-last on the A-League ladder with just 1 win in 9 matches at the time of his departure.[27][28] He left as Brisbane Roar's longest serving manager.[29]

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

As of 28 December 2018[32]

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Melbourne Heart		8 May 2012	28 December 2013	39	8	7	24	020.51
Brisbane Roar		26 May 2015	28 December 2018	108	41	24	43	037.96
Total				165	56	36	73	033.94

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

Australia:

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

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